Business Success by Understanding the Process of Innovation

Today, any organization - regardless of the specific activity - must be prepared to face continuous and radical changes, innovation thus becoming a condition of survival in a globalized market. Although the process of innovation is one of the most important drivers of growth and prosperity in today's global economy, it is also one of the least understood. Throughout the last century, industry leaders learnt to master the production process to such an extent that now it no longer functions as a significant competitive advantage. The new challenge is to master the innovation process harnessing change, creating new competitive advantages by offering better products, using better processes, delivering better services or even offering entirely new solutions. The mastery of the innovation processes can be done only by knowing and understanding innovation, not just the definition but also the entire process that lead to the success of innovation and in the end the success of the companies that implement it. The purpose of this article is to offer a clear image regarding the innovation process so that every organization can implement innovation in their everyday activities. Better understanding that innovation is not a simple activity, that innovation needs to be seen as a process, is made in this article by proposing a number of steps for innovation process and by presenting the results and the benefits of the innovation process. The literature review on innovation made in this paper allows us to point out some important conclusions regarding the approach of the innovation process in organizations, innovation patterns and their evolution, the benefits of the innovation process and steps to be followed for achieving business success. This article can be also used as a base for future studies regarding the process of innovation, the management of the innovation process, the establishing of a management system of innovation and its implementation into existing management systems.