From creativity to innovation by knowledge re-combining. The case of an Italian food company (Chapter 10)

The chapter aims to study the creative process and innovation in a common path, and the concept of creativity through the knowledge re-combining. This aspect is strongly connected with the role of lateral thinking in this process. Here we show a case of an Italian virtuous food company that considers these aspects, i.e. innovation and knowledge recombining, of high relevance in the industry management. The case study here examined is an interesting example of lateral thinking, hence of creativity. Thus, here we highlight the two declinations of the lateral thinking applied both to the output or the product, and the industrial process in a mass-production company such as thefrozen food industry. This aspect is of particular interest because usually, innovation refers to high-tech companies; while in the case here presented, the innovation (product and process) refers to an agri-food company that is traditionally low-tech where typically innovation is slower. The research on the field was conducted in a plant of an Italian Company leader in the frozen-food industry: numerous face-to-face interviews and focus groups with the management were made, in particular with the operation managers. Main findings: the governance models of knowledge constitute what can be considered a sort of meta-knowledge that the company accumulates as it gains experience on the strategic dynamics of competitive play. Implications for theory and practice: First, the chapter draws the attention on the aspects of creativity (lateral thinking) and innovation as a recombinant phenomenon having path dependent and co-evolutive nature instead of a phenomenon without historical roots. Secondly, the case study analyzed is an eloquent example of the fundamental and multitasking role firms play in shaping the socio-economic knowledge cycle (knowledge explorers, knowledge exploiters, knowledge brokers and knowledge savers).