How to Invent and Protect Your Invention: A Guide to Patents for Scientists and Engineers

13.4 COMPANIES AND INNOVATION

It is an interesting paradox that companies generally recognize the need to innovate in order to survive; nevertheless, many tend to be hostile toward innovation. Innovation by some may be seen as dangerous to the status quo, particularly in mature corporations. The most difficult phase of innovation is often the transfer of a new product or technology from the laboratory to the operating divisions, such as manufacturing, marketing, sales, legal, and financing divisions. A typical operating unit in a company may be focused on operational performance, quality, and efficiency and may reject innovation because it can be threatening to their status quo. Consider an engineering division, which is organized to produce things efficiently for immediate consumption. The division may be reluctant to experiment with an untried product or process. Similarly, a manufacturing division may be reluctant to take a risk with untested products or processes. Sales people may be reluctant to spend time educating themselves or their customers in regard to new products because they may not sell as fast and easily as the old ones. Unions may resist improvements that create increased productivity yet reduce labor requirements. And a company vice president of production may calculate that the innovation will take a long time before it becomes profitable, if at all, and by the time it generates a return on investment, he will be in retirement. Thus, through organizational inertia, ...