Frank Morris, Jean-Philippe Deschamps, Chris Floyd, Geoffrey Marlow

Once formed, mindsets become more and more deeply ingrained through a reinforcing loop. Mindsets condition our perceptions, which dictate what we experience. Our experiences reinforce our original mindsets and close the loop. In organizations, this phenomenon tends to manifest as separate “mindset factions” e.g., in R&D, Marketing, and Manufacturing. Members of various factions see things differently, yet all believe they are unarguably and self-evidently “right” … [ Read more ]

Lessons From Product Juggernauts

When the shouting is over, one fact is clear: what differentiates perennially great companies from others is the products they sell. Some companies generate a never-ending stream of products that are appealing to customers and profitable to produce. Other companies achieve product innovation in fits and starts. Yet others launch many failed products, unprofitable products, or “me too” products. This article examines the opportunities to … [ Read more ]

Creating a Product Strategy

A product strategy is much more than a list of specific product actions over time. It is an explicit route-map designed to guide a company in its efforts to develop and market products that build sustainable competitive advantage and meet its growth and profit objectives. A good product strategy maximizes both customer satisfaction and profits – while stating the firm’s priorities so clearly that every … [ Read more ]

Managing Innovation: From Serendipity to Process

Innovation, or new business creation, is the process by which a company builds insights about its customers; identifies and evaluates unique market opportunities and prepares a bold game plan to seize them; and develops a stream of winning products. The process of new business creation can generally be split into two parts: an upstream process – sensing and creating opportunities – and a downstream process … [ Read more ]

Product Juggernauts: How Companies Mobilize to Generate a Stream of Market Winners

Deschamps and Nayak, vice-presidents of the international consulting firm Arthur D. Little, Inc., argue that a company’s success depends on its ability to improve its products or services continuously while simultaneously focusing the entire organization on the process of product creation. Product juggernauts are companies that attain market leadership by creating a continuous stream of world-class products through concentrated efforts on product development procedures. The … [ Read more ]

Innovation: The Key Process for Business Growth

This article outlines some of the thinking expressed at a recent gathering of Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) by Arthur D. Little. The discussion covered a wide range of issues, from whether “stale” companies should just be allowed to die and make way for new ones, to the role of governments in encouraging innovation. Participants looked at what motivates companies and individuals to continue looking for … [ Read more ]

Half of Your R&D Is Wasted – But Which Half and on What? (.pdf)

For most companies, the sources of R&D waste are due to deficiencies in the way R&D operations relate to the market-not to how R&D groups work internally. This article outlines six areas of waste and how to address them. It demonstrates that the responsibility for getting more out of R&D goes beyond R&D itself and significantly involves Marketing Departments. The alignment of the two groups … [ Read more ]