Companies need to innovate to survive, but it often does not matter. Striking: it's the topman frustrating innovation, according to a majority of senior executives. Professor Henk Volberda, is not surprised at the results. His investigations indicate that many top executives say innovation is very important, but in practice they are especially concerned with the madness of the day. For example, Dutch companies appear to invest relatively little in research and development (R & D) and technology (average 2, 1 percent of sales).