THE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF INNOVATION

As companies mature, they generally decline in creating new value due to the failure of their internal innovation process. The aging organiz ation comes to be dominated by operations executives, who tend to be i ntolerant of the different cultural needs of the variety of corporate segments needed for high-innovation productivity particularly ''the fu zzy front end.'' But decline is not inevitable. A study of exceptional mature companies that have maintained their innovative force shows so me clear characteristics in common. The broad-based corporate cultural commitment to innovation as a way of life is particularly important i n these companies in contrast to the tendency to attempt to make innov ation a functional activity by delegation to R&D or Marketing.