Moving at the Edge : How Can an Organization Stay Routinely Innovative?

This paper explores the role of organizational routines for staying innovative over time. We built on an in-depth observation of a renowned research lab to explore the role and functioning of routines in the context of innovation. Our findings suggest that innovative organizations can be characterized by a series of fundamental routines whose performance is highly creative as it leads to constant actualizations of routines. At the same time, it stabilizes organizational activities by continuously confirming their importance. Hence, in contradiction to earlier research, we propose that the generative nature of routines is of importance for enduring innovativeness.