Cultural product innovation strategies adopted by the performing arts industry

This research explores the cultural product innovation strategy of performing arts organizations, with a focus on design-driven innovation and related value creation. From our exploratory case study, we found that cultural product innovation strategies in the creative industries are not captured by technological innovation alone, nor by product distinction. Innovative puppetry firms develop cultural products based on a unique combination of functionality and meaning to create four types of innovation development practices—market-pull, technology-push, design-driven, and a combination of technology-push and design-driven. The findings of this paper extend the design-driven innovation model for creative sectors, and are significant for innovation management, as they suggest a new set of cultural product management practices that are conducive for the creation of radical new meaning.