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 – converting the selected opportunities into successful products. Most companies have a formal process in place to manage the downstream part. Few that we know of have set up an equivalent process to manage the upstream part: sensing and creating opportunities. This lack of process for managing innovation reflects management’s fear of stifling what is still often perceived as a soft and intangible – i.e., creative – process. Can one realistically structure and manage a “high-touch” activity that depends so much on an entrepreneurial culture and a climate receptive to innovation? Can one seriously talk about setting up innovation management mechanisms?
Author: Jean-Philippe Deschamps
Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little)
Subject: Innovation
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