An Innovative Firm: The Renova Case Study

Introduction

Successful innovative firms are eye-catching for many companies and researchers. What makes an innovative firm succeed thrills most curious minds. Firms that innovate are more likely to create competitive advantages and therefore perform better. The aim of this chapter is:

• a.

  To provide an understanding of key innovation factors in a firm;

• b.

  To identify the meaning of being a successful innovative firm;

• c.

  To developed a model, based on the literature reviewed, that encompasses and measures the key innovations factors that drive successful innovative firms;

• d.

  To describe and analyse thoroughly the innovative process of an innovative firm;

• e.

  To apply the theoretical model to an innovative firm;

• f.

  To test how the innovative firm fits into the theoretical model;

• g.

  To provide theoretical and managerial insights based on a real case in a mature commodity-producing industry.

This chapter reviewed literature on innovation in order to identify the key innovation factors that drive successful innovative firms. Innovative firms are those that turn innovation into practice. According to the literature, there are several key innovation factors that, when set in action, create organizational competitive advantages. As pointed out by researchers, the following factors are sources of innovation: Innovative leadership, knowledgeable and skilled workforce, continuous scan of the environment to seek opportunities, interpretation and selection of the innovation to implement according to the organization's competences, capabilities and resources, bearing in mind simplicity and focus. Innovative firms are risk taking as well as financially committed to innovation. Important contributions to innovation may be given from inside the organization (i.e. R&D), at all cross-functional levels, or from outside the organization. Communication with all organization stakeholders (suppliers, customers, community, competitors among others) encourage ideas to come forward and innovation to materialize. Communication is boosted by information technology. Collaborative networking innovation and open innovation push forward the innovation development. Innovation comprises risk. Learning with past experiences and taking them into consideration is valuable for future innovation decision making. Key innovation factors guide organizations in producing novelties on a regular basis (i.e. products, services, process, markets that sustain strategic competitive advantages).