Rapidly developing and bring an innovation to market (innovation speed) should have positive effects on performance. Yet innovation and technology management literature also suggests that faster innovation speed may lead to higher innovation failures in some scenarios. We investigate the value of innovation speed in four market scenarios: established markets before and during the COVID pandemic and emergent markets before and during the COVID pandemic. The study findings indicate that the pandemic has major implications for the value of innovation speed. In established markets where customer needs are well defined, rapid innovation increases performance before the pandemic; yet fast innovation speed leads to worst performance during the pandemic. In emergent markets where customer needs are still being formed, before the pandemic, the effect of innovation speed on performance is U-shaped (that is, slow or rapid innovation speed is better than moderate innovation speeds). In contrast, increasing innovation speed always leads to higher performance during the pandemic and innovation is most successful at very fast innovation speed. We present top ten success factors for managing innovation speed before and during the pandemic. The research findings are applicable for the post-pandemic new normal. The study also advances the engineering and technology management literature.

快速开发并将创新推向市场（创新速度）应该对绩效产生积极影响。然而，创新和技术管理文献也表明，在某些情况下，更快的创新速度可能会导致更高的创新失败率。我们调查了四种市场情景下创新速度的价值：COVID 大流行之前和期间的成熟市场以及 COVID 大流行之前和期间的新兴市场。研究结果表明，大流行对创新速度的价值具有重大影响。在客户需求明确的成熟市场中，快速创新可以在大流行之前提高绩效；然而，快速的创新速度导致大流行期间表现最差。在大流行之前，客户需求仍在形成中的新兴市场，创新速度对绩效的影响呈U型（即缓慢或快速的创新速度优于适度的创新速度）。相比之下，提高创新速度总是会在大流行期间带来更高的绩效，并且创新在非常快的创新速度下最为成功。我们介绍了在大流行之前和期间管理创新速度的十大成功因素。研究结果适用于疫情后的新常态。该研究还推进了工程和技术管理文献。我们介绍了在大流行之前和期间管理创新速度的十大成功因素。研究结果适用于疫情后的新常态。该研究还推进了工程和技术管理文献。我们介绍了在大流行之前和期间管理创新速度的十大成功因素。研究结果适用于疫情后的新常态。该研究还推进了工程和技术管理文献。