Factors Affecting Product Innovations: A literature review

Product and process innovations are prime manifestations of innovativeness by an organization. Yet surprisingly little is known regarding how to initiate and maintain the innovative momentum in organizations with the ultimate target to produce an increasing number of product innovations and improve competitiveness. Of major concern has been however, the sheer volume of contributions on the subject and the complexity of issues involved. An extensive literature review has been carried out covering 400 scientific Journals during a 10-year long period (1991-2001). Over 2500 journal articles have been identified as relevant and read. Their contribution to the subject of product innovations (i.e., process innovations are not covered) has been identified using a multitude of literature mapping techniques. The present article summarizes the contributions of individual articles depicting the current state-of-the-art in the area.