Top 10 Books on Managing Innovation (with links, explanations, and videos)

I've been doing research on managing innovation in different kinds of European IT companies. Here is my Top 10 List on inspiring Innovation Management Books. Let me know what you think and I would welcome new suggestions very much.

10 - Christensen, C. M. (2013). The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail. Harvard Business Review Press.

Watch this short Video Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUAtIQDllo8&t=15s

9 - Henry Chesbrough, Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology, Harvard Business School Press, 2003.

This book marks another milestone in innovation management research and practice. Harvard professor Henry Chesbrough showed that companies can become more innovative and exploit larger economies of scale if they use both inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate innovation. This marks the shift of innovation activity from isolated "lone geniuses" to networks of innovating organizations.

Read this short article by Henry Chesbrough

8-  Robinson, A. G., & Schroeder, D. M. (2014). The idea-driven organization: Unlocking the power in bottom-up ideas. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. (Amazon)

Most companies, if they solicit employee ideas at all, essentially just set up a suggestion box, which is usually where ideas go to die. But innovation is key to survival and all organizations constantly need new ideas. So where are those ideas coming from and how can companies successfully implement them? Using numerous examples, Robinson and Schroeder argue that the employees who interact directly with your customers, make your products, and provide your services are in the best position to see where problems exist and what improvements and new offerings would have the most impact. 

7 - Ries, E. (2011). The lean startup: How today's entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses. Crown Books. (Amazon)

In the lean start-up, Eric Ries describes a novel, concrete methodology how entrepreneurs can create disruptive business innovations by building minimum viable products (MVP). MVPs are, simply put, prototypes that show only the minimum functionality that is required to test the envisaged product or service. Entrepreneurs should quickly generate them to learn from their customers about the emerging business in an agile manner.

6 - Von Hippel, E. (2005). Democratizing innovation. MIT press. (Free on Amazon

In his seminal book, Eric von Hippel explains how so-called lead users can drive innovation in ways that established companies could not think of. Lead users are often better innovators because they tweak and tune combinations of existing products until they fit their needs. For instance, von Hippel uses the example of Mountainbikes, which emerged from a community of Californian biking enthusiasts. He explains the dynamics of democratized innovation in great detail and offers suggestions for how to manage democratized innovation.

5 - Hill, L. A., Brandeau, G., Truelove, E., & Lineback, K. (2014). Collective genius. Harvard business review, 92(6), 94-102. (Amazon)

Through multiple case studies in companies all over the world, Harvard professor Linda Hill shows that successful innovation depends less on talented individuals than it depends on inspiring leaders that can ignite the willingness and ability to unfold their collective creativity.

Watch this short Video lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImmtTHYU5GQ

 3 + 4 - Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers. John Wiley & Sons. (Amazon)

A modern classic in business innovation, Osterwalder & Pigneur's Business Model Generation provides a practical, intuitive, and well-known toolkit - the Business Model Canvas (BMC). The BMC is widely applied in companies of all sizes all over the world to create, improve, and reconceptualize business models. The book itself is a piece of art with attractive visualizations and illustrations. 

Also interesting: Their new book Value Proposition Design

2 - Tuomi, I. (2002). Networks of innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Amazon)

One of my favourite innovation classics, which I often return back to. The depth of Ilkka Tuomi's thoughts and insights on innovation is impressive. It provides a fresh and extremely deep perspective on how disruptive innovation actually happens. Using the case of open source software, Tuomi illustrates in great practical and theoretical detail how networks of innovation emerge and coordinate.

1 - Desouza, K. C. (2011). Intrapreneurship: managing ideas within your organization. University of Toronto Press. (Amazon)

This is a must read for both employees and innovation managers. As an employee, you expect that you can unfold your creative potential in the company you work for and that your ideas are actually put into practice. Desouza conceptualizes these employees as intrapreneurs, who share the "drive and zeal" of entrepreneurs, but operate within established organizations. Of course, organizations and innovation managers have a strong interest in structuring the innovation process in a way that maximizes the throughput of ideas. Using multiple case studies and theoretical perspective, Desouza conceptualizes an innovation process that centers on maximizing the successful implementation of employee-driven ideas.