ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the importance of innovation in the business field. In a competitive environment marked by globalisation, growing competition and profound social and technological changes, innovation has become one of the main mechanisms with which companies can maintain their competitiveness and guarantee their survival in the long term. Throughout the chapter, the concept of innovation is defined and differentiated from other ideas, such as creativity. This chapter also distinguishes between different types of innovation (product, process, marketing, organisational) and identifies the main features of radical and incremental innovations. The different phases of the innovation process are then reviewed, and the chapter ends by introducing some of the latest trends in the study of innovation within the context of companies and organisations.
