In the last couple of years I was studying innovation. There are 3 important books that I can recommend on this subject.
The first one is “The innovators dilemma” by Clayton Christensen. This one will give you a good start as the author discusses the reasons behind the failure of big companies and how to manage disruptive technological change.
“The innovators DNA” is co-authored by Clayton Christensen, Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregsen. The book looks at what kinds of behaviors are needed in order to innovate. It focuses on companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, Skype etc.
The five discovery skills are Associating, Questioning, Observing, Networking and Experimenting.
The last book is called “The innovators method” by Nathan Furr and Jeff Dyer. I am happy to recommend a book of someone that I listened to at a course at INSEAD. This text focuses on how to bring new business ideas to live. If there is one thing that I should quote from this it will be the question- What’s the work to be done?
If your idea solves a real problem – that means that probably there is a market for your product or service.