Definition of Innovation

What is meant by the term innovation? According to Slevin, D. (“The Innovation Boundary: A Specific Model and Some Empirical Results,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 16, 1971, 515-531) – “innovation is defined as occurring whenever an individual tries something new, for example, chooses a strategy that he has not used before. This definition may appear to be too general, but the implementation of any major innovation in an organization can be accomplished only by large numbers of individuals trying things they have not tried before” (pg. 515). Innovations as noted by Damanpour and Evan (pg. 393) can be considered to be “responses to environmental changes or means of brining about change in an organization” (Damanpour, F., and Evan, W.M. “Organizational Innovation and Performance: The Problem of “Organizational Lag”, Administrative Science Quarterly, 29 (3), 1984, 392-409).