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Discussion - Creating a climate for continuous innovation - People

5 important questions on Discussion - Creating a climate for continuous innovation - People

What are the three characteristics related to people?

External contact
Sharing information
Autonomy of employees

How can service managers stimulate their co-workers?

By having frequent external contacts. For example: contacts with customers and suppliers, being informed on competitors' actions, and attending conferences and fairs. Another external contact includes being informed on competitors. Owing to the ease of copying, they have been identified as an important source of ideas for "new'' services.

What is the benefit from external contact?

It provides a service firm with the opportunity to collect feedback on their current service offerings. When a service firm is sensitive to signals from its clients, innovation success is more likely.

How can managers stimulate information sharing among co-workers?

Open cultures provide better support for the exchange of ideas. An important dimension of an innovation-enhancing firm climate is whether information is shared or protected and communication between departments is encouraged.

Why is it important to provide people with sufficient autonomy?

When co-workers experience autonomy, they feel less constrained to explore opportunities and to generate ideas. Initiating new services can benefit from this.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Organizing Successful new service development: a literature review

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