A qualitative research on establishing and sustaining corporate innovation competence: A holistic model proposal

The purpose of this study is to propose a holistic model that outlines a general framework for making innovation a core organizational competence and ensuring its sustainability within businesses. To achieve this goal, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 businesses operating in various sectors in Turkey that have established innovation as a core competence. The study utilized a qualitative research approach through the method of multiple case studies. The findings derived from the analysis of the research data exhibited significant similarities and, upon evaluation alongside diverse academic studies in the literature, were found to be consistent with these existing works. As a result of this study, a holistic model recommendation has been provided for businesses aiming to enhance their corporate innovation competence and ensure its sustainability. According to this model, a business's innovation competence comprises four interconnected dimensions: corporate objectives, organizational culture and leadership, innovation management structure, and employee competencies. Each dimension encompasses various sub-dimensions. It was concluded that in order to sustain innovation competence, a business needs to engage in continuous and reciprocal interaction with its innovation ecosystem. Furthermore, within the scope of this study, the changes made by businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic and the role of innovation competence in adapting to this period were examined. The results show that the fact that businesses have developed their corporate innovation competencies facilitates and accelerates their adaptation to the challenges and new dynamics created by the pandemic.