Proposal of an Innovation Framework in an International Manufacturing Company

Nowadays, companies have to innovate to cope with competition. Several types of innovation exist and have been studied for decades by many authors. However, not many types of innovation are really set up in manufacturing companies operating in a B2B market, and even less the innovation led by users. As far as we know, the specific features of innovation in companies operating in a B2B market have not been greatly studied. Thus, managing innovation in these companies becomes a challenge. The aim of our paper is to analyze the types of innovation which are really set up in a manufacturing company. We also propose an innovation framework. An exploratory experimental study in an international manufacturing company enables the validation of the pertinence of our approach. The final aim of our paper is to show the challenge of managing innovation in manufacturing companies, and especially innovation led by users.