Defining innovation performance measurement criteria with a qualitative research: A research on it firms

The first aim of this study is to define innovation performance measurement criteria for IT firms. IT firms located in technoparks at TR42 East Marmara Region are included in the study and qualitative research method is used. Data are collected by the interviews made with managers of IT firms and are analyzed with descriptive analysis and content analysis techniques. The innovation process of IT firms is divided into four stages: "Idea Generation", "Beta Version Development", "Full Version Development" and "Sale". After the analysis, some performance measurement criteria are introduced to measure the performance of innovation processes of IT firms. Measurement results of innovation performance of participant firms show that "Idea Generation" stage is not taken seriously by these IT firms. Performances of "Beta Version Development" and "Full Version Development" are high. "Sale" stage has to be analyzed by firms carefully. Keywords: Innovation, Innovation Performance, Innovation Performance Measurement Criteria, IT Firms