Large organisations that do manage to innovate successfully year after year turn out to share a number of organisational capabilities.

European growth reports and national innovation agendas are increasingly urging organisations to innovate faster in order to maintain their competitive position. Yet many large, mature organisations suffer from what Pijl calls organisational inertia. They have become so good at what they already do that routines become rigid and innovation grinds to a halt.

‘While startups are often able to switch flexibly, large organisations must keep their existing activities running and renew at the same time’, says Pijl. ‘It is telling that the average lifespan of large listed organisations fell from 61 to just 18 years between 1958 and 2011.

To find out how you can in fact continue to innovate successfully, Pijl analysed 7 large international organisations from different sectors, including telecom, life sciences, technology, pharmaceuticals and an academic publisher. Thanks to his many years of experience as a strategy consultant, Pijl gained easy access to these organisations, which allowed him to uncover a number of patterns.

Eight crucial innovation capabilities

An important conclusion is that successful organisations do not leave innovation to chance. They all possess the following 8 key capabilities:

1. Recognising opportunities
2. Seizing opportunities
3. Coordinating innovation initiatives
4. Developing and scaling up innovation projects
5. Using external knowledge and collaborations
6. Tension management (between daily operations and renewal)
7. Value management (so innovations create real value)
8. Continuous learning and further developing innovation capability

Selective cherry-picking is fatal

The first 5 capabilities form the basis of successful innovation, says Pijl. In addition, organisations must constantly balance different goals, such as the short and the long term. The other 3 capabilities continuously run across and through the first 5. It is precisely this combination that allows organisations to implement innovation not incidentally, but in a coherent and structurally successful way.

Only when all 8 capabilities are sufficiently developed does a reliable innovation execution capability emerge, according to Pijl. Selective cherry-picking - which ignores some of these capabilities - is highly detrimental to innovation.

No standard recipe for innovation

Pijl emphasises that there is no single ideal organisational form for managing innovation. Some organisations fully integrate innovation into their existing organisation. Others set up separate innovation departments or innovation centers. Both models can be successful, as long as the 8 capabilities are secured and well aligned with the organisation’s strategy.

Case studies

The case studies show that organisations deal with innovation in different ways, but they always make conscious choices. For instance, executives at a life sciences company ‘adopt’ critical innovation projects (‘big tickets’) and guide them from idea to implementation. They see that as a core task, ‘chefsache’. The telecom company works with special ‘free zones’ in which employees can experiment safely and are also allowed to fail. At a logistics company, they use an ‘innovation passport’ to combine creativity and structure throughout the entire project. And at a pharmaceutical company, they develop more ideas than are ultimately implemented, so that only the strongest innovations remain.

Leadership plays a key role

Pijl calls leadership decisive for innovation. ‘Successful leaders not only come up with innovation strategies, they also remain involved until new initiatives actually deliver results. They provide active and strategic leadership for innovation execution, something completely different from delegating. Some even called this “positive micromanagement”.’

AI is the elephant in the room

According to Pijl, AI is the obvious topic that cannot be ignored when we talk about innovation. AI looms over almost every innovation discussion. It can help organisations recognise opportunities faster, develop prototypes and scale up innovations. But without an organisation that is properly designed for this, it delivers little, he argues. 'Simply adding AI to a sluggish organisation is like putting a jet engine on a horse-drawn carriage.'

Practical tools for organisations

With his research, Pijl wants to advance academic knowledge and also help organisations. Based on his insights, he developed a practical framework that companies can use to organise, measure and improve their innovation power.

‘Successful innovation is not about isolated ideas or hypes, but about coherent capabilities, says Pijl. Only in this way can large organisations remain competitive, especially in markets that are changing ever more rapidly.’

Thesis details

Jacques Pijl, 2026, Dynamic Innovation Execution Capabilities. How Mature Firms Successfully Execute Innovation Strategies. Supervisor: Prof. H.W. Volberda, co-supervisor: Dr M.A. Hollen.