Examining product champions as innovators

Abstract

Champions of innovation often play a major role in facilitating entrepreneurial behavior within organizations. Without the influence and efforts of these entrepreneurial champions, many organizational initiatives would not be successful. Examples of organizational initiatives which are often influenced by champions include: new product development, new internal ventures, intrappreneurship, implementing a new information technology (IT) system, strategy creation & implementation, etc. Prior research, however, indicates that up to 70% of change initiatives fail (Higgs & Rowland, 2005). Howell and Higgins (1990) describe the role and importance of product champions this way: There is no shortage of creative idea in corporate America. However, for innovation to occur, someone must take the creative idea, guide it through the trying period when resistance hits a peak, and persevere until it becomes an innovation. In short, every idea needs a champion. The nationale of this paper is to understand more thoroughly the role of product champions in organizations and to identify what we know about several major areas considered important to product champion behavior. The areas we specifically focus on are the product champion's political, power, & process capabilities which can facilitate the evolvement of an innovation's performance. The study relies on an extensive literature review on product champions and what we've learned about their behavior. We then narrow our lens to what is known about the power, political, and process, and performance issues. A model is then developed that describes the potential relationships among these variables and performance. This study underscores the previous research findings that product champions use a mix of behaviors involving political, personal power capabilities, process issues, all of which influence innovation performance. The findings also suggest that in performing their role that too much influence, like too little influence, can adversely affect a project's potential for success. In addition, prior studies have noted that product champions use their web of influence both within and external to their organizations. Several managerial recommendations are advanced to improve product champion behaviors. Equally important, several research question are advanced for future study.