A Proposal for a Standard With Innovation Management System

3.2 The design of research
Carine Deslee
In this single case study, we have studied the evolution of the Participative Innovation for over twenty
years. More recently, the concern of sustainable development stakes have impulsed innovativeness
towards the management of waste and sustainable development.
The Participative Innovation in the SNCF company has a long history. Its roots go back to
"suggestions" that have existed since the creation of the SNCF company in 1938.
In the Equipment departments, the creation of new tools and innovation on a daily basis were valued
and included in repositories. We worked on retrospective accounts as well.
Our approach is interpretativist (Girod-Seville and Perret, 1999). We analyse a set of contextual
elements to understand events over time. Indeed, we recognize to interpret the data to ensure
consistency while it is clear that we strive to maintain the neutrality necessary for research. In this
single case study, we use both the documentation, archival records, interviews, direct observation,
participant observation, and physical and cultural artifacts. Our approach and our ties with the field
allow us to access all these data sources as part of our case study of the SNCF.
After an initial investigation in 2004, we contractualised our presence in this company by a convention
of study and research in 2005. We describe the different sources for this research (see table 2). As
specified by Yin 2 (1990), a wide variety of archival sources may be useful.
Table 2: Sources of information on participative Innovation in the SNCF
Period From 1994 to mid 2003 From mid 2003 to mid 2007
Data Archives
(rules and procedures)
Yes Yes
Computer databases of
records Innovation
Yes Yes until 2004
Retrospective accounts Achievable Made
Non-participant observation No Yes
In collecting and presenting data, we respected the criteria outlined by Yin (1990) to meet the
requirement of scientificity.
The innovations issued from Participative Innovation we will develop in the next section are relevant
as far as the management of waste and sustainable development issues are concerned. We had the
opportunities to interview the different actors involved in the process of development of these ecoinnovations.
4. Analysis and results
We will prove through the development of several innovations - for instance eco-innovation with light
savings, noise reduction, green technology concerning high speed train (TGV) compressor - in the
case of SNCF company how the management of waste and sustainable development is a source of
innovation and performance. We first describe the content of three selected innovations that have a
direct contribution concerning theses aspects. Then, we analyze how the role of some managers
helped the innovator to develop in the context of this firm. These three cases of innovations that we
will detail fall into a sub-process of creating strategic competence as far as management of waste or
eco innovations are concerned.
4.1 The illustration with cases of innovation contributing to the management of waste
or sustainable development
These three cases of innovations that we will detail below by their nature fall into a sub-process of
creating strategic competence as far as management of waste or eco innovations are concerned.
Following the EU directives, the SNCF as a large company has gradually incorporated this dimension
of Sustainable Development (Plassard, 1995). Some innovations in fact contribute to develop the key
success factors (Plassard, 1995) such as those defined in the strategic areas of Industrial Project of
the SNCF. In this sense, the contribution of some innovations can be described as a comprehension
2 According to Yin (1990), “ an empirical research focuses on a contemporary phenomenon in a real context, the boundaries
between phenomenon and context are not clearly identified and in which different sources of information are used ”.
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