focus on factors governing innovation at the level of the firm (Quinn 1985, Sinetar 1985, Drucker 1986, Kanter 1988, Cohen and Levinthal 1990, Leavy 1997). This paper argues that the time is now ripe for a move towards more multi-level, interdisciplinary research. The early part of the paper reviews the literature on innovation and finds thematic and conceptual convergence across levels and disciplines around the relationship between innovative activity and institutional context and the nature of the innovation process itself. This convergence, the paper concludes, indicates the opportunity for multi-level, interdisciplinary research and points the way towards the kind of framework based on systems thinking, learning theory and dynamic analysis, through which such research might be pursued.The institutional context for innovationAmong the most prominent themes linking the literature on innovation across levels and disciplines is the growing interest in the relationship between institutional context and innovative activity. There is a strong tradition associating innovation primarily with rare entrepreneurial or inventive talent. This tradition has its roots in the early literature on economic development, particularly with the Schumpeterian (1912) characterisation of the process as one of 'creative destruction'. As Baumol (1958, p.64) pointed out nearly forty years ago, the entrepreneur is "at the same time one of the most intriguing and one of the most elusive characters in the cast that constitutes economic analysis". Attempts over the years since to pin down the definitive attributes of this elusive character have continued to meet with little success (see Burch 1986 for a typical example). There is no doubt that rare talent plays its part in innovation activity, often in the most dramatic ways. History continues to demonstrate the impact that scientific and commercial genius can have on the growth of firms and the transformation of...
