A Systems Thinking Model for Innovation Management: The Knowledge Management Perspective

Innovation is a complex process, involving a variety of factors at different levels. Innovation process and the factors that affect it should be coordinated and managed in a systematic way. However, a coherent and systematic framework for innovation management does not yet exist. In this paper, an attempt is made to develop a systems thinking framework for innovation management that simultaneously addresses exploitative and exploratory innovation. By placing innovation management in a larger context of systems thinking, the influencing factors on its success or failure can better be recognized and understood. Drawing on the theory of systems thinking and knowledge management, the influences of knowledge management resources (technical knowledge management resources and social knowledge management resources) on exploitative and exploratory innovations are identified. Furthermore, the co-evolution relationship between exploitative and exploratory innovation is analyzed.