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On the face of it, there may not seem much in common with a World Bank project to increase the productivity of Nicaraguan farmers, and British financial institutions’ need to bring profitable new products and services on stream quickly. Or with a US office‐product company’s determination to significantly increase revenues, or a Danish underwater acoustics company’s aim to reduce product development times from three years to three months.

Companies under threat can call upon three main types of innovation. First, market innovation – improving the mix of markets served. Second, product innovation – improving the mix of products offered. Third, process innovation – improving the mix and efficiency of internal operations. All types of innovation pose challenges, particularly to companies with little or no experience of managing change. Reports on efforts in five companies which needed to change to stay alive. Describes the types of innovation chosen by their CEOs and the means used to start the innovation process. Marketing considerations were found to be of decisive importance.

Discusses the advantages of different styles of market listening for specific product development activities. Four types of product development activities are considered: routine product development, radical product development, extended product development, and new style product development. Listening both to the external market and to the internal market is shown to be critical to achieving success in each of these activities. Skilful listening allows a business to build effective long‐run relationships with its target markets.

Looks at the importance of product development in business and considers why, with so much attention being directed to process improvement, the success rate is still so low. Contends that while there are critical competences and a convergence towards a “best” process the problems often arise in the translation from the generic to the specific project. Identifies two new tools ‐ a time‐based approach to process mapping and the decision node analysis technique ‐ and suggests that these, together with a focus on risk management, can assist in developing a tailored approach to improving new product development.

An overview of all the elements that go into formulating a business strategy – including received wisdom from the gurus, vision and values, ideas on growth, forecasting, information, objectives, audits, customers, markets, competition, finances, structure, training – with the focus on how to make it happen. Directed at practising managers whose task this is. Making strategic plans is the easy bit; enacting them requires changing things, getting things done through people. Discusses learning, training and development, culture, quality, with the emphasis on real people in real businesses. Underpinned by the philosophy of “action learning”.

Companies are increasingly bringing personnel together into teams from different countries, physically and/or electronically, to develop products for multiple or worldwide markets. Called global new product teams (GNPTs), these groups face significant challenges, including cultural diversity. Differing cultural values can lead to conflict, misunderstanding, and inefficient work styles on the one hand, and strong idea generation and creative problem solving on the other. A study was conducted to identify team compositions that would optimize the effects of national culture so that product development outcomes are favorable. This began by developing a theoretical framework describing the impact of national culture on product development tasks. The framework was then translated into several mathematical models using analytical derivations and comparative statics. The models identify the levels and variances of culture values that maximize product development success by simultaneously considering four relevant dimensions of GNPT performance. Next, the utility of these models was tested by means of numerical simulations for a range of team scenarios. Concludes by drawing implications of the findings for managers and researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of innovation on the relationship between organizational culture and firm performance.

Data for the study were collected through a survey from 154 branches of ten prominent banks in Turkey and responses were analyzed to assess the relationships between organizational culture, firm performance and organizational innovation.

The findings reveal that in the banking sector, although organizational culture and innovation have a direct and positive effect on the firm performance dimensions, organizational culture was found to have an insignificant regression coefficient on the dimensions of firm performance in the presence of organizational innovations.

These findings provide useful insights for organizations, particularly in the banking industry, seeking to be competitive and responsive to environmental changes by successfully introducing innovations. Conclusions emphasize that mechanisms to encourage and foster an innovative culture in the organization are likely to facilitate the introduction, adoption and diffusion of innovations which, in turn, is likely to result in achievement of superior firm performance.

Organizational culture has been studied in the literature as one of the characteristics impacting the firm's performance. But there is a paucity of research which models and empirically studies the relationship between organizational culture and the firm performance. In addition, several researchers have studied organizational innovation as a driver of firm performance but fewer researchers have studied organizational innovations as being impacted by organizational culture. In this study, the paper examines the relationship between organizational culture and firm performance and the role of organizational innovation in this relationship. This research makes an important contribution to the existing literature by empirically examining the relationship between organizational culture, innovations and firm performance.