Innovation Intelligence: Strategy, Technology, and Culture exemplifies the purpose of the Research in Management Consulting (RMC) series. At a time when innovation is a strategic imperative, this volume explores how organizations actually mobilize expertise, methods, and relationships to navigate complex change; in the process, it demonstrates the many factors that shape innovation capabilities and outcomes.Collectively, the chapters are anchored in the knowledge that innovation is a driver of technological and economic growth. Innovation is not seen as a one-off event but an evolving socio-technical process that depends on how human capital, organizational routines, and external expertise are orchestrated over time. It is less about generating ideas and more about creating the conditions in which new ideas can survive contact with reality. Management consultants play a role in shifting the question from "What should we innovate?" to "How do we build an organization that continually renews itself?"This framing from volume editor Dr. Georgios Afxentiou aligns with the RMC series and its longstanding emphasis on consulting as both a field of practice and an arena for rigorous scholarly inquiry. In this way, Innovation Intelligence: Strategy, Technology, and Culture reinforces the series' commitment to examining how consulting contributes to organizational learning and renewal.
Dr. Georgios Afxentiou is a faculty member and program leader at the School of Doctoral Studies at Unicaf in Cyprus.
Section I. Innovation Unlocked—Consulting Strategies That Shape Business GrowthChapter 1. Consultant-Led Innovation Strategies: Driving Business Growth through Machine Learning in Tech, Education, and Retail; Lory Liza D., Bulay-OG, Abid Yahya, and Dionel O. Albina Chapter 2. Achieving Innovation Through Agile HR Practices in Management Consulting; Swati Suravi and Amit Dhiman Chapter 3. Consulting As a Strategic Risk Buffer in Innovation Management; Gokhan Turgut Chapter 4. Operationalizing Innovation: Strategic Frameworks for Enhancing Competitiveness of Agrarian MSMEs; Oluremi Noah Iluyomade and Georgios Afxentiou Chapter 5. Balancing Boldness and Caution: A Risk-Informed Framework for Innovation Consulting in Emerging Markets; Shaikh Afnan BirahimSection II. Digital Transformation as the Engine of Business Innovation Chapter 6. Innovation Readiness: An Exploration of the Adaptive Innovation Readiness Framework (AIRF) And Methodologies in Corporate Case Studies; Solomon Jeresa and Utibeabasi Emmanuel Ikpembe Chapter 7. Digital Public-Private Partnerships: Strategic Governance for Cross-Sector Innovation in Regulated Environments; Julian Walter MaurerChapter 8. Resist or Transform? Understanding The Dual Role of Innovation Constraints in Digital Transformation Through the Toe Framework; Claudía Yañez-Valdés and Cristian Guzmán Cofré Chapter 9. Framing Uniqueness-Focused Leadership in AI Adoption: A Structure–Process–Effectiveness Model; Huey Chan “Linda” Huang and Eric Canny Chapter 10. Strategic Agility in the Age of AI: Digital Transformation as the Engine of Innovation and Resilience; Najeed Khan Chapter 11. From Word-of-Mouth to Word-of-Algorithm: Investigating the Role of AI in Shaping Consumer Psyche in the Digital Marketplace; Priya Tiwari, Nagendra Kumar Sharma, and Dinkar Joshi Chapter 12. Conceptualizing the Innovation Intelligence Model: Integrating Internal Cognitive Resources, Dynamic Capabilities, and Routines in Entrepreneurial Innovation; Georgios AfxentiouSection III. Innovate from Within—Building a Culture that Fuels Creativity and Growth Chapter 13. Resistance and Innovation: The Recursive Dance of Structure and Agency; David B. Szabla and Erica Martinez Chapter 14. Enhancing a Culture of Innovation in Big Science Organizations: A Case Study From Gravitational Wave Observations; Matteo Landoni and Martina Dal Molin Chapter 15. Innovation Intelligence and Organizational Culture in Sport Organizations; Sajjad Pashaie, Abdulkadir Tekin, and Hamed Golmohammadi Chapter 16. Demographic Diversity and Innovation: The Case of Italian SMEs; Francesca Pascale, Saverio Barabuffi, and Giulio Ferrigno Chapter 17. Human-Centric Leadership as a Catalyst for Innovation; Emaneli (Emi) BarresiChapter 18. Cultivating Change: Micro-Behavioral Motivations and STS^CM for Leadership Transformation; M.Y. ForsterChapter 19. Harnessing the Power of Work Design: The Spark Model for Fostering Innovation; Mohammad Moradi and Hamid Kazemi