LAUSR

This article analyses innovation management techniques (IMTs) or practices and their efficiency from a new perspective — stakeholder management — through three proxy models: environmental strategy, quality management, and corporate social responsibility. It also investigates the role of the Research and Development (R&D) function, particularly its critical position in adopting IMTs. It incorporates recent concepts such as co-innovation, design thinking, lean innovation, and artificial intelligence models. In this relationship, through a comprehensive literature review, this article develops a theoretical context to understand the evolution of the theory and practice of IMTs. This study draws on field research with data on 529 Spanish firms, their IMTs and stakeholders’ management practices, and their innovation results. Through a partial least squares (PLS) analysis, this study illustrates a model delineating the role of stakeholders’ focused management on the effect of IMTs on a firm’s innovation performance. This research concludes on the relevance of IMT use to the incremental innovation output of companies. The stakeholders’ management and R&D focus is supporting the innovation process. The main result is that incremental innovation is the path to radical innovation development. Thus, the findings conclude that a well-structured innovation system with precise stakeholder engagement underpins overall inventive activity inside firms. Various innovative approaches (IMTs) provide a systematic approach to invention, increasing the launch of successful ideas to the market.