When Tradition Turns Into Innovation : How Firms Can Create and Appropriate Value Through Tradition

Description: Starting from the increasing difficulties firms face to create new value for customers and achieve competitive advantage, this book proposes an innovative strategy to sustain innovation at the product level, based on the notion of tradition. Specifically, the authors argue that firms may successfully innovate, exploiting the whole set of competencies, knowledge, values and culture that characterize a specific firm, territory, and/or age. Analyzing several international case studies, this book clearly shows how tradition may be effectively used, allowing companies to create successful new products and how to profit from them. The book tackles the main issues and problems of a tradition-based innovation approach, tracing the patterns of how old and new knowledge can be combined.