Track: Innovation

Abstract

For any weapon manufacturing company to be competitive globally, it should come up with strategic activities that will assist it to manage its technology innovations.  As the world is moving to the fourth industrial revolution, there is a need for organisations to continuously be innovative.  Competition in the defense sector is increasing rapidly and weapon manufactures need to be proactive and gear up their technology in order to remain globally competitive. This paper presents the results of a study that sort to find out how a South African weapon manufacturing company strategizes in order to promote innovation among its employees.  A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews was taken.  The results show that most of the weapons produced are in maturity and technology limit phase.  Additionally, finance and knowledge acquisition have an important role in influencing the innovation activities within the company.  Organisational systems and practices as well as innovation targets were found to be major contributors to the success/failure of the management of innovation.  The study proposes a frame for managing innovation in a defence technology company.