EMR Award for Henk Volberda, Frans van den Bosch and Kevin Heij

Successful innovation is heavily dependent on management innovation, argued the researchers in their winning paper.

The award-winning paper, 'Management Innovation: Management as Fertile Ground for Innovation', was published in the European Management Review (EMR) in 2013. EMR is the official journal of the European Academy of Management.  

In the paper, <link people henk-volberda>Prof. Volberda, <link people frans-van-den-bosch>Prof. Van den Bosch and Mr Heij argue that innovation is considered to be the primary driving force of progress and prosperity. Consequently, much effort is put in developing new technological knowledge, new process technologies and new products. However, evidence from both SMEs and large firms shows that successful innovation is not just the result of technological innovation, but is also heavily dependent on what has been called 'management innovation'. Management innovation refers to the introduction of management practices, processes and structures that are intended to further organisational goals.

The paper was applauded for its strong conceptual and empirical approach to speeding up progress and knowledge advancement in the relatively young field of management innovation. The paper advances our understanding of management innovation, its underlying dimensions, its antecedents, its impact on performance, and the contextual factors that affect management innovation, according to the jury. It nicely illustrates how management itself can be a fertile ground for innovation.  

The research team received the European Management Review Best Paper Award 2014 from its editor-in-chief, Professor Mustafa Ozbilgin of Brunel University, during the European Academy of Management in Valencia.