MIT Sloan Management Review

New research shows that the most resilient companies are those that continually orchestrate a dynamic balance of four innovation strategies.

A new report reveals that companies with significant levels of employee control systematically underperform.

He probably wouldn’t, but Robert Taylor could lay claim to being the best-ever manager of innovation. In the late 1960s, Taylor headed the office at the Advanced Research Projects Agency that oversaw implementation of the first four nodes of the Internet.

Although most companies undertake acquisitions with an eye toward fueling growth, the resulting infusion of new ideas, perspectives and processes can produce lasting benefits that are broader and deeper.

The term “competitive cognition” refers to the framework with which a manager organizes and retains knowledge about competitors and directs information acquisition and usage. It is the process by which managers make sense of the market environments in which they compete.

Companies typically have antagonistic relationships with hackers, “modders” and others who alter their products, but is there a way to work with — instead of against — such underground innovators?

After decades of anticipation, the promise of automated decision-making systems is finally becoming a reality in a variety of industries.

The purchasing function can go beyond mere cost cutting by rote. It can add value by driving innovation and superior long-term cost performance.

The seeds of effective change must be planted by embedding procedural and behavioral changes in an organization long before the initiative is launched.

Companies too often vacillate in their commitment to internal corporate venturing activities, leading to less than optimal outcomes. Executives need to better understand — and manage — the factors that drive cyclicality in internal corporate venturing.

To manage relationships with subordinates, colleagues, bosses and others, executives first need to know how to classify those people accurately.

Many companies have filled their corner offices with mediocre executives. A set of basic practices can help organizations avoid such a crucial mistake.

In many organizations, the corporate marketing function has lost budget, head count, influence and confidence, resulting in strategic consequences that run deeper than many senior managers may realize. The question is not how to rebuild the marketing center, but how to disperse marketing competenceacross the organization.

Many common marketing activities are coming under greater scrutiny from regulators, lawyers and scholars. Companies are scrambling to figure out how that will affect competition.

A March 2004 paper published in Creativity and Innovation Management makes the case that the amount of communication among the members of small research-and-development teams makes a big difference in their creativity.