Monthly Archives: December 2009
by Hutch CarpenterAt the Open Innovation Summit last week in Orlando, there were a number of companies there discussing their various initiatives for open innovation. What is open innovation? UC Berkeley professor Henry Chesbrough, perhaps the father of the movement, formulated this definition several years ago:”Open innovation is a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as the firms look to advance their technology.At the Summit, several companies expressed their growth related to and/or impact of open innovation:Cisco: Cisco’s internally generated growth is at 5%. Its partner-based growth is 10%. #ois09Clorox: Clorox target for growth from innovation is 4%. Last few years around 2.5% to 3.5% = significant portion of growth. #ois09Royal Dutch Shell: Conser: About 40% of projects in Shell’s R&D program come from GameChanger. #ois09 [GameChanger is its open innovation program]Rockwell Collins: … Continue reading
by Kevin RobertsNewspapers are up against it in the Participation Economy, the Internet-powered revolution of joining in, taking part, sharing and joy. For the modern consumer, the idea of reading newspapers full of day-old news hand-picked by faceless editors seems, well, very early 90′s. These days we get to be our own editor-in-chief, selecting the bits of news, opinion and analysis that best suit our tastes, politics or predilections. The news business still hasn’t worked out a way to make this work financially, but I suspect that will change soon. Free is not sustainable. Walter Isaacson, former editor of Time, proposed one possible approach to the issue of payment here.There may be some spark in the old format yet. On the first day of the climate talks in Copenhagen, 56 newspapers in 20 languages pulled off a dramatic and high-impact stunt. They simultaneously published a front-page editorial calling for action … Continue reading
“Most of the world seems to be focused on the Americans who are unemployed. We’re focused on the 90% that are still employed.”Those are the words of Ron Shaich, CEO of Panera Bread, the 1,300-unit bakery-cafe that has found a way to thrive in spite of the recession. Its formula? A combination of smart financial management and keen understanding of its core customers, most of whom remain gainfully employed (and ever-more attuned to good value).Rather than cutting corners, Panera has focused on offering more to its broad range of middle income customers, including free wi-fi access and frequent new menu offerings. According to Shaich:”In many ways, we’re renting space to people and the food is the price of admission,”Panera COO Rick Vanzura agrees, saying, “A bunch of folks have been cutting quality to cut price to go after the marginal customer. We said a better strategy that addresses a bigger … Continue reading
Chuck Dymer is a strategic mentor, having done more than any single person to help me understand lateral thinking processes and how integral they are to business success. You could say I’ve borrowed everything I know on innovation tools from watching Chuck do what he does so masterfully.After working with Chuck on various projects, he said to me, “You make other people more creative just by cheering them on.” While always enjoying participating in brainstorming sessions with others, its potential impact had never occurred to me.Chuck’s comment, though, caused more deliberate reflection on this “talent” I’d never considered and how it could be used more widely. This led to incorporating lateral thinking approaches into additional business activities, speaking topics, and ultimately, Brainzooming.Are you working with others who display talents you see that they don’t realize? Give them a gift by pointing out these talents so they can start considering how … Continue reading
Innovation puts cash in your wallet. But what about the wallet itself? For this month’s LAB, we will apply the corporate innovation method, S.I.T., to create new and useful concepts for the wallet.Wallets are the most personal items we own. They carry our money, credit cards, identification, licenses, photographs, and other memorabilia. Your wallet says a lot about you. As with food, we try to stuff more inside while staying thin. Wallets have been around a long time. Today, the wallet industry is a multi-billion dollar market fueled by new designs and innovation.Here are six unique wallet concepts invented using the five templates in the S.I.T. method. They were created by graduate students at the University of Cincinnati as part of their course requirements in “Applied Marketing Innovation.” 1. FINANCIAL WALLET: “A complete personal financial guide to assure financial success.” This concept features an online portfolio manager, a stock ticker, … Continue reading
I believe innovation can only work to its full potential if it is aligned with an overall corporate strategy. Many companies mess up here. They simply do not have an innovation strategy. Companies have marketing or sales strategies, but only very few have an innovation strategy.What should an innovation strategy look like? It can come in many different forms as it needs to reflect the company itself. Due the obvious reason mentioned above, I have a hard time finding cases on this, but I definitely like the Innovation Intent created by Grundfos, one of the world’s leading pump manufacturers.Check out this description:At Grundfos we have successfully achieved many of our targets and therefore we have recently reviewed our long-term business perspective by trying to look 15-20 years ahead.This led to the statement of the Grundfos Innovation Intent. It represents a guiding star that will bring focus to our long-term innovation … Continue reading
