The Technology-Mindset Interactions Leading to Incremental, Radical or Revolutionary Innovations

Innovation is an integral part of the major transformation in modern business. Modern managers are increasingly pushed from both in- and outside the organization to innovate their processes including products and services. Research typically investigates innovative processes from either a technology perspective or managerial mindset perspective, but rarely both. We argue that technology and mindset should be analyzed in combination, as they are fundamentally co-constitutive albeit with different levels of interaction. We categorize the levels of interaction in a two-by-two model, with the Y-axis representing levels of innovative technology and the X-axis representing levels of innovative mindset. This categorization leads to a theoretical framework, a Technology-Mindset Matrix that consists of four typical technology-mindset interactions. We show how each type leads to unique innovative outcomes, and label the four types; incremental innovation, radical technological innovation, radical mindset innovation, and revolutionary innovation. We illustrate each square with case examples. Furthermore, we discuss core B2B issues managers face when transforming their organizations by moving up from incremental to higher ranked modes of innovation.