The Global Importance of Innovation Champions: Insights from China

Some call them deviants, others call them heroes, but one commonality for what the literature has deemed “innovation champions” is that these individuals can play a vital role in modern organizations. The role of innovation in creative destruction and national economic growth is well documented. The role of entrepreneurs in this process was identified by Joseph Schumpeter and has since been extensively researched. Schumpeter also realized that it takes a range of individuals to make innovation happen. This chapter is focused on a particular individual in an organization: the innovation champion. The notion of an innovation champion is complex and has been labeled in various ways. Innovation champions (Howell & Higgins 1990a) have many of the characteristics of the independent entrepreneur, but they operate within an existing business, rather than operating a venture of their own. Classifying innovative champions more succinctly and understanding the role they play in global companies and rapidly developing countries like China is the key aim of this chapter. This chapter is conceptual, but refers to considerable investigations and research conducted on management practices and interpersonal and organizational relationships in China. Using China as the unit of analysis and a single case is not without precedent (Styles & Ambler 2003). The lead author has extensive experience in China and has conducted over 200 in-depth interviews and numerous empirical studies in this environment from 1999 to 2012.