Managing Interdepartmental Handovers in Innovation: Insights from a Separated Innovation Unit : A Case Study of Toyota Material Handling Europe

This thesis explores the complexities of interdepartmental handovers in the innovation process. The focus lies in the factors that influence these handovers, specifically when it involves a separate innovation unit. Innovation is vital for contemporary organizations, but the action of handing over innovation projects between departments, especially when an innovation unit is separated from core operations, provides significant consequences. The study is conducted through a qualitative single-case study of Toyota Material Handling Europe, which recently housed their partially independent innovation unit; Research and Innovation, in a newly established innovation center in Linköping, Sweden. Through semi-structured interviews and complementary document analysis, it investigates the factors that both facilitate and impede interdepartmental handovers of innovation. The findings display several critical factors; the strategic prioritizations across departments, the interdepartmental ability to communicate, the involvement of multiple departments, the structure of the innovation project, the personal agendas and backgrounds existing within departments and the interdepartmental level of separation. The description demonstrates how these factors influence the innovation handover and their indirect effect on the innovation process. The study also discusses key challenges, framed as tensions, which are; the trade-offs between separation and involvement, the need to compromise between creativity and efficiency, and the difficulties in balancing short-term and long-term perspectives. The analysis further portrays how such tensions are a consequence of and influence decision-making, shaping the output of innovation projects. The thesis concludes by providing managerial implications for those seeking to improve interdepartmental innovation handovers, especially those who operate a separate unit of innovation. Furthermore, it provides theoretical contributions for innovation management through the identification of the innovation handover’s inherent factors and consequential tensions. Finally, the limitations and potential directions for future research is acknowledged and suggested.