Reflections on Innovations and the Field of Performance Improvement

For the past year, since Peter Honebein became the editor of Performance Improvement , the back-page article within each issue has been devoted to innovation. Our efforts have largely been to understand the principles of performance technology that underpin a new product, process, or service. In addition, one must ask why we are so driven with our focus on innovation? Innovation is synonymous with a firm's performance and its long-term survival, particularly in dynamic environments where existing products and services cannot be relied on indefinitely (Hull, 2003). Thus, what we can predict with a certain degree of certainty is that innovations that are shaping the market landscape are unlikely to dominate in the following decade. Therefore, our emphasis on innovation seemed rational, with an eye into the future.