Does Innovation Flourish With the Implementation of Certified Management Systems?: A Study in the European Context

2. Linkages Between Quality And Innovation

The Schumpeterian concepts of innovation (Sengupta 2014) assume that it is closely related to radical or incremental changes. In general, there are two approaches to innovation: one regards innovation as a process while the other one as an event, object or product. Further elaboration on these approaches entails creation of many innovation concepts that are basically related to organisational processes and technical development of certain products (for thorough reviews see Kotsemir et al. 2013). Managing innovation is one of the key strategic tasks which organisations face. Knowledge becomes a primary task requiring building innovation routines (Bessant 2003). According to Igartua et al. (2010) innovation management can be defined as the creation of preconditions to promote human creativity but also as a process to foster the application of knowledge.

The notion of total quality (TQ) comprises two areas: holistic and continuous improvement (McAdam et al. 1998). The holistic view incorporates business process re-engineering, benchmarking and total productive maintenance including business proficiency and efficiency. Continuous improvement is defined as a mechanism and a cultural definition of TQ. It is based on the following assumptions: customer satisfaction is vital, internal customers are real, all work is a process, measurement is essential, teamwork is the preferred work mode, people achieve continuous improvement, and continuous improvement cycle is sacrosanct. López-Mielgo et al. (2009) distinguish two components of TQM: hard components which are mechanistic elements of quality assurance and soft components seeking to gain the involvement of managers and employees in the quality management like training, learning and internal cooperation teamwork.