Strategic Innovation: Embedding Innovation as a Core Competency in Your Organization

DEFINING INNOVATION

Whirlpool thus determined that innovation was needed to create unique solutions for our customers. But what exactly does innovation mean? What does it entail in terms of transforming an organization? We need to pause in our story for a moment to provide some important background about innovation and embedment.

Not surprisingly, the literature on innovation contains a wide array of definitions. One useful distinction comes from Kim Cameron and Dave Whetten (1998), who draw a line between continuous improvement and innovation. In their view, continuous improvement refers to incremental steps, while innovation involves discontinuous changes and breakthroughs. According to Peter Drucker (1985), innovation is the set of tools to ...