Monthly Archives: July 2010
I was asked not too long ago in an interview what advice I would give to an incoming UK government on how to increase innovation in our economy. Here is what I would recommend: 1. Make it as easy as possible to start a new business. Most radical innovations come from start-ups and we need a lot more of them. It is already reasonably easy to start a new business in the UK. However, we could further reduce administration and tax on new businesses e.g. no corporation tax for the first two years trading. 2. Increase the availability of loans for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). At the moment many smaller enterprises cannot raise the finance they need to expand. We need to encourage venture capital funds, business angels and banks to invest in or lend to start-ups and smaller enterprises. This is risky so the government can …
You’ll note the title of the blog post – managing for innovation. Not “managing innovation” which is akin to “herding cats”. No, managing for innovation. In other words, setting out the environment, atmosphere and behaviors to inculcate innovation in the environment of the organization, rather than using a microscope and a magnifying glass on every activity to ensure that innovation is happening. We “preach” managing for innovation to our clients. Yes, we do innovation projects, but a discrete innovation project is hopefully just the first step on a much larger journey – the journey that takes an organization from occasional innovation projects to committed innovation entity. What distinguishes a “once and done” innovation effort in an organization from an organization that is fully engaged and innovating all the time is the environment, the atmosphere, and the culture. And all of those factors are predicated on …
According to NYTimes.com, “the competitive edge of the United States economy has eroded sharply over the last decade …” According to a number of recent studies about global innovation and competitiveness, this appears to be true. While great for the rest of the world, the United States desperately needs to differentiate and seek relevance in the global arena. “The United States is not the runaway leader in global competitiveness that some believe it to be.” Out of the 40 countries ITIF studied, the United States had made the least amount of progress in “improvement in international competitiveness and innovation capacity over the last decade.” – The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation’s (ITIF) February 2009 study, “The Atlantic Century: Benchmarking EU & U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness” “In today’s global economy, the need to stay one step ahead of the competition is even more urgent – especially for industries in the United … Continue reading
A Competitive Strategy Exercise by Mike Brown A tenacious competitor can seem as daunting as a summer heat wave which won’t break for anything. If that describes your competitive strategy position, it can be difficult to devise an innovative strategy to win new business from a tough competitor. There is a creative way to swat back a competitor, however, which takes its inspiration from another summer reality: mosquitoes. Just as a mosquito, despite its small size, can be a nuisance, you can do the same to a larger competitor! Start with the profile you have on your competitor which should describe the competitor and its strengths, strategic focus areas, and overall direction. Add to the competitor profile your antagonist’s “dirty little secrets,” i.e. the problems it doesn’t want customers to know about, but are familiar to you within the industry. Based on the specific intelligence in the competitor profile, start … Continue reading
Are you willing to crawl through the mud for innovation? by Holly G. Green Have you seen the new HBO made-for-TV movie called “Temple Grandin?” It’s a powerful story about a woman, Temple Grandin, who overcame autism to become one of the most influential figures in today’s livestock and animal husbandry industry. Not only is Temple’s story a testament to the ability of the human spirit to overcome tremendous obstacles, it teaches many principles that all business leaders would do well to embrace. When diagnosed at a very early age, doctors said Grandin would never speak. When they recommended life-long institutionalization, Grandin’s mother refused to accept that possibility, and continually pushed her daughter to develop her abilities and learn to work around her autistic limitations. With the support of her mother and several key mentors along the way, Grandin went on to graduate from college and earn a Ph.D. in … Continue reading
Many people struggle with trying to define innovation, or what innovation is within an organization. I’ve recently been re-reading one of the best business books I have, “The Essential Drucker. The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker’s Writings on Management” which is a compendium of his writings. Drucker wrote that purposeful innovation results from analysis, systemic review and hard work and can be taught, replicated and learned. Purposeful, systemic innovation begins with the analysis of opportunities. The search must be organized and conducted on a regular basis. It seems that we may be getting hung up on “the fuzzy front end” and other views that make innovation seem really obscure. Drucker identified seven sources of opportunity that will ultimately drive innovation: The organization’s own unexpected successes and failures, and also those of the competition. Incongruities, especially those in a process, such as production, distribution, or incongruities in customer behavior. … Continue reading
