InnovationManagement.se

Whether more R&D Investments brings more innovation output - part 1

Common sense says that if one wants to improve the innovation output, one needs to either (a) increase the size of the opportunity set that goes in the so called 'Innovation Funnel' ; (b) Speed up the throughput of the 'Innovation Funnel' and/or (c) improve the variety of the opportunity set passing through the 'Innovation Funnel'.

Nordic countries score very low for their innovation efficiency

Today’s business leaders view innovation as a means to fight the financial crisis, however a new European study by INSEAD and Logica warns that the link between the money spent and the final result is broken. Their findings show that the majority of business leaders commit substantial resources to innovation, but only nine percent use ROI as a measure of innovation. What’s more, the Nordic countries achieved the lowest rating when it comes to measuring and implementing innovation.

Market orientation supports innovativeness over time

We know that clusters of co-located firms play an important role in supporting innovation and wealth creation. Spatial proximity can allow firms to take advantage of scale and positive externalities such as access to skilled labour, specialized subcontractors and rapid flows of information. Shared history, trust, and common understanding of phenomena may also enhance cluster members’ ability to interpret, and learn from, each other’s strategies. Yet location in regional clusters in and of itself...

In search of failure – designing for failure?

Who would be searching for failure? Failures just happen, though we always hope to avoid them. A vile thing, a vile word, no? Read more in this weeks' column by Bengt-Arne Vedin, PhD and Professor emeritus in innovation management. And why not joining in helping Bengt-Arne improving the article by joining the discussion?

Innovating with CSR – part 2

Apart from investing in a separate CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Portfolio, companies can also embed CSR into their business model(s). This is a way of lubricating the 'touch points' with various stakeholders. This kind of CSR perforates in the corporate thinking and does typically not exist in a separate CSR portfolio. This requires that all projects are not only derived from capabilities a company has but are also embedded in the very juxtaposition of them onto the markets they serve a...

What's up in innovation management in the online world?

This month’s blog harvest offers ideas for how to make the case for further diversification to your boss. Another blog explains how to develop your business modelling skills by using a financial concepts. Inspired by the concurrent TED conference, many innovation blogs have also proposed action towards making ‘a better world’. Why not partake in Osterwalder’s business model challenge that can improve the lives of billions?

How to create products that your customers will love

How to create innovations that customers do not expect, but that they eventually love? How to create products and services, which are so distinct from those that dominate the market and so inevitable that make people passionate? A major finding has characterized management literature in the past decades: that radical innovation, albeit risky, is one of the major sources of long-term competitive advantage. But is that really the case? Read more in this article by Roberto Verganti, Professor of Ma...

Innovating with CSR – part 1

I happened to learn about a new book by the legendary Charles Handy when I visited him a couple of months back at his home in Norfolk England ' the new philanthropists'. True to the title of the Book of probably Britain's most prolific management thinker (together written with his wife Elizabeth who is a portrait photographer), Charles talks about a new trend of successful young businessmen who don't only believe in giving money for just causes but by working on the spot with the needy so as to ...

Danish innovation centres in global hot spots

Gaming week in Silicon Valley, development of sustainable houses in Shanghai, and medico innovation in Munich – what do these things have in common? They are all projects set in motion by Danish innovation centres in order to strengthen the innovation and competitiveness of Denmark. And you are invited to join.

Learning to Trade and to Innovate at the Base of the Pyramid

Is sustainable business the missing link in alleviating poverty and boosting global trade and prosperity? If so, how should companies exploit this opportunity in practice? Louise Koch, Danish Anthropologist and Business Innovator, talks about best practice, mindsets and resources for sustainable, people-centred innovation in developing countries.

Discover new possibilities with Reverse Innovation

Before the radical shifts in technology disrupt the industry fabric, there exists a great potential to appropriate value from the market through incremental product and business model innovations. The less intense the competition, less matured the market - larger is the potential. The emerging markets of the world the BRICs (where s could stand for the plurality as well as South Africa), have long been projected as the markets to invest in. These countries have a thriving middle class; more than...

New products from InnovationManagement.se

In March InnovationManagement.se will launch a new site that, besides a new look, will introduce new improved offers to its readers. The platform will continue sharing knowledge and inspiration within the field of innovation management through free content in the magazine. The new value proposition is to, on top of that, also offer visitors the possibility to buy subscriptions to new products that provide further in-depth knowledge and inspiration, such as IM Actionable Manuals™.

Is the business model of management consultancy dead?

It is coming our way, and we had better be prepared and ready. What (probably rightly) applied only to the legal industry is hitting management consultancy: an outcry against paying by the hour and paying premium rates for consultants just out of business school. Let me be straight out: I am worried but excited! Worried because I foresee a market shift that will erode and potentially eradicate the business model of management consultancy as we know it today. Exited because we (the readers), thro...

Interplay of innovation and Complexity

We hear often that smaller companies innovate better as they are more flexible, faster and creative as compared to larger organisations. This is all but half true. Its not the size of an organisation that decelerates the innovative pace-rather complexity. Hence organisations seeking sustainable growth need to find the balance between innovation and complexity.

What’s up in innovation management in the online world?

What are good metrics to measure the progress of innovative projects? How should you decide if an innovation is too innovative for your firm? Who was the most disruptive innovator of the last decade? Is there an easy method for improved customer insight? Answers to these are linked to in this week’s column. Here are the most actionable or inspirational blog posts from the open web!

Searching for innovation excellence

We all seem to want more innovation these days. But do we really know what we are searching for? Do we understand the true meaning of innovation? Or are we stuck in a paradigm that doesn’t fit the original meaning of the term? Find out more in this article by Per Frankelius, Ph.D., and Associate Professor at Örebro University.

The new nature of innovation revealed

The paradigm of innovation as driven primarily by technology and science is passé. A new paradigm is emerging, with the publication of success stories of companies innovating through other ways. The Danish and Finnish governments jointly funded a study into the new nature of innovation, as a contribution to the OECD’s work on innovation strategy. Innovationmanagement.se asked the FORA team behind the report to present the highlights. FORA is a research and analysis division under the Danish Auth...

Exovation – the flip side of innovation

"It is unlikely that you have ever met the concept of exovation before; I invented it in April 2008. Invented? Yes, indeed – even if a Google search obtains a couple hundred hits; but they have nothing to do with the concept as I have defined it. You will see, presently." Read more in this weeks´ column by Bengt-Arne Vedin, PhD and Professor emeritus in innovation management.

Collaboration is the new hot thing

Collaboration is the new hot thing. The idea is not new and one can trace its origins from the Silk route, to the old Italian Shipping cluster, to the Medicis, to the evolution of different industries, to the new age of globalisation to the new age we see today. However, we live in a business age with hype cycles and buzzwords serving as adrenalins. Everybody is talking collaboration. The new impetus has come because of three main reasons.

The first reason being the ...

Preparing for tomorrow’s innovations today

Being the General Manager of TomorrowLab, Steven Peleman knows what is important for the creation of innovation in companies and organizations. Bringing people together outside their companies and helping them to develop new views of their existing innovation organization make a good start. Getting them to take more chances is even better.