Exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on approaches to innovation in the consulting industry: a grounded theory pilot study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1108/INMR-05-2021-0076Palavras-chave:
COVID-19 pandemic, Job-To-Be-Done theory, Dynamic capabilities, Telework, Consulting, Innovation opportunities, B2B, Grounded theoryResumo
Purpose – There is a significant pressure on consulting businesses to produce innovative solutions and to
assist their clients in producing innovative solutions for their organizational problems as well. In addition to
that challenging need to innovate for survival and competition, as other contemporary firms, consultancies
must face the global changes brought by the outbreak of the coronavirus infection since 2019. This qualitative
pilot study aimed at exploring the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the
approaches to innovation in the consulting industry.
Design/methodology/approach – Triggered from the literature gap on approaches to innovation in
consultancies during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, a grounded theory approach was used to
generate a theoretical explanation of how the COVID-19 is affecting the strategies and approaches of
businesses in harnessing innovation opportunities from the perspectives of four professionals from an
information technology (IT) consultancy in the USA.
Findings – The findings of this pilot study showed that organizational leaders’ increased responsiveness, a
Job-To-Be-Done strategy, organizational support and team adaption are the keys to harvesting dynamic
capabilities for better competition, even during global environmental changes.
Practical implications – This implies that managers remain the main actors in a firm’s efforts to harvest
dynamic capabilities. Innovation strategists, business leaders and policymakers can confidently work together
to implement novel and flexible work settings that integrate both social and economic advancements.
Originality/value – Theoretical implications support the sustainable innovation strategy concepts and the
Job-To-Be-Done theory. Finally, the substantive theory from this pilot study lays the ground for future research
on approaches to innovation in the consulting industry.
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