Jun 19, 2011 | Innovation
These two terms are often used interchangeably, but have a different meaning that I have mumbled about from time to time. This post on the PARC blog in response to Malcolm Gladwells article in the New Yorker is terrific articulation of the difference.
“Simply put: “invention” is the manifestation of an idea or creation of something new. It doesn’t become an “innovation” until it’s applied successfully in practice”
Gladwells article examines the often told story of Steve Jobs visit to PARC where he saw the work being done by PARC scientists on user interface and early mouse, and raced back to the Apple garage, changed the direction of the development programs, and brought the first Macintosh to the market.
Jun 15, 2011 | Innovation
How easy it is to believe that the only thing needed for a successful NPD&C process is assets, money, people, time, capabilities, market position, and so on, but how often is it that the real innovations emerge from places where these benefits are absent.
On those occasions, the element that makes it all possible is insight.
Apple, Google, Amazon, Zappos, Intel, Skype, Hewlett Packard, Cochlear, et al all evolved from a position of great insight by passionate people, and little else.
So which is the most important component, the core of innovation?
Passionate insight, by a mile.
Jun 9, 2011 | Change, Innovation, Lean, Strategy
Is there a win win here, does being sustainable environmentally mean a compromise to commercial sustainability, or is environmental sustainability a foundation of commercial sustainability?
Increasingly the latter is becoming the more obvious answer.
As the green debate widens, and business takes a view, the pro’s and cons will get aired, practices will change as best practice evolves and is copied, and our consumption of inputs/unit of output will reduce.
Recently in the UK I saw business and environmental sustainability work hand in hand in the produce supply chain to supermarkets. Barfoots of Botley, a producer of corn, and other vegetables to the supermarkets in the UK has commissioned an anaerobic digester that consumes all their organic waste, turning it into gas to run the processing and packaging plant, with the excess being sold back to the grid. The sludge from the digesters is a great fertiliser for their farms and for sale, and increasingly other local growers are sending their waste to Barfoots for processing, creating an added income stream. As a by product, their major customers love them for it, as it assists their “green credentials” with M&S recently being a star in the Tech magazine Fast Company’s top 50 innovative companies list
Around the web there are lots of stories of businesses that have set out to reduce waste, and the benefits flow. Subaru in the US has spent years reducing waste, and is now the creating no waste at all to go to landfill, but that effort is a part of the effort to ensure that their customers are paying only for what adds value to their experience
Michael Porters January 2011 contribution to the question in the HBR, his notion of “Shared Value” makes a strong case of mutual benefit, and as you look around, it is there to be seen.
My conclusion is that there is a strong correlation, however, when one of our politicians asks us to trust that their policies will lead to this sort of productive investment, just because it suits their political agenda, without any rigorous understanding of the difficulties involved, I get the jitters.
May 15, 2011 | Innovation, Management
This video of Gary Hamel discussing the evolution of management is seriously worth watching.
May 8, 2011 | Innovation, Social Media
Does the technology that enables stuff to be done come before the creativity to figure out what to do with it, or does the creativity drive the innovation in technology. Who really knows, and it probably does not really matter, fact is that they feed off each other.
The iPad started a revolution that not only spawned a host of imitators, but a new industry, “Apps” which will turn over 10 billion this year, from a standing start 2 years ago. Just astonishing, but the innovation has only just started.
Publishing has been changed forever by the web, although many publishing companies have still to come to terms with this, but if ever the current e-book revolution we are now used to was not a death knell for traditional publishing, this one is, demonstrated in this short TED video by Mike Matas
Apr 23, 2011 | Innovation, Marketing
Fast Company’s innovation list is out again, the top 50 for the year.
It includes the usual suspects, Google, Facebook, Linked-in, and so on, but also 2 retailers, Californian Trader Joes at 11, and Britain’s Marks & Spencer at 36. Both are surprising, although TJ’s is well understood in food industry circles as one of the real innovators, and everybody watches them, but M&S was a surprise to me.
A 100% housebrand retailer, one who does not accommodate the innovation efforts of its suppliers by enabling a proprietary brand margin for them, but who is a copier, albeit a very good one, is listed!
Conventional wisdom would say that the innovation efforts of a 100% housebrand retailer would be seriously compromised by the unavailability of the innovation powerhouses of FMCG, the multinational suppliers to get their brands on the shelf, and who are therefore not in the slightest bit interested in assisting M&S to improve their position with consumers. Coventional wisdom it seems, is once again, not the most reliable measure.
Just for the record, Apple was number 1, no surprise there.
