Mapping Technological Innovation: Methodology And Implementation

Technological innovation is the underlying driving force of economic development, both in a nation's economy and in an organization's competiveness. The first objective of this paper is to map the innovation space available in the Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation, one of the largest petrochemical companies in the Middle East. The second is to suggest modifications to an innovation mapping tool and apply the modified tool to the same company. First, data were collected over a three-year period. They were analyzed and mapped using the 4Ps innovation mapping model. Second, modifications were suggested to eliminate the weaknesses associated with this model. The results showed that the company introduced a total of forty four innovations that were all incremental; the majority fell in the product and process. The implementation process of the 4Ps model showed that it has deficiencies in some cases, due to not having clear dividing lines between pure and combined innovations. It does not allow for mapping innovations that combine product-with-process or position-with-paradigm innovations; furthermore, radical and incremental innovations cannot always be clearly positioned. A modified model was developed that overcomes these weaknesses. A modified model was developed and successfully implemented to map the innovation space in the same company.