Toward a balanced framework for innovation assessment in public and mission-oriented organizations: evidence from defense industries

Abstract

Due to the different nature of defense organizations as public and mission-oriented organizations, innovation in this context deals with special drivers, requirements, and considerations. Therefore, this paper uses a mixed research strategy (thematic analysis and interpretive structural modeling) to design a balanced framework for the assessment of innovation in defense organizations in Iran. This framework includes two categories of dimensions: (1) Enablers (strategic analysis based on defense doctrine; portfolio analysis of defense products and technologies; networking and development of technological collaborations; redesign of institutions, processes, and human capital development; and resource, infrastructure, and capacity management) and (2) Results (results of human capital; results of the network of defense partners; results of customers and the armed forces; performance results of defense innovations; financial and mission results; results of society and national security). The main feature of this framework is that it includes enablers and results of innovations, qualitative and quantitative dimensions, technological (product and process) and organizational innovations (human capital, internal and external relationships, and networking and collaborations), incremental and radical innovations, and eventually social, environmental, technical, and economic considerations of defense innovations simultaneously.