Innovation and competitve advantage

"Innovation, technology advances, and competitive advantage are connected by complex and multidimensional relationships" is the first comment in an interesting article named "Innovation and competitive advantage: what we know and what we need to learn". In this article, they consider four factors that impact on the relationship between innovation and competitve advantage. One, innovations that are hard to imitate are more likely to lead to sustainable competitive advantage (e.g., Clark 1987; Porter, 1985). Two, innovations that accurately reflect market realities are more likely to lead to sustainable competitive advantage (e.g., Deming, 1983; Porter, 1985). Three, innovations that enable a firm to exploit the timing characteristics of the relevant industry are more likely to lead to sustainable competitive advantage (e.g., Betz, 1987; Kanter, 1983). Fourth, innovations that rely on capabilities and technologies that are readily accessible to the firm are more likely to lead to sustainable competitive advantage (e.g., Ansoff, 1988; Miller, 1990). For further discussion, please take a look at the article.