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In turbulent environments, one of the fundamental problems is the high risk of failure in new innovation projects that affects organizational behaviour and performance of firms. The study here clarifies the theoretical structure of project-level failure proposing a definition and three general types of determinants: errors in planning and design, in project execution and marketization. Innovation failure is when organizations do not achieve the main goal of projects because of a set of errors. A case study research clarifies the proposed framework of innovation failure in projects with examples in pharmaceutical sector, aerospace and aircraft industries, and information & communications technologies industries. Results suggest that failure in innovation projects is associated with goal difficulty, environmental complexity and uncertainty. Different strategies to reduce errors leading to innovation failure and improve technological development are proposed, such as learning processes, adaptation perspective, game theory models, stage-gate method, etc. The proposed concept of innovation failure and general causes can guide R&D managers, designers, analysts, and policymakers etc. to know main determinant errors of failure in innovation projects and how appropriate strategies can improve performance of R&D for competitive advantage of organizations in markets and society.
Mario Coccia (Wed,) studied this question.