IMI: Only 20% of Irish firms prepared for recession

Fewer than 20% of Irish firms are prepared for the innovation required to cope with the downturn, according to research by the Irish Management Institute (IMI).

It shows that the vast majority of firms are ill-equipped to deal with the type of change necessary to tackle the challenges associated with the current downturn.

Professor John Bessant, who leads the IMI BizLab on Innovation, said: “For an organisation to survive in the short-term and succeed in the long-term, it needs to be good at a number of different forms of innovation, from incremental through to radical innovation.

“The current challenging business climate constitutes a specific and unexpected shock to Irish business requiring the expertise of discontinuous innovation in firms across things like technology and products. But our research, which we will expand upon in the workshop, indicates Irish firms must do more to adapt.”

Only 26% of firms surveyed reported that they were doing anything around what was identified as the most important search strategy for innovation, ‘exploring multiple futures’. The findings also indicate low usage of the internet and a low level of involvement of mainstream employees to facilitate innovation.

This research is the first of its kind in Ireland and will be presented at a workshop at the IMI in Sandyford on Thursday, January 29, in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland, University of Limerick and PDMA (Product Development and Management Association).

The one-day event entitled ‘Finding the Future - Discontinuous Innovation in Irish Firms’, will explore how the prevailing economic conditions place an even greater importance on innovation, with organisations facing the challenge of developing new products and services, not just to remain competitive, but to stay in business.

The research, sponsored by Enterprise Ireland, was undertaken by the IMI BizLab on Innovation in partnership with the University of Limerick. It involved an in-depth audit assessing the innovation practices and competencies of Irish firms across the following five categories: strategy, learning, linkages, processes, and organisation.

Article courtesy of The Evening Echo newspaper.