Innovation Ecosystem #02

As shown in the innovation ecosystem scheme in the previous post, innovation system consists of two ecosystems which are internal and external ecosystem. The internal ecosystem consists of the innovation foundation (organizational culture, innovation capability and motivation), strategy, three pillars of innovation management (idea generation, idea conversion and idea diffusion) and leadership.

The first topic in detail that I would like to discuss is organizational culture, because it is the main foundation of the innovation system in an organization.

The factors of organizational culture which are identified in my research are: long-term orientation, inward & outward looking orientation, process freedom, collaborations and risk taking.

First, There must be sufficient long term orientation in an organization to be supportive to innovation activities. High score of long term innovation or also known as "Confucian Dynamism" were found in developed countries, according to "Chinese Value Survey" that were conducted in 1980s (source: "Long-Term Short-Term Orientation" by Donald Clark). This fact leads to findings that this orientation help organizations to sustain in a competitive environment.

Second, there must be balanced between inward and outward looking orientation. Outward looking is very important because it will determine the success of innovation diffusion in the market that will lead to the important innovation contribution to the organization growth and sustainability.

Third, there must be room for initiative in a process of achieving organization's target. Teresa Amabile in "How to Kill Creativity called this as "freedom" or process freedom. As a consequences, senior leaders must provide clear explanation and details in every target setting.

Fourth, the organization needs condusive climate of collaborations among different units inside organizations and collaborations with its partners or external ecosystem.

And fifth, the organization represented by the senior leaders must have management style that supportive for risk taking and valuing failure proportionally.