Management of innovation

Management of innovation refers to both organizational and product innovation. By
definition, innovation is the creation of a commercialized product from invention. Innovation
management includes tools that enable engineers and managers to cooperate with a common
understanding of goals and processes. Further, the concept allows companies to respond to
internal and external opportunities as well as use its creativity to introduce new ideas, products or
processes (Bradley et al., 2008). It is not relegated to R&D and involves individuals at all levels
within the business framework contributing creatively to the development of the organization’s
product, manufacturing, and marketing. Through utilization of innovation management tools
such as virtual prototyping and product lifecycle management, a company’s management can
trigger and deploy creative capabilities of its workforce for constant development (Bradley et al.,
2008). To sustain or lead in innovation managers require concentrating on innovation networks
which need profound and clear comprehension of its complexities. As such, innovation
management can be viewed as a process of integrating, technology, organization, and market by
iterating several activities such as searching, selecting, implementing and capturing the invented
idea. Therefore it will be imperative to discuss commercialization of aeolipile from Greece and
how the development of new product and services contributes to building and economy, help
corporations stay in business and server an opportunity for individual success.
Commercialization of Aeolipile from Greece
One of the things that would have been required in early Greece to commercialize
aeolipile is the availability of innovators. After the invention of the ‘steam engine’ by Heron
Alexandria, it did not go another level because Greece lacked innovators at the time. The engine
did not revolutionize because there was no one to figure out how to mass produce it at an
MANAGEMENT OF INNOVATION 3
affordable price (Bradley et al., 2008). The contract monitors were not so perceptive at the time.
Therefore, Greece lacked innovators that would have made key technical development on some
of the engine parts such as piston and condenser which would have permitted successful
commercialization. Moreover, it was hard to use the machine to lower the wage bill because
slaves were used as workers (Bradley et al., 2008). There were no applications where the
Romans would have required the steam engine as it would have produce lack mechanical labor
while consuming a significant amount of scarce resources.
Also, education and application of technology would have been required for successful
commercialization of the engine. There was a need to develop complete technology before real
impact of idea could be seen. However, development of the technologies that would have
advanced the efficiency of the engine would have cost real money. Often product development
costs much money than research (Bradley et al., 2008). Further, during the time, Greece society
did not have mature technologies that could have been used to predict this cost and likelihood of
success of the project. As such, it was difficult to make a good business case to develop a
product out of the aeolipile that the market needed. Therefore, the society that existed in 50 AD
would not have done much for Heron’s steam engine.
Steam Turbine and Global Economy