Innovation impacts the company but also its environment. This paper considers several case studies to identify impacts of an innovation on companies’ external supply chain. The aim is to understand how characteristics of the innovation, such as new technology adoption or new market introduction, among others, influence the firm supply chain structure. Moreover, the vision of the people involved in innovative projects is explored and a methodology is proposed to determine misfits between the initial supply chain and future supply chain. To reach these goals, implemented adjustments during past innovation projects of surveyed firms, were observed and analyzed in order to understand how companies act to meet the needs of the product in terms of supply chain design. The results of this research highlight different phenomena to take in account during the elaboration of a new supply chain to optimize the performance and ensure the success of the innovation.