Profile analysis is proposed as a means for advancing empirical change process research. In the context of organizational studies, a profile can be viewed as a set of sequentially arranged factors that expresses the relative strength of individual factors and holistic patterns inside or between organizational entities. To demonstrate the utility of the approach in change process research, profile analysis was employed in a cross-sectional study. Hypotheses related to Lewin’s three-step model of change were tested using data obtained from managers involved in change implementation. Results confirmed a progression through Lewin’s unfreezing-movement-refreezing sequence during implementation. Profiles that reflected higher systematic use of change process factors were also found related to implementation success. Many future research opportunities are apparent, such as investigating interorganizational change profile types and using profile analysis to enhance longitudinal research designs.

Highly innovative and entrepreneurial firms, those generating ideas aimed at new and enhanced products, manufacturing processes and services, require entrepreneurial leaders who successfully manage the innovation process to discover or create, and then exploit opportunities (Oster, 1994: Venkataraman & Shane, 1998). This paper investigates whether innovations, categorized into incremental and radical, could be arranged in a progressive hierarchy of ascending order according to scope and scale. We examined environmental characteristics (dynamism); organizational characteristics (age, size and intrafirm linkages); organizational processes (improvisation, experimentation and transitioning); and managerial characteristics. Our findings suggest that a different mix of environmental and organizational characteristics and processes explain incremental and radical innovation. Highly innovative and entrepreneurial firms, those generating ideas aimed at new and enhanced products, manufacturing processes, and services, require entrepreneurial leaders who successfully manage the innovation process to discover or create, and then exploit opportunities (Oster, 1994: 302: Venkataraman & Shane, 1998). The innovation processes of those highly innovative and entrepreneurial firms is influenced by a number