Ends,Means and Innovation Management

The management of innovation inevitably implies the management of uncertainty. Research and practise clearly indicate that judgements about the size and the nature of this are often inaccurate. This can result in poor performance against expectations and in some cases in complete failure. In this paper it is argued that prior analysis of the type of uncertainty can help to improve the success rate and/or reduce the time to completion. Early signs that discontinuation, or a significant change in direction, might be called for are also highlighted by this analysis.