Abstract
For most companies, innovation is a top managerial priority. Many managers look at successful innovators such as Apple Inc. and Google Inc. with envy, wishing their companies could be half as innovative. To boost and benchmark innovation, managers often use quantitative performance indicators.1 Some of these indicators measure innovation as results or outcomes such as sales from new products. Others measure innovation as a process, using metrics such as the number of innovation projects in progress. And some track input measures such as the number of ideas generated, while still others focus on the innovation portfolio, by looking at factors such as the percentage of investments in breakthrough projects versus product line extensions.