Systematic Idea Generation and Organizational Capabilities for Front-End Innovation Performance in SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seek to encourage influx of new internal ideas, while also seeking external ideas to increase innovation performance. A study by Fábio Gama and Vinit Parida looked at when idea generation activities involving internal and external partner’s payoff, and which organizational capabilities support idea generation activities for achieving high front-end performance. The study shows that possession of systematic idea generation activities within SMEs can be critical for high front-end innovation performance, which ultimately leads to the launch of commercially successful innovations. Partner management, project management, and alignment are three capabilities that empower SMEs in their pursuit of benefiting from systematic idea generation and achieving high front-end performance.