Managing innovation in IT-based, project-led organizations : a pharmaceutical case study

In this thesis I examine the challenges of project-based innovation management in the context of a multinational pharmaceutical company. I focus on two case project teams and examine how the project structures facilitated the uptake of a radical innovation and the challenges that this new knowledge represents to the established organisational and social order of the pharmaceutical company. The radical innovation is the introduction of bio-science informed IT tools called bioinformatics tools in the pharmaceutical R&D process and has been the outcome of the advent of biotechnology and its incursion to the pharmaceutical industry. From the data there seems to be evidence to suggest that there has to be flexibility in project management when dealing with radical innovation. Furthermore, there has to be attention to the social and political dimensions of the company as they impact the direction and success of project-based innovation management efforts.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo