The Multiple Facets of Innovation Project Management

For firms and other organizations, innovation has become a means of anticipating and managing major changes in their external context and overcoming societal challenges such as sustainable development. As a result, they must innovate repeatedly and continuously.

This book explores the multiple facets of innovation project management, defined as the set of activities implemented to bring into being and successfully complete one or several innovation projects. It combines research experience, in cooperation with practitioners, and a theoretical, transversal and global overview inspired from different research streams. The author develops methodologies and frameworks that might be put into practice, provides a case study of research conducted with an air systems manufacturing firm, and outlines avenues for further reflection on innovation project management practice improvement.

Introduction ix

Chapter 1. Innovation Project Management in Theory 1

1.1. Defining the word “innovation” 1

1.1.1. A polysemous word 2

1.1.2. The different types of innovation 3

1.1.3. The different perceptions of newness 5

1.1.4. The different dimensions of newness 7

1.1.5. The intensity of newness 8

1.2. Innovation management research 9

1.2.1 Adopting a managerial rather than economic perspective 9

1.2.2. Focusing on new product development practices 12

1.2.3. An established research stream in management science 14

1.3. Entrepreneurship research 16

1.3.1. Theoretical economic foundations: from Cantillon to Schumpeter 16

1.3.2. Entrepreneurship as an alternative mode of managing exploratory activities 17

1.4. Project management research 19

1.4.1. Historical overview 19

1.4.2. The Project Management Institute (PMI) methodology 20

1.4.3. Project management research 22

1.5. Proposing a definition of innovation project management 23

1.5.1. Combining the three research streams 24

1.5.2. Enhancing the European standard point of view 25

1.5.3. My definition of an innovation project 28

1.5.4. Managing a high number of various innovation projects 30

Chapter 2. Innovation Project Management in Practice 33

2.1. The different areas of innovation project management 33

2.1.1. The 3MI framework 34

2.1.2. Boly’s framework 35

2.2. Proposing an interpretative innovation management framework 39

2.2.1. How many vertical innovation management levels are there in the studied organization? 41

2.2.2. What kinds of organizational mechanisms are there at each vertical innovation management level? 42

2.2.3. Innovation management contingency factors and integration and differentiation mechanisms 46

2.2.4. Information flows 47

2.3. Shaping the organization’s environment thanks to innovation projects 50

2.3.1. What is a proactive innovation strategy? 50

2.3.2. What kinds of innovation management practices are there in proactive firms? 51

2.3.3. The dynamic flexibility of the innovation management system 53

2.3.4. Improving the innovation management system to increase dynamic structural flexibility 55

Chapter 3. Individual Innovation Project Management 57

3.1. Balancing risk and gain in an innovation project 58

3.1.1. The R&D decision-making modeling approach 59

3.1.2. Seeking external innovation project funding 61

3.1.3. Impacts on innovation project management 63

3.2. Elaborating a value proposition in a value network to answer demand values 67

3.2.1. Creating a strategic value, thanks to innovation projects 67

3.2.2. The diffusion of the open innovation concept 68

3.2.3. Elaborating a value proposition in a value network in order to meet demand values 71

3.2.4. A new topic of research: co-innovation project management 72

Chapter 4. Innovation Multi-Project Management 79

4.1. Historical overview of innovation multi-project management 80

4.2. Defining innovation multi-project management 82

4.2.1. What is a set of innovation projects? 83

4.2.2. What are project interdependencies? 86

4.2.3. The three multi-project management approaches 88

4.3. Project portfolio management 89

4.3.1. Historical perspective 90

4.3.2. Goals of PPM 93

4.4. Platform-based multi-project management 96

4.4.1. Historical overview and purpose 96

4.4.2. Key issues of the platform approach 97

4.4.3. What kinds of project sets are in the platform approach? 101

4.5. Trajectory-based multi-project management 102

4.5.1. Historical overview and purpose 102

4.5.2. What kinds of project sets are in the trajectory approach? 103

4.6. Comparing the three MPM approaches 105

4.6.1. Comparing the three approaches with management needs and purpose. 106

4.6.2. Comparing the three approaches with the means of managing project interdependencies 107

4.6.3. Comparing the three approaches with coordination mechanisms in a set 107

4.6.4. Comparing the three approaches with the way of articulating functional dimensions and project dimensions in a multi-project context 108

4.7. Proposing a methodology for implementing an innovation multi-project management (IMPM) 109

4.7.1. Combining principles of the three MPM approaches 109

4.7.2. Proposing an IMPM implementation methodology 110

Chapter 5. The Liebherr Aerospace Toulouse Case Study 115

5.1. LTS at the beginning of the research 116

5.2. The research processing 119

5.3. The innovation multi-project portfolio management (IMPPM) framework 121

5.3.1. Individual innovation project management 122

5.3.2. Innovation project portfolio management 124

5.3.3. Innovation multi-portfolio management 126

5.3.4. Innovation strategic management 127

5.4. Managerial contribution of the IMPPM framework 127

5.4.1. Improving organizational integration, thanks to a portfolio of project portfolios 128

5.4.2. Favoring creation, application and dissemination of knowledge within the organization 128

5.4.3. Improving the differentiation in the organization 129

5.4.4. Improving the management of financial resources dedicated to innovation 130

5.5. Questions 132

Conclusion 135

Bibliography 137

Index 151

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.