Integrating Innovation into Business Strategy: Perspectives from Innovation Managers

This article presents the results of a literature review and the preliminary results of interviews with directors and innovation managers of large companies on the importance of innovation in business strategy, innovation strategy, and the factors they consider when choosing their strategy. Therefore, the study determines nine statements. There is no global consensus on the definition of innovation, which could affect its relevance in business. This contributes to the fact that the innovation department is not integrated as the main lever of the core business. A business strategy needs innovation, and a business innovation needs its own strategy. In fact, it is positive to incorporate the innovation strategy into the business strategy to improve productivity, performance, and sustainability. The innovation strategy is framed in a multidimensional way, and the innovation strategies are oriented to the offering, efficiency, and business plan. In turn, there are factors (internal and external) that affect or influence the decision of companies when deciding on an innovation strategy. It is also concluded that it is reasonable to consider that we can use the business strategy methodology to determine the innovation strategy. Future research could delve into how to establish a framework that defines the innovation strategy methodology with a unified approach where the main strategies and their components are revealed.