Horizontal Innovation: Innovation From All Employees

"Innovations do not have to be radical or limited to technological and product innovations. The authors successfully build upon the notion that the creativity of all employees in an organization can be harnessed to improve overall productivity and give the organization a competitive advantage. Not only, do incremental innovations in sum have an enormous impact on a company's bottom line, but they also have the power of engaging the entire workforce. The authors explore how an "horizontal innovation" strategy can transform an organizational culture into one in which employees feel empowered and are inspired to think out-of-the-box on a daily basis." (Hazel Gruenewald – Professor in ESB Business School at Reutlingen University)
Horizontal Innovation is a new expression that aims to reflect a new situation in terms of innovation management. The word `horizontal` carries both the organizational aspects represented by lean structures and preferably lateral communications and an approach in which the quantity of innovations from all organization's personnel is an essential element for its characterization. This and other questions related to this new form of understanding innovations will be discussed in detail in the eight chapters of this book."