This short self-assessment questionnaire is based on benchmarking profiles of leading corporations and over 20 years of CIMS research into the best practices in Innovation Management (IM). The assessment is intended to help establish your organization’s current proficiency at creating new, differentiated products and services. The assessment will help identify strengths, as well as weaknesses, opportunities for improvement, and a path forward.

Just “how to” innovate can be a difficult and complex problem. The Center for Innovation Management (CIMS) IM Framework describes a systematic way to think about managing innovation. It breaks innovation down into elements that can be learned, practiced, measured, and ultimately improved -- i.e. managed.

The CIMS IM Framework identifies five organizational ‘Competencies’ successful innovation companies possess: Idea Management, Market Management, Portfolio Management, Platform Management, and Project Management. It is CIMS’ point of view that a company must be proficient in all five Competencies to reliably and repeatedly produce differentiated products and services.

The CIMS IM Framework also breaks down each Competence into five ‘Dimensions’: Strategy, Organization & Culture, Processes, Techniques & Tools, and Metrics. From CIMS experience, these ‘cross-cut’ each of the IM competencies and represent the management activities needed to build strong, durable innovation management capabilities. Taken together, IM Competencies and Dimensions provide a complete and integrated system for helping organizations get results.

HOW THE DATA YOU PROVIDE WILL BE USED

Following completion of the survey, the data will be aggregated and summarized for all who participated. Individual responses, as well as the organization’s overall scores, will be kept strictly confidential. The purpose of the survey is to begin a dialogue between CIMS and executive management regarding the strategic skills needed to successfully manage innovation in the 21st century.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETION

For the purpose of this exercise, please respond as related to your function or particular business unit, not the company as a whole. For each Competence and Dimension, you are asked to select the level that best describes the CURRENT level of IM maturity in your business unit or function and the DESIRED level of IM maturity (the level you desire to achieve in the next 12 to 18 months). Select the response alternative that best describe the CURRENT and the DESIRED levels of maturity for each Competence and Dimension There are five levels of maturity for each Competence and Dimension, described below:

1. Ad Hoc: Initial state; results from having no concerted focus on innovation.

2. Defined: Organization makes innovation a strategic imperative; resources are dedicated to improving the firm’s IM proficiency.

3. Managed: Manager’s actions reinforce the desired new behavior; their goal is to institutionalize the new innovation business model.

4. Leveraged: Synergies occur; company involves people / competencies from outside the boundary of the firm.

5. Optimized: New innovation model is fully internalized; business results are repeatable and predictable (This state represents CIMS knowledge of leading IM practice).

After indicating your CURRENT and DESIRED state, we ask that you provide specific company examples, or practices, to provide additional evidence or which you consider to be a best practice, in the ‘Notes’ section.

RESULTS

After data collection and analysis is complete, you will be provided with the results by email. The information provided to you will include a brief report describing the general results, and a graphical report card for your company. This graphical report card will provide a comparison of your company’s data to the overall data gathered from other companies in your industry.

THANK YOU!

For a more complete description of CIMS IM Framework go to the CIMS website http://cims.ncsu.edu/framework/.