Strategic breakthroughs as flagpoles of innovation process

Abstract

This paper empirically investigates the innovation process, from ideation to market leadership. The focus is on the nature of innovation process, action-outcome linkage, and learning from the environment. Our conceptualisation of the innovation process being a series of strategic breakthroughs is built on the experiences of Samsung Electronics in creating two world-class products: microwave ovens and semiconductors. Our findings demonstrate that the process of innovation progresses through the occurrence of four types of strategic breakthroughs: entry, platform, springboard, and leadership. Based on our analysis, we infer that the process of innovation is more predictable and controllable in its early stages, but turns random in the later stages. Our explanation for such behaviour adds to the current understanding of innovation process. We also describe the role played by the external (environmental) and internal (organisational) factors in facilitating the emergence of strategic breakthroughs.