Engendering an innovative culture and maintaining operational balance

Purpose - This paper aims to identify key elements of innovative culture using innovation audit tools. The research seeks to determine if factors such as the ability to collaborate are important in building a culture that supports innovation. Design/methodology/approach - Many firms are continually scanning the environment for sources of ideas for product or service innovations. To realise benefits from these practices, organisations need a culture that supports collaborations and a systematic approach to managing innovation. This paper discusses elements of a systematic approach to managing innovation within a collaborative framework and uses the two cases studied to highlight some of the benefits of collaboration. Findings - The key role of leadership in the two cases is noted, however not all aspects of innovation culture are considered in these case studies and further research needs to consider different forms of ownership and governance. Collaboration supported by creative leadership can give small firms a competitive innovative edge, small businesses seeking to be innovative need to understand the importance of leadership and collaboration. Innovative organisations require a set of competences and capacities that enable them to win new business, these may be located within the organisation or they can be accessed externally. Research limitations/implications - This research considers two case studies and provides examples of characteristics of innovation cultures but the findings may not be generalisable to a wider population. Originality/values - The values that create an organisational culture and supports and encourages innovation needs to be embedded in the organisation.