Leveraging Management Policies to Stimulate Creativity and Innovation in Multinational Organizations: Evidence from Nestle Nigeria PLC

In today's volatile business landscape, employees' creativity and innovation are critical in boosting organisational success and developing its capability to renew itself. The failure rate in the innovation process across organisations is still high despite the attention it receives from top management. This calls for management to sponsor policies that give creativity and innovation the proper support and direction. This research aims to leverage management policies to stimulate creativity and innovation in multinational organisations. The specific objectives were to investigate the role of access to technology and digital infrastructure on idea generation and examine the effects of skills development initiatives on idea conversion rate. Nestle Nigeria Plc was used as the case study. A 5-point Likert structured questionnaire was used to gather data. A descriptive survey research design was utilised for the study. The study population was 2300 Nestle Nigeria employees, and a sample size of 243 was determined using the Raosoft (2004) formula. Multiple linear regression was used in data analysis. The result showed a positive correlation of 0.369, with a p-value of 000, which means access to technology and digital infrastructure significantly influences innovation diffusion. The findings also revealed a positive correlation in R2 of 0.357, p-value 000, between skills development initiatives and idea conversion rate. It was concluded that leveraging management policies that are adaptable and sensitive to the ever-changing business landscape indeed enhances creativity and innovation. In light of this, it was recommended that establishing management rules that are adaptable and sensitive to the ever-changing business landscape is advised for businesses. Also, an innovative culture must be actively fostered by management policies that value experimentation, candid communication, and idea sharing.