Challenges to Develop and Commercialise Innovations

Abstract: Digitalisation has changed the way many industries do business, and the consultancy industry has not escaped the challenges these changes can bring. To stay competitive, companies need to explore new products and services, as well as maintain their established businesses. However, this can be difficult to do, especially if companies are not experienced in developing new products or services. Research on innovation processes in professional service firms is sparse, and most existing research focuses on the first stages of innovation. Therefore, this study examines the innovation process at a large consultancy firm, placing the focus on the later stages of innovation, particularly, the development and commercialisation phases. Our aim was to identify the challenges in these phases, and to present recommendations on how to address them.  The study was conducted at a large Swedish consultancy firm that had recently implemented an innovation programme. We identified several challenges. The financial structure led to challenges, a reluctance to take financial risks and allocate the needed financial resources towards innovation. This case company lacked funding of the business side of innovation, which led to challenges such as insufficient groundwork in the FEI and insufficient business support. The contextual ambidextrous structure included challenges for the employees to balance the core tasks and exploitative tasks. Other challenges were related to innovators lacking NPD competence, support and a dedicated team. Based on best-practices from literature, recommendations were provided regarding financing the business-side of innovation, front-loading the projects more, clarifying and communicating the process to team members, as well as implementing a decision board to better handle changes in the projects.