Innovation management in the world under occidental dominance and in a new multi-polar world - a comparative perspective

More than five centuries, the occident has been globally an economic, military, and cultural dominating force, but this longtrend is reversing. Non-occidental countries are gaining momentum. China and India have become new world powers, anticipated to surpass the USA in economic might that is increasingly replacing the global occidental dominance by a multi-polar world. We conduct a comparison – focusing on implications to innovation management – between the world under occidental dominance and the new multi-polar world. This study points out that multi-polarity will broaden the foundation for innovation, thus, giving rise to new and different innovation. Multi-polarity will enhance both the demand for and supply of innovation. An implication of multi-polarity for practice is that in multinational corporations operating in more than one major historical cultural sphere, it will be exceedingly difficult to maintain a uniform basis for the legitimation of innovation.