Interestingly, exhibit 4 shows that most managers think that innovation performance would improve with a better pipeline of big ideas (57%), yet only a third of these managers thought they had a good balance between idea generation and effective execution. The ideas trap is alive and well!

One of the most interesting graphics related to the effects of formalizing the innovation process. Most respondents did not have a formal innovation process and only a third were able to say that they had their innovation initiatives aligned with strategy at the business or corporate level.

However, those that reported having a very formalized innovation management process (about 20%) reported higher rates of innovation rejection within the business and slower times to market compared to firms that had more informal innovation management processes. While it would be interesting to know what these processes actually look like, it gives us some evidence that too much formality is a bad thing.