Innovation Management Practice in Irish SME’s
By: David Mulligan, Owen O’Leary, David O’Sullivan
National University of Ireland, Galway
Problem
50-80% of projects fail to impact on organisational goals
Lack of propensity of SME’s to innovate
Lack of resources available to SME’s to innovate
Lack of planning evident in the SME sector
Objectives of the research Identify the barriers of innovation
within SME’s
Identify the needs and objectives of SME’s to innovate more effectively
Identify potential areas for future development.
Research Approach
IdentifyProblem
ReviewLiterature
ShapeHypothesis
AnalyseCases
DevelopScorecard
ValidateScorecard
PHASE 1: Background PHASE 2: Induction
PHASE 3: Development
PHASE 4: Validation
IdentifyProblem
ReviewLiterature
ShapeHypothesis
AnalyseCases
DevelopScorecard
ValidateScorecard
PHASE 1: Background PHASE 2: Induction
PHASE 3: Development
PHASE 4: Validation
Hypothesis
Structures and systems that are available are to cumbersome for the small enterprise sector
Innovation focuses around goals actions teams and results and networking.
Findings Lack of goal definition Poor project
management skills Poor goal action
alignment Human resources are
underutilised Poor collaboration for
knowledge exists Poor monitoring of
results
012
34
5Goals
Actions
Teams
Results
Collaboration
Infrastructure
Case A
Case B
Case C
CaseD
Major outcomes and significance
Collaborative software developed to support SME’s with innovation.
Innovation planner developed
Survey developed
Conclusions and Recommendations
Absence of best practice. Lack of structures and systems for the small
business sector. Under performance in the small business
sector Innovation areas tend to be predominately
led by the customer requirements. Strong collaboration with knowledge
centres and state support is needed.
Acknowledgements Enterprise Ireland COST-WORTH