Article
Managing innovation portfolios: From project selection to portfolio design
Si, H., Kavadias, S., & Loch, C. · 2022 · Production and Operations Management, 31(12), 4572–4588
Summary
The article argues that innovation portfolio management has focused too much on selecting projects from a given list and not enough on designing a portfolio that fits the organization’s strategic goals. The authors review existing portfolio management approaches and show that many firms struggle with strategic misalignment, overload, weak governance, and too many incremental projects. They propose shifting from project selection to portfolio design, where managers first define strategic goals, then creatively assemble and evaluate a coherent set of innovation initiatives.
Method
Conceptual literature review with an illustrative case example.
Limitations
The proposed portfolio design framework is mainly conceptual and requires further empirical testing across different organizational and industry contexts.
Future research
Future studies should test how portfolio design processes work in practice, how managers balance creativity with analytical evaluation, and how portfolio governance affects strategic alignment.
APA 7 citation
Si, H., Kavadias, S., & Loch, C. (2022). Managing innovation portfolios: From project selection to portfolio design. Production and Operations Management, 31(12), 4572–4588. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.13860