Towards a meaningful innovation paradigm: conceptual framework and practice of leading world-class enterprise

Purpose The purpose of this study is to conceptualize the paradigm of meaningful innovation (MI) by exploring the theoretical basis, identifying its core concepts and key processes, and supporting it with evidence from leading world-class enterprises. Design/methodology/approach Based on a systemic literature review on the evolution of innovation paradigms, this study builds a conceptual framework to explicate the core concepts and process of MI. Moreover, a horizontal embedded case study of GREE electric appliances is conducted to further enrich, refine and support the proposed framework. Findings The main finding of this study is that MI could be regarded as a process of integrating innovation elements (resources, capabilities, systems, etc.) with internal and external innovation meaning to obtain outcomes with both economic value and social significance. As a “long-termism” paradigm with meaning identification and conversion as its core, MI is driven by the collaboration of “deductive mechanism” and “reflective mechanism.” Originality/value Based on the previous studies concerning innovation paradigms on the internal and external meaning, this paper proposes an integrated framework of MI. In this framework, enterprises can consider internal and external meanings through deductive and reflective mechanisms, to better coordinate resources, capabilities, institutions, markets and other factors to achieve higher innovation performance.