Managing Innovation: From ad hoc to Routine in French Telecom

Abstract

Up to a few years ago, project management was mainly concerned with running ad hoc structures: innovations appeared only rarely and could easily be handled by firms. The modern trend (multiplication and unsteadiness of the markets, increasing competition between firms, speeding up of technical change) implies the regular launching of innovative products. Here, the problems to be dealt with are not only technical (performance and reliability) and economic (marketing strategy) ones, but also have managerial implications: internal coordination procedures have to be introduced, development cost control, personnel management and so on. In this context, the introduction of project management structures tends toward a dislocation of the decisions and strategies. The movement away from occasional innovations towards a regular flow of new product developments requires innovation routines which impose limited bureaucratic structures. This paper refers to the findings of a field study performed in the telecommunication industry and concerns the deployment of new electronic mailing systems.

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