Researchers have long recognized that standard approaches to project management are ill‐suited to address changes in the environment or business needs, particularly in innovative contexts characterized by uncertainty and complexity. Instead of being concerned with the efficient implementation of a deliberate strategy, a project in such a context becomes a process for strategy formulation. Three imperatives for project management arise as a result: managing the explorative phase, managing the involvement of stakeholders in the project, and managing the project in relation to the strategizing process of the firm. We propose that design thinking, a recent evolution in the field of design, can make some important contributions to these imperatives. Design thinking has been highlighted by practitioners as well as academia as a novel methodology that is potentially valuable for improving innovative outcomes, whether they are products, services, or strategies. We examine and articulate these possible contributions through 10 propositions that could form an agenda for future experimentation and empirical research on innovation project management.
Innovation is widely recognized as a major driver of long-term corporate growth. Successful innovators who manage to dominate new markets enjoy Schumpeterian rents for their inventions. How then can a firm dominate a new market? Two streams of literature have proposed opposite answers to this question. The First Mover approach indicates that by setting up a strong differentiation strategy, companies are supposed to create a new area where profits abound. This approach is supported especially by Kim and Mauborgne (2004) who coined the term Blue Ocean to describe it. The Fast Second approach, defended by Markides and Geroski (2005), contends, on the contrary, that companies should not try to become pioneers, but should target the newly created market in second position, and colonize it. But neither Blue Ocean nor Fast Second are able to convincingly explain successful market domination. Our study of 24 innovation cases suggests that innovation which leads to market domination is instead achieved by using four kinds of breakthroughs, separately of simultaneously.
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