| SUSTAINING PROCESS INNOVATION IN A QUALITY ENVIRONMENT Juan Ramis-Pujol Issue 26 (Vol. 13, No. 2), December 2003, pp. 203-218 It has been argued that, from a global perspective, a total quality management approach may encompass both a control and a learning component (Sitkin et al., 1994). A balance between those two sets of activities is often recommended. But how do companies sustain innovation in a quality environment? Based on four retrospective and one longitudinal case studies, we find that: a) the nature and the degree of development of the quality environments seem to be associated with process innovation success in the initial and the final stages of the innovation project; b) other organizational elements seem to be necessary to sustain innovation especially during the implementation stage. |