Four Reasons Why Medium To Large Size Companies Struggle With Innovation

Innovation and change come naturally to a small, growing company. However, companies that have already established themselves within their industries often struggle with innovation and therefore lose out to rising competition from younger, more dynamic competitors. 

The following are four of the biggest obstacles to innovation that established companies face. Focus on overcoming these obstacles and you'll find that organizational innovation routinely revolutionizes your company as it grows:

A company culture that discourages innovation in lower-level employees

One of the most important things you can do to innovate successfully as a company is constantly look out for talent.

Talent can come from anywhere. Every single employee you have should be given the chance to offer input. Otherwise, you may be missing out on innovation initiatives that could catapult your company to the top of your industry. 

Impatience for a large ROI

As a company grows larger, the bottom line tends to become more and more important. With this impatience comes a tendency to look out for an immediate ROI and to grow concerned if the ROI for an innovation project takes time to appear.

Almost any business venture takes time to reach fruition and profitability. Organizational innovation projects are no different. An in-depth project will require commitment and patience if it is to be successful. 

Business is booming and there's not enough time

It's often hard for larger, more established companies to innovate because they are busy handling current order demands for products and services.

While it's great that a medium or large company has already experienced some success, this success is not likely to continue if considerations aren't made for innovations and improvements. 

If you've got a lot of business coming in and organizational innovation initiatives are hard to manage, you need to realize the importance of making the time for them. You need to be looking ahead and keeping an eye on industry developments and news if you want to avoid losing out to more innovative companies in the not-so-distant future. 

Over-satisfaction with the status quo

It's easy for well established companies to fall into an unfortunate mediocrity revolving around a desire to avoid change. Change always involves a learning curve and an adjustment period, and these things sometimes make long-time employees and management personnel uncomfortable. 

This over-satisfaction can be overcome by stimulating a drive to excel in employees. Leaving things static will usually result in stunted growth into the future, so using incentives and competitions to motivate your employees to innovate is a good idea.