Interpretive Barriers to Successful Product Innovation in Large Firms

TLDR

Developing commercially viable new products requires effectively linking technological and market possibilities in design, yet innovators in large firms persistently struggle with this linkage. This research examines these linkage problems by focusing on the shared interpretive schemes people use to make sense of product innovation. The paper describes differences among departmental thought worlds that hinder synthesis of expertise and details how organizational product routines exacerbate learning problems, while illustrating how successful innovators overcome both barriers. The study finds that departmental thought worlds and organizational product routines inhibit technology‑market knowledge development, implying that explicitly addressing these interpretive barriers is necessary to improve innovation, and it offers suggestions for practice and research.

Abstract

The development of commercially viable new products requires that technological and market possibilities are linked effectively in the product's design. Innovators in large firms have persistent problems with such linking, however. This research examines these problems by focusing on the shared interpretive schemes people use to make sense of product innovation. Two interpretive schemes are found to inhibit development of technology-market knowledge: departmental thought worlds and organizational product routines. The paper describes in some depth differences among the thought worlds which keep innovators from synthesizing their expertise. The paper also details how organizational routines exacerbate problems with learning, and how successful innovators overcome both interpretive barriers. The main implication of the study is that to improve innovation in large firms it is necessary to deal explicitly with the interpretive barriers described here. Suggestions for practice and research are offered.