'We finally learnt a simple thing--researchers and idea creators do not appreciate the nuances of marketing and commercialization. Even better, our business development folks do not understand the intricacies of research and the fuss that goes along with design, robustness of solutions, etc. In the past, we tried to get the researchers involved in the commercialization aspects of the business and the BD [business development] folks in the labs. The goal was to build better knowledge transfer flows and all the other niceties that go along with cross-functional teams. The end result was pain and more pain. Now, we keep these two distinct, yet integrated. Distinctness plays out by allowing researchers to be researchers and for the BD folks to be happy with revenue generations. BD folks provide need analyses and idea requests to our R&D groups who have incentives to address these commercial problems. The researchers work to come up with the solutions in direct cooperation with the customers, most often the engineering teams of the customers. Then, the BD folks at both ends, ours and the customers, go through a structured process to work on the financial, legal, and other operational details of the agreements ... Before, we tried to centralize and tightly control the entire innovation life-cycle. Today, we have structured and optimized the commercialization aspects and preserved the serendipity associated with a decentralized and chaotic, yet manageable, idea development aspects.'--CEO, Research & Development Organization.

Finally, robust organizations experiment frequently with minimal cost because they know how to learn from their failures as effectively as they learn from their successes. Every failure of commercialization is thoroughly scrutinized; lessons are learned and then fed back into the various stages of the innovation process to increase the chances of future success. Robust organizations have built clear and robust linkages between experimentation and commercialization efforts. If a product or service, or an internal process, is commercialized, the robust organization will have individuals who were part of the experimentation process collect feedback from the customers. Feedback is scrutinized to evaluate both the process (how the ideas moved through the various stages of the innovation cycle) and the outputs (the tangible products and services). Feedback then influences future activities in each stage of the innovation process.

Diffusion and implementation

Diffusion and implementation are two sides of the same coin; diffusion is the process of generating buy-in and acceptance for a new innovation, while implementation is the process of setting up the structures, maintenance and resources to allow the innovation to develop and be utilized or produced. Most organizations recognize the critical nature of this stage. Consider the following comment:

'We come up with great ideas. Sometimes we even can commercialize them with ease. But getting people to accept them and then change their behaviors to actually utilize the innovations in the optimal manner is difficult. Difficult is putting it modestly. Most of our effort goes into ensuring that we can change the mindsets of customers.'--VP of Global Markets, Consumer Products Organization

Three potentially useful strategies for diffusion of ideas are: 1) targeting key actors to align the company for knowledge management by involving all levels of the organization and building internal alliances with various stakeholders; 2) building on existing initiatives and actively fostering knowledge networks to generate momentum by linking decentralized initiatives and emphasizing the company mission; and 3) communicating a purposeful message that aids the cultural and mental transition by focusing on realistic objectives (Raub & Von Wittich, 2004). Executives are not always the agents of innovation diffusion--anyone can take on that role. Diffusion happens at all levels, whether department-wide, companywide, or partner or network-wide; or regionally, nationally or globally (Waarts & Van Everdingen, 2005).

One way of formalizing and systematizing this process is to use 'knowledge brokers,' key figures who bring new ideas to the table either within an organization or as representatives of a partner company or outside organization (Hargadon & Sutton, 2000; Hagel & Brown, 2005; Sawhney, Prandelli, & Verona, 2003; Smyth & Longbottom, 2005; Cillo, 2005). Knowledge brokers differ from idea advocates in that knowledge brokers know the specific context and application into which an idea, product or service can be inserted. Knowledge brokers present nearly finished, i.e. mostly refined ideas, for the purpose of rapid implementation. Knowledge brokers are often viewed as consultants who try to solve specific problems, but a growing literature suggests that within large companies, knowledge brokers can fulfill a crucial advocacy role for internal ideas as well, particularly because they can mobilize ideas into other areas of an organization and illuminate potential benefits. As previously discussed in the mobilization stage, transfer of ideas into new contexts sometimes results in idea generation for that particular context; at other times, idea transfer does not result in re-use after experimentation, but rather in wholesale adoption, followed by minor tweaking. During alliances, brokers can increase collegiality between parties and garner buy-in for new ideas that initially appear strange (Hagel & Brown, 2005).

At Hewlett-Packard (HP) Laboratories, in order to diffuse a new internal focus on innovation throughout the company, top management started by asking questions. Employees gave feedback on HP's status as a world-class research and laboratory organization and suggested ways to evaluate the organization. In this instance, diffusion could then be matched to employee priorities and expectations for evaluation. Dialogue with management continued when employees were asked how their particular positions would allow them to contribute to making HP one of the best research institutions in the world (Albert, 2006). Thus, HP Laboratories involved all employees in a discussion of standards and desired goals. Individual meetings then assisted the translation of goals from the organizational level to the individual level. Diffusion of the idea of organizational improvement was the first step, while subsequent individual employee dialogues allowed for the implementation of specific individual goals and metrics.

One approach is to actively engage members of an organization in the stages of idea creation and idea commercialization. For example, IBM conducts innovation jams (Innovation Jam--Introduction, n.d.) which are open to all its employees, clients, business partners, and even employees' families. By involving these stakeholders and giving them a sense of ownership, IBM also ensures that the innovations that are developed are diffused effectively within and outside IBM.

For product or service innovations, the final stage of the innovation process requires marketing to consumers. This is a specialized subset of innovation diffusion. The use of customer data and careful attention to customer desires and perceptions assists this part of the process. For instance, after September 11, 2001, KLM Airlines reinvented its image, emphasizing customer service and friendliness in order to market itself as an airline that knows customers and their preferences. KLM's strategy for marketing was to emphasize knowledge of frequent fliers and make their trips more comfortable and friendly, thus improving the airline's image with the people who were most likely to discuss and convey impressions of airlines. To do this, KLM had to dramatically improve its Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) systems, so that every interaction with a KLM representative was tracked and recorded, and so that the representative knew the flier's preferences and could offer the best customer service (Viaene & Cumps, 2005). Customer Knowledge Management may lead to the generation of new ideas as well, but during this stage of the innovation process, CKM allows an organization to assess market openings and identify marketing strategies. The literature contains some strategies for using CKM for both marketing and generation of ideas (Gibbert, Leibold, & Probst, 2002; Smith & McKeen, 2005). This reveals that the innovation process can be cyclic if customer knowledge sparks new ideas.

Acceptance of an innovation and demonstrated use or application of the innovation should be accomplished by the end of this stage. Tweaking of the innovation may occur throughout, and brief returns to experimentation phases may occur, particularly if experimentation was outsourced initially. However, by the end of this stage an innovation has been accepted and implemented, and older, duplicative processes are eventually eliminated.

An advertising campaign or successful sales is the most desirable output of marketing. The key critical ingredient for success is knowledge of customers, as well as the capacity to make use of that knowledge. Finally, an organization must execute implementation of an innovation into a service or product. As the final stage of the innovation process, marketing lends itself to evaluation of innovations as business success, sales or stock growth. However, successful marketing implies that all stages of the innovation process have been completed.

The diffusion process requires an open culture and/or strong advocacy throughout the organization. The benefits of the innovation must be readily apparent, and detractors must be convinced or removed from the community. Resources and unlearning are the two critical factors required in implementation. Resources, whether in the form of time, money, equipment or materials, must be available for the new process, product, service or strategy to be implemented. Unlearning and deprogramming require eliminating behavioral or mechanical processes that duplicate the new strategy or process. For example, if a new enterprise portal is introduced in a company, the older software must be removed from computers, and information must be transferred into the new portal. In addition, employees must unlearn old habits of finding knowledge and learn to use the new portal.

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