Managing Standards in Radical Innovation Projects - The Case of Micro Combined Heat and Power

Existing literature finds both positive and negative effects of standardisation on innovation. In this paper, we investigate how companies can minimise the negative impacts of standards on their innovation projects and maximise the positive effects. While extant literature identifies different ways in which standards can be developed and gives success factors for companies that are involved in these processes, it does not consider this in the context of using standards to support a specific innovation project. We analyse the case of a European manufacturer of heating systems to understand how a company can successfully overcome barriers that standards pose for its innovation process and turn them into supporting factors. This paper is based on preliminary results. Data collection is currently in progress.