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Great ideas dont execute themselves. Identify the idea practitionersin your companythe people who turn blue sky into green profit.

Content: Article | Author: Theodore Kinni | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Innovation, Management

In 1986 Merton Miller, a Chicago economist and an eventual Nobel laureate in economic sciences, asked if any 20-year period in history had resulted in a tenth as much financial innovation as the previous two-decade span. His own answer was a resounding ‘no’. He then went on to argue that innovation was flagging. Four titans from that period addressed Miller’s question at the Milken Institute’s … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subjects: Finance, Innovation | Industry: Finance / Banking

It is important to understand that experimentation matters to managing change and uncertainty at four different levels: technical (can it work?), production (can it be produced?), need (does it address customer needs?), and market (is it big enough to justify the investment?).

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Innovation, Management

Where should we look for new innovations in manufacturing? Perhaps nature has some answers, say Professors Demeester, Loch and Van Wassenhove, who see in the biological cell a lean, adaptive system that allows the kind of performance today’s manufacturing facilities could only dream of achieving.

Content: Article | Authors: Christoph Loch, Lieven L. Demeester, Luk N. Van Wassenhove | Source: INSEAD Knowledge | Subjects: Innovation, Operations

That’s one way to encourage innovation in your workforce. But to be successfully innovative-to find new efficiencies and develop new products and services-organizations need to take a more systematic approach. Here’s how to set the best ideas free.

Content: Article | Author: Reinhard Ziegler | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subjects: Innovation, Management

Research commissioned by Europe’s leading venture capitalist 3i and conducted by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) shows that despite the difficult economic climate, cutting back on R&D damages long-term growth prospects.

The statistical analysis conducted by the EIU looked at different elements of R&D in 29 OECD countries between 1993 to 2001. In particular, the research analysed the relationship between GDP growth and gross domestic expenditure … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Sources: 3i, The Economist | Subjects: Economics, Innovation

Breakthrough ideas are more about networking than inspirational strokes of genius, says UC-Davis professor Hargadon. In this book he studies the genesis of big product ideas from the light bulb to biotech and finds that “technology brokering” – the combination of pieces of ideas drawn from different markets and industries – drives the innovation process that generates many breakthroughs.

Content: Book | Author: Andrew Hargadon | Subjects: Innovation, Management

This paper seeks to understand the implications of the recent collapse in venture activity on innovation. It argues that the situation may not be as grim as it initially appears. While there are many reasons for believing that on average venture capital has a powerful impact on innovation, the impact is far from uniform. In particular, during boom periods, the prevalence of over-funding of particular … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Josh Lerner | Sources: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge, Social Science Research Network (SSRN) | Subjects: Innovation, Venture Capital

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Content: Quotation | Source: Unknown | Subjects: Innovation, Wisdom

Bear in mind that creativity is not coming up with an idea out of nowhere; it’s an act of synthesis, of bringing together several things into a novel combination. Creativity is something in service to innovation; it’s not innovation itself. And again, it’s hard work.

Content: Quotation | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Creativity, Innovation

“What is an innovation? Very often, managers view any product, service, technology, or process that is new or different as an innovation. But this definition is limited. In order for something to qualify as a true innovation, it must meet three basic criteria in tandem: It must engage a creative process, it must be distinctive, and it must yield a measurable impact.”

Editor’s Note: a … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Eric L. Chen, Kathryn K. Ho | Source: CGE&Y Center for Business Innovation (CBI) | Subjects: Innovation, Management

Go to this site to download an Excel spreadsheet diagnostic (really just a collection of useful questions) to assess your organization against seven components of a Capability as described in the book, 24/7 Innovation. You should evaluate how well you currently perform against each question. You should also assess how well you want to perform (importance) in each area. This will help highlight gaps in … [ Read more ]

Content: Online Resource | Source: The 24/7 Innovation Group | Subjects: Innovation, Management

If every valuable creative idea is logical in hindsight, then it is only natural to suppose, and to claim, that such ideas could have been reached by logic in the first place and that creativity is unnecessary. That is the main reason why, culturally, we have never paid serious attention to creativity.

Content: Quotation | Source: ManagerWise | Subjects: Creativity, Innovation

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One of the basics of a good system of innovation is diversity. In some ways, the stronger the culture (national, institutional, generational, or other), the less likely it is to harbor innovative thinking. Common and deep-seated beliefs, widespread norms, and behavior and performance standards are enemies of new ideas. Any society that prides itself on being harmonious and homogeneous is very unlikely to catalyze idiosyncratic … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Technology Review | Subjects: Culture, Innovation

The problem with the way we teach is that if a student makes a comment in class that isn’t grounded in the data in the case, the instructor is trained to crucify her right on the spot. And so we exalt the virtues of data-driven decision making. And then many of the students go to work for consulting firms where they carry data-driven analytical decision … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Decision Making, Innovation

This article looks at the “Diffusion of Innovations” theory and how to apply it to innovation efforts.

Content: Article | Author: Michael Perla | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: Innovation, Management

Once you have your own market space and imitators follow, you go into classical competitive strategy mode, where you focus on milking it, getting your best market share, blocking other imitations and dramatically ramping up and refining your offering. But, as other companies’ strategies converge on your market, history shows you need to create new market space again and break away.

Content: Quotation | Source: Chief Executive | Subjects: Innovation, Strategy