Innovation Management Practice in Irish SME’s

The topic of innovation management has received much attention from research, industry and state support in the past number of years. However, much of the research has focused on the large enterprises with much available financial wealth and planning infrastructure required, in order to be effective at managing innovation. This research has not greatly benefited SME’s due to the key differences in industry practice between large, medium and small enterprises. A review of the literature has been conducted and synthesised in order to understand the factors that affect the innovation management process within SME’s. A scorecard has been developed that reflects these factors and has been used to identify the needs and capabilities of SME’s in order to effectively manage their innovation process. Four interviews have been conducted using this scorecard in order to identify and understand the needs of innovation management within supplier SME’s in Ireland