Innovation teams
Another critical organizational improvement is in developing the right
team to execute on the opportunistic-investments model, modeled after
the “skunkworks” concept by Rich and Janos [5]. This will
facilitate a change form reactive to proactive thinking [14]. The
NME product development teams (NME teams) are positioned in a way that
embodies linear thinking. Such linear thinking is a constraint for
creativity and innovation.
More specifically, these innovation teams need to exercise creative
realism in the Finke’s creativity model as opposed to the conservative
realism that exists in asset development teams [15]. This is because
innovation teams need to be highly imaginative and highly connected to
the expert knowledge to be able to visualize the full scope of the
patient and product value [16]. Innovation teams are to exercise
divergent thinking, again contrasting to convergent thinking that may
exist in asset development teams [17]. In Clark and Wheelwright
[18] typology, these innovation teams are autonomous teams.