Learning tomanage innovation

Technological innovation is widely accepted to be a complex learning proces through which firms try to acquire and develop distinctive technological competence. But there is a second dimension to such learning which relates to the ways in which the innovation process is managed, which also involves a developmental, cumulative progress. No all firms have the same level of skill in managing projects, in understanding user needs, in search behaviour, in managing inter-fin relationship, etc.; these are all abilities which are learned over time. This paper reviews the concept of capability development as it applies to the management of technological innovation. It illustrates this with the example of continuous improvement (CI)—a key capability which is associated with high levels of involvement in the innovation process through the contribution of regular incremental improvement ideas from a large proportion of th workforce. CI is a simple concept bus is proving very difficult to implement successful in practice; arguably, this is because it involves extensive learning and adaptation. In exploring this issue the paper draws upon the results of a 5-year empirical study into the adoption and implementation of CI within European enterprises. The paper concludes with some comments on the process of 'learning to learn' and argues that managing this process is a key component of strategic technology management.