Finally, the experimentation process is viewed both as a necessity and as an asset in robust organizations. Experimentation allows the organization to not only test and build upon ideas, but also to renew existing products and services. In addition, experimentation engages the workforce in learning and training programs wherein new ideas can be creatively integrated into work processes. Consider the following comment:

'For us, experimentation is fundamental. Even [when] our experimentation process comes up with no commercial outputs, we learn. Learning has to be part of the experimentation process and we value all learning efforts ... During experimentation with new ideas we may learn that our thinking, the entire framework, on a problem has been incorrect. This may have been the reason why we did not succeed in a given set of trials ... The emergence of a new framework might be significant in and of itself, especially if it helps us address the hundred other problems that the experiment had never intended to solve ... Experimentation is a skill, a core capability, and a strategic differentiator for us. We pride ourselves on being able to experiment in a more rigorous, skillful, and agile manner.'--VP of Sales and Marketing, Consumer Products Organization

Commercialization

While experimentation focuses upon the possibility of executing an idea, commercialization focuses upon the potential impact of an idea. Once ideas are developed within a context, the next step is to make them appealing to the intended audience. This involves choosing methods to package the ideas, whether for internal or external audiences. Commercializing involves clarifying how and when ideas can be used by people other than the group that developed them, and using data or prototypes from the experimentation process to demonstrate tangible or visible benefits. Commercialization takes possible ideas and creates internal or external market value, creating parameters within which value can be expressed or shared in a coherent fashion. External audiences may need to be introduced to products or services, either as entirely new products or as improved versions of existing outputs.

There are many mechanisms for commercialization. Some organizations encourage employees to write papers and attend conferences, thereby experimenting in a public forum while gaining insight from audience responses. This is a variation on the marketing focus group, wherein a small group of consumers is brought in to test reactions to a product or service. Commercialization weeds out the ideas that need refinement in order to win an audience, from the possible ideas that can be immediately and persuasively presented to an audience (whether internal or external).

Part of the work of commercialization is to establish the specifications of an idea. The promises and potentials of the earlier stages of innovation must be discarded so that the actual benefits of the new innovation can be perceived and communicated. Documentation, both of the commercialization process and of the demonstrable and communicable aspects of the innovation, becomes crucial. The very act of documenting an innovation's benefits establishes a base for communicating value.

Much of the time, commercialization involves refining scope. For instance, when introducing a new wiki, understanding who is most likely to benefit from the wiki, who will be using it, how often it will be maintained and the scope of ideas intended to be explored will greatly affect later adoption and use. Commercialization allows organizations to identify stakeholders and their needs (or desires) and sometimes to redefine those stakeholders, including or excluding groups with conflicting or complementary needs. Aside from identifying target markets or users, commercialization also ensures that only the right parts of an idea are made public, usually with plans to continue to release ideas. For example, when introducing a new service, sometimes it behooves an organization to announce the most appealing component of the service first, to draw people in and pique their interest, and then to explain the details only when the consumer has been engaged and demonstrated interest.

The output of a commercialized idea is a defined product or service (or a combination of the two). Crucially, a business plan must be developed for how the idea is to be diffused and implemented, which constitute the next steps in the innovation process.

Commercialization is the stage where the focus of innovation shifts from development to persuasion. After the experimentation stage, the idea's possibility has been demonstrated; commercialization requires creating or revealing the idea's merits in the current consumer or user context. If an organization lacks contextual knowledge or cannot shift gears from engineering ideas to determining market feasibility, outsourcing this stage or selling the realized invention may be the best route.

With process or business innovations, however, outsourcing is almost impossible. In these instances, a keen understanding of organizational culture must back up any changes. Some organizations bring in consultants or lay off large numbers of employees and bring in fresh blood as a way of circumventing this stage of internal commercialization of business processes. Other companies, like HP Labs, initiate a dialogue and involve employees from the beginning of the commercialization process, asking them what they want and engaging them in the business process of internal commercialization (Albert & Picq, 2004).

Success indicators

The challenge here is for organizations to commercialize ideas in the best ways. To this end, they need to understand the costs and benefits of various types of commercialization. This gives robust organizations an edge because they often have already involved the customer in the innovation process. Robust organizations are also more likely to be able to package their new ideas within existing products and services without disrupting current customers, services or offerings. The most robust organizations can balance the bundling of products and services, to continuously increase the value of their offerings with low-cost implementation of new innovations. Robust organizations also tend to underplay successful innovations because they are hungry for the next breakthrough. Brittle organizations tend to get caught up in a single success and try to ride their own waves, often resulting in one-hit wonders.

Robust organizations understand the difference between idea (knowledge) creation and idea (knowledge) commercialization (Desouza & Awazu, 2006). The stages that have been discussed up to now are those that represent the creation of ideas. The stages of commercialization, diffusion and implementation are quite different--they represent the full realization and demonstrated value of ideas. In order to invent, organizations must be able to go through the knowledge creation cycle multiple times and, ideally, obtain new knowledge with each cycle. The second phase of knowledge management is the commercialization of knowledge. This is where organizations wish to transform inventions into innovations. An invention is considered an innovation only when it has been commercialized (Dahlin & Behrens, 2005). Invention and innovation feed into each other. Inventions can be the result of needs or demands that existing innovations fail to satisfy. On the other hand, innovations are dependent upon the existence of new ideas that lead to new products, services or processes.

However, these two processes require different governance structures and approaches. The process of idea creation blossoms in fluid and safe spaces. In such spaces, creativity is encouraged, not managed; individuals are provided a safe haven for experimentation without being punished for failed attempts to innovate. In the case of idea commercialization, the main task is to commercialize the ideas that are generated (i.e. the inventions) so that they create value for the organization. Innovations can be internal or external to the organization. For example, a group may invent a best practice, such as a knowledge process, and then seek to commercialize it in the organization by promoting its acceptance and adoption. Similarly, an R&D lab may develop a product enhancement. Interestingly, many of the 'rules' for successfully transforming inventions into innovations are similar, regardless of internal or external focus. This is because both cases involve transferring inventions from their 'original spaces' to 'foreign spaces.' Successful knowledge commercialization occurs when an organization has a systematic process (Brown & Duguid, 2001). An essential aspect of such a systematic process is the centralization of the commercialization process in the organization. Just as recruiting in different divisions of an organization is handled by the human resources unit of the organization, commercialization of inventions produced by different units of an organization should be handled by a centralized organizational unit. In academic research institutions, such a function is served often by a separate unit involved in technology transfer that seeks commercialization of inventions. These units share a symbiotic relationship that reflects the constant interaction of the idea creation and idea commercialization processes. Success derives from using different principles to manage the knowledge creation and knowledge commercialization units, and recognizing the differences between decentralized and centralized control regimens.

Robust organizations understand these differences. Brittle organizations may try to centralize and control idea creation, and leave the process of idea commercialization loose and uncoordinated, thereby wasting resources. Consider the following quote:

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