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Abstract
It is a fallacy to equate adoption of innovations with innovation creation). In other words, organizations, which adopt innovations, should not necessarily be innovative. Organizations must create radically or incrementally if they are to be categorized innovative and thus innovativeness is an antecedent to innovation. The number of innovations adopted is not a good measure for innovativeness. An analysis of previous studies on innovation indicates that researchers committed both content and contextual fallacy by equating adoption of innovation with innovation creation. This conceptual paper attempts to distinguish between innovation adoption and innovation creation as two different concepts. It also attempts to differentiate between innovativeness, invention, and creativity. Finally, this paper introduces a matrix, which explains the concepts of innovation creation and innovation adoption as two separate concepts. This matrix differentiates between those firms, which are innovative from those, which are adopters of innovation.
Key words: Innovation Creation, Innovation Adoption, Innovation Matrix
Introduction
If any sudden economic growth of any country happens, it can be mainly due to innovations. In fact, there are certain factors that have made organizations go for innovation. These factors include the scarcity of resources and the rising customer expectations. Thus, organizations have always been motivated to create technological and managerial innovations (Snow & Hrebiniak, 1980; Thomas, 1995). Seaden (2001) also mentioned that there are certain drivers that made organizations go for innovation. These drivers include the demands of strict environmental legislations, the challenges of the increasing global competition, and the emergence of clients who have become more demanding.
Innovation is said to have close relationship with economic growth. Dulaimai et al. (2002) emphasized that when the levels of innovation in the construction industry is high, the likelihood that the contribution of such industry to the economic growth will also be high. For example, manufacturers claim that a steel frame house can be completed in 5 weeks, compared to 8-10 weeks that completing an equivalent traditionally-built house takes. Timber frame producers claim that timber frames are beneficial. Innovation in floor joist systems allows much greater spans. Moreover, the use of concrete flooring, which is common in many European countries, is said to increase space flexibility as well as to improve sound and thermal insulation. In addition, in brick and block...