Management von Innovationen: Hintergrund und Status quo des Innovationsmanagements im Mittelstand

Innovation management is seen as one of the most important areas for the long term success of companies. Against this background, this paper analyzes the differences between distinct types of corporations, namely small and mediums sized companies as well as major enterprises, regarding their approaches to the management of inno-vation. Based on a sample of 137 companies, the results indicate that there are major differences in the innovation management approaches of these different kinds of companies. Whereas big companies tend to have a sophisticated and professional innovation management in terms of processes and tools, they typically struggle with their innovation culture. On the contrary, small and medium sized enterprises char-acteristically show a lack of professionalism, but a high level of positive innovation culture. Finally, our results indicate that there must be the right mix between profes-sionalism and intuitivism, based on the different industry specifications.