This decision-making process leads to the total innovation management for the company - direction, areas, resources and timing (Voss, 1994). The innovation strategy sets the direction for innovation, the portfolio specifies the areas and the management plan outlines the process for innovation and the measures for following the innovation as shown in Fig. 2.11.

Fig. 2.11 Total innovation management.

In organising the innovation portfolio, it is necessary to have a careful study of the resources and time available. There is a need to place a priority on the individual innovations and ensure that they are following the company's business aims over time. There is also a need to consider the present activities in the company and to ensure that the innovation portfolio fits in with the use of resources and time. In other words, the innovation portfolio is not a plan on a green field, it is being applied into a present system.

The innovation management plan shows how the company is bringing these innovations to fruition - it sets out the process that will be used, and the methods of controlling the process and the outcomes expected from the process. General milestones need to be clearly spelt out. Again there is a need to show how the innovation management is related to the day-to-day management of the present activities. It is important that company staff recognise how this is to be done at the beginning of the development and not be presented with it late in the development.

Management needs to unite the innovation strategy with the innovation portfolio and the business plan for the present activities to produce the total innovation management plan. Total innovation management includes all the key processes of product development - product design, process development, product commercialisation and product launching; as well as the other innovation areas such as technology change, technology acquisition, marketing change, marketing acquisition, organisational change and organisational acquisition. Each process interacts with each other and the interfaces between them need to be considered in developing the final innovation strategy and management. The aim of total innovation management is to increase the efficiency and the effectiveness of innovation in the company, leading to strong, focused, development of the company. The company stops jumping on bandwagons and buzz words, sometimes diversifying and sometimes returning to core business, sometimes innovative and sometimes conservative. It understands where it is going, how it is going to get there and when it is going to get there.

It is important at this point to analyse the innovations again to see if the decisions to include them need to be changed because of greater possibility of failure, lack of resources or poor timing.

Think Break 1. Define innovation summary, innovation strategy, innovation portfolio,     innovation management. 2. How could all of these be combined in your company into total innovation     management? 3. Do you think this is a useful method for organising innovation in your     company?