Improving innovation culture in the front end : Case Ruukki Metals Oy

The purpose of this thesis was to examine how organization culture affects innovativeness and to define ways how to improve innovation culture. The client of the study was the research and development function of Ruukki Metals Oy, Hämeenlinna. Innovation culture was examined in case company’s front end, because improving innovation culture in the front end supports the total innovation process. The objectives of the study were to define the areas of innovation culture in need for improvement in the case organization and to provide ideas how to improve innovation culture. The third objective was to create a model for assessing innovation culture. The required theoretical information was gathered by examining existing literature and research on organization culture and innovations. Based on the theoretical findings, a model for assessing innovation culture was created. The created innovation audit tool was utilized in the empirical research that was conducted by interviewing experts working in the front end of the case organization. Analysis was made by constructing entities of the results that described certain themes. Research results revealed a rather balanced common innovation culture in the case organization. The main findings demonstrate that the case organization can consider improving innovativeness by arranging direct interaction with customers, communicating strategy thoroughly, arranging time to think, encouraging risk-taking, and by developing a system to collect and utilize overall information and experiences efficiently. In the future, innovation audit can be conducted on a general level in the research and development function of the case organization