The innovation butterfly is a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...

that describes how seemingly minor perturbations (disturbances or changes) to project plans in a system connecting markets, demand, product features, and a firm's capabilities can steer the project, or an entire portfolio of projects, down an irreversible path in terms of technology and market evolution.

Origins

The metaphor was developed by researchers Anderson and Joglekar.Anderson, E.G. Jr. and Joglekar, N.R. (2007). "Chasing the Innovation Butterfly with 'Systems Thinking'", ''The Systems Thinker'', 18(9): 7-9. It was conceived as a specific instance of the more general ' butterfly effect' encountered in chaos theory.

How it works

The innovation butterfly arises because many innovation systems are made up of a large number of elements that interact with each other via several non-linear

feedback loop Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled c ...

s containing embedded delays, thus constituting a complex system. Perturbations can come from decisions made within the firm or from those made by its competitors, or they can result from external forces such as government legislation or environmental regulations, or unexpected spikes in the

price of oil The price of oil, or the oil price, generally refers to the spot price of a barrel () of benchmark crude oil—a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Crude, Dubai Crude, OPEC ...

. How the innovation system evolves as a result of the innovation butterfly can lead ultimately to an innovative firm's success or failure. Complex systems, in domains such as

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, or

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

, are known to be prone to both

path dependence Path dependence is a concept in economics and the social sciences, referring to processes where past events or decisions constrain later events or decisions. It can be used to refer to outcomes at a single point in time or to long-run equilibria ...

and

emergent behavior In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors that emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole. Emergence ...

. What makes the behavior of the innovation butterfly different is market selection, along with biases in individual and group decision making within distributed innovation settings, which may influence the emergent behavior. Furthermore, managers in most fields of business endeavor to reduce uncertainty in order to better manage risk. In innovation settings, however, because success is based upon

creativity Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed Literature ...

, managers must actively embrace

uncertainty Uncertainty refers to epistemic situations involving imperfect or unknown information. It applies to predictions of future events, to physical measurements that are already made, or to the unknown. Uncertainty arises in partially observable ...

. This leads to a management conundrum because innovation managers and management systems must encourage the potential for a butterfly effect but then must also learn how to cope with its aftermath.Anderson and Joglekar (2007), pp. 7-9. How innovation butterflies are 'chased' is highly managerially relevant. Most butterflies end up 'merely' consuming a considerable amount of time and resources within a project, or for an innovation portfolio, within a firm. However, some butterflies can also unleash regime-altering emergent outcomes within an entire industry segment. Moreover, once these emergent outcomes begin to mature, and in some instances lead to disruptive innovations, they become extremely difficult to manage,Christensen, Clayton M. (1997). ''The Innovator's Dilemma : When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail.'' Harvard Business Press. Hence, shaping the innovation system before potential innovation butterfly's effects completely emerge is critical.

References

{{Reflist

Research literature

Books

*Anderson, Edward G. Jr. and Nitin R. Joglekar (2012). ''The Innovation Butterfly: Managing Emergent Opportunities and Risks During Distributed Innovation'', Springer (Understanding Complex Systems Series)
Online version
*Christensen, Clayton M. (1997). ''The Innovator's Dilemma : When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail.'' Harvard Business Press. Causality Economic problems Innovation Emergence

Origins

How it works

See also

References

Research literature

Books