Managing the Front End of Innovation—Part II: Results from a Three-Year Study

OVERVIEW: Based on data collected from 197 large, US-based companies, we analyzed the elements important for success in the front end of innovation. A previous article explored the role of organizational attributes, which account for 53 percent of front-end performance. A second set of organizational attributes—including effective teams, team leadership, and communities of practice—explain 24 percent of the variance in front-end performance. Specific activity elements were also identified as being important to success in the front end for incremental and radical innovation. Opportunity identification and analysis, idea enrichment, and concept definition were found to be the most important activity elements for front-end success for incremental innovation. In contrast, effective activity elements for radical innovation were related to understanding both existing and disruptive markets and leveraging new and emerging technologies. We were able to explain 29 percent and 32 percent of the variance in front-end performance for incremental and radical innovation based on these activity elements.

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