Prioritizing factors of organizational innovation: The application of grey relational analysis

In the past, corporations could remain competent as long as they possess valuable resources such as land, capital, or labor forces; however, facing globalization, technological advancement, and the pressure of being environmentally friendly, corporations need to cultivate innovative capabilities to stay competitive in the fast changing business arena. It is well recognized that successful innovation could improve operational performance; however, most companies could not successfully enjoy the fruit of innovation and obtain premium returns. Investing in innovative activities is always a risky decision; therefore, it is of great importance for corporations to figure out possible factors that might jeopardize the process of being innovative. The current study reviewed previous articles concerning factors that might affect the result of innovative activities; questionnaires were then formulated and distributed to practitioners in the financial industry in Taiwan to understand their opinions about the priority of those factors. Grey relational analysis was utilized to analyze the data provided by those practitioners to uncover relative importance of different factors. A comparison of the priority of these factors among practitioners at different organizational levels was conducted to figure out similarities as well as differences of among those practitioners. The results of the current study could be a reference and a starting point for practitioners to invest precious resources for pursuing excellence.