Unpacking the Interplay Between Process Improvement Approaches and Product Innovation

Abstract

This paper explores how organizations manage the interplay between process improvement (PI) approaches, such as lean, Six Sigma and total quality management, and product innovation. Using a qualitative multiple-case study method, four different configurations for managing the interplay between PI and innovation - “strategic and holistic”, “facilitating and empowering”, “operational”, “project-based” - emerged from the analysis and their associated mechanisms were identified. In the organizations considered, the interplay between PI and innovation was managed primarily through integration in the “facilitating and empowering” and “strategic and holistic” configurations, and through separation in the “operational” and “project-based” ones. Additionally, PI was found to enable innovation if loosely integrated in the innovation process. On the contrary, if PI is tightly integrated in the innovation process, it might constrain radical innovation. The findings of this research go beyond a single view of PI and provide empirical evidence on the varied and sometimes paradoxical uses of PI in either triggering or hindering different degrees of product innovation.