Project-based innovation: The world after Woodward

Abstract

This chapter develops a conceptual framework to help us position and understand the increasing importance of project-based innovation for industrial organization in the 21st century. It builds on and extends Joan Woodward's (1958 and 1965) pioneering research, which classifies industrial organizations according to the complexity of production technology and volume of output. We suggest that a radical revision of Woodward's framework is required to account for the extensive use of project-based organizations to gain competitive advantage through accelerated innovation and growth in new technologies and markets.

Citation

Davies, A. and Frederiksen, L. (2010), "Project-based innovation: The world after Woodward", Phillips, N., Sewell, G. and Griffiths, D. (Ed.) Technology and Organization: Essays in Honour of Joan Woodward (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 29), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 177-215. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2010)0000029015