We know almost everything about innovation
Innovation can be interpreted in narrow or broad terms. In the early 1970s, innovation was associated primarily with aspects of activity in the field of technology. With the development of the economy, the understanding of innovation has changed and today innovation is understood much more broadly, taking into account – very importantly – economic factors.
A narrow approach defines innovation as a change in manufacturing methods and products, based on new or previously unused knowledge, as the first application of an invention or the first commercial introduction or use of a new product, process or device. It should be assumed, however, that an innovation in the above approach should be a novelty on a global scale.
A broad approach defines innovation as any change in production based on the use of acquired knowledge, on solving complex problems, which is supposed to lead to novelty. Here, innovation is not limited to technical processes, but rather has an economic or social dimension. An important perspective on innovation was adopted by P.F. Drucker, who stated that the cause for innovation can be a simple observation of the market and analysis of its needs rather than a technical factor.
Today, in broad innovation terms, it doesn’t matter what area of the business the change is in. The important thing is that the change takes place. However, one should be cautious here. Unfortunately, today it often happens to oversimplify and call any change in the area of company operation an innovation. It is obvious that in order to remain at an appropriate level of competitiveness, every company must introduce improvements every day and make decisions that positively modify its activity, be it production, technological, process, marketing or organizational. These actions may affect the structure of fixed and current assets of the company, organizational structure, type of manufactured products or others. However, not all of such changes can be classified as innovation.