A Historical Analysis on Innovation and Change Contested Discourses in Iran’s Defense Industry

Despite the long history of studies on change and innovation within defense industries, little research has been done on the dynamics and evolution of such studies and their corresponding policies. To cater an answer to this question in the present study, all research reports and notified policies in the field of defense change and innovation studies are reviewed and analyzed. These analyses were validated via conducting 20 interviews in three levels: a) research project managers, b) policy makers, and c) managers of firms and research centers. The results of this research depict that these studies can be divided into three historical periods, in each of which a dominant discourse has determined the orientation of innovation and change policies. The first discourse has focused on highlighting the significance of innovations and changes in the defense sector and the introduction of tools and policies employed in other countries for 30 years. They paid less attention to recommendations and prescriptions. The second one has targeted alternation in micro and meso levels by two interdependent policies, excellence model for firm and nucleus and network policy for industry levels. The third discourse has entered the realm of prescribing more seriously and its policy recommendations have been formulated and implemented in the form of executive instructions and procedures under the title of Defense Innovation System.This study also proves that all three levels have neglected social and economic aspects of change and innovation. They all tend to focus more on redesign and reengineering of organization than other affecting factors. However, the short gap between research and implementation and the feedback loops that have led to the reform of these policies indicate the maturity of these studies in recent years.