This paper examines why organizations actively seek opportunities for innovation and embrace change management. Drawing on a holistic review of available literature, it outlines the relationship between entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation, and explains how adaptability is essential to organizational survival. The paper identifies five key drivers that motivate organizations to pursue innovation: economic growth, a continuous stream of new ideas, business survival, human wellbeing, and increased profitability. It concludes that innovation is a foundational building block for entrepreneurial success, generating new revenue streams and ensuring long-term competitive viability in a fast-changing world.
Innovation is a critical element in the formula for success — and sometimes even for survival. It is for this reason that innovation remains a top agenda item for many organizations across the globe (American Management Association, 2006).
While entrepreneurship involves the willingness to risk starting and managing a business, innovation has to do with developing a new idea or taking an existing idea and applying it more effectively so that it becomes more valuable. Innovation entails the pursuit of new opportunities. Entrepreneurship and innovation are, in many ways, two sides of the same coin — both are essential ingredients of creativity. Creativity is about transforming ideas into reality. Social reality finds expression in organizations, and it is within these settings that intentions are cultivated for the sake of a better future.
The central motivation for change in organizations is the drive to survive and advance to the next level. Consequently, every organization's leadership should embrace the skills required for managing change. Adaptability is always closely tied to the art of survival. Every organization must enhance its ability to manage change amid the disruptive and inevitable forces of a fast-changing world, along with the threats posed by competition.
Therefore, entrepreneurs must be equipped with the requisite knowledge to execute change successfully, even as they seek growth by responding to competitive, technological, and economic pressures (Plante, 2012). This paper explores why leading organizations seek opportunities for creativity and innovation, based on a holistic review of available opportunities.
Economic Growth: Economic growth is closely tied to innovation. Existing products and industries continually outlive their usefulness. Business innovation entails the creation and transformation of knowledge into new products, services, and processes that align with market needs. This process generates new business activity and represents the primary source of business growth, which in turn drives broader economic growth (Research Team, 2015).
Continuous Stream of Innovation: Generally, companies either actively seek out new creative ideas or wait for others to generate them. Some organizations spend more on existing projects without injecting fresh ideas into their systems and processes, becoming trapped in a cycle of repetitive failure or stagnation. Continuous innovation is therefore a prerequisite for sustained business growth (Research Team, 2015).
Survival of Business Entities: In order to prevent discontinuity, a business must navigate an array of difficult experiences and challenges — including shifts in identity, core activities, and operational methods. However disorienting it may seem, transformation is inevitable for the sake of business survival. Innovation is the core driver that enables businesses to endure and remain viable.
Guaranteeing Human Wellbeing: Innovation drives the creation of new industries and, consequently, new income-earning opportunities through both ownership and employment. With proper management, new products present significant economic growth opportunities. These products respond to the changing demands of the market and society at large (Research Team, 2015).
Aspiring for Greater Profits: Innovation is the seed of economic growth, evidenced by the emergence of new income channels. Organizations that innovate consistently are better positioned to generate higher revenues and deliver greater value to their stakeholders.
In summary, it is evident that organizations actively seek opportunities for innovation. Such efforts provide not only survival opportunities but also fresh streams of income for a company's shareholders. Innovation also leads to improved efficiency and new revenue streams for businesses. It is clear that innovation management is a foundational building block for success in entrepreneurial ventures. Valuable products and services are often the direct result of innovation — which itself depends on the willingness to test new ideas and put emerging theories into practice.
American Management Association. (2006). A Global Study of Innovation Management: The Quest for Innovation.
Plante, L. (2012, March). A guide to entrepreneurs who lead and manage change. Technology Innovation Management Review.
Research Team. (2015). Research Team 101: Reasons why entrepreneurial organizations seek innovation opportunities.
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