Metrics for innovation: guidelines for developing a customized suite of innovation metrics

Purpose During the past year, the authors have built a framework for a suite of metrics that senior managers can customize to track and promote innovation success in their companies. Design/methodology/approach Senior executives can use the suite of metrics to assess their company's innovativeness over time and hence combat the insidious strategy decay that often afflicts a company's business. Findings The framework combines three views on innovation – resource, capability, and leadership – providing the perspective to develop a suite of metrics for assessing and developing a company's capacity for innovation. Research limitations/implications The optimal selection of metrics and the optimal value or “sweet spot” of any particular metric will vary from company to company. Practical implications As more firms develop strategic innovation metrics and a database that validates their relevance, top managers will learn to assess and guide a company's innovation capability more effectively. Originality/value This is the first strategic guideline for building a customizable system of innovation metrics.