Innovation Management - Creating value with innovation management.

Research from Jean-Philippe Deschamps, Professor of Technology and Innovation Management at IMD, indicates that there are at least nine possible models of innovation governance, some of which are more widely used than others. This second article in a series of three on the topic of Innovation Governance will review the various governance approaches or “models” that companies have put in place.

Innovation governance can be thought of as a system of mechanisms to align goals, allocate resources and assign decision-making authority for innovation, across the company and with external parties. In this series of articles, professor Jean-Philippe Deschamps delves deeper into this topic; what is innovation governance, what different models are there and which ones seem to be the most effective?

Innovation is inherently multidisciplinary. Successful innovation requires harmony; that is, a high degree of communication, collaboration and cooperation. This article explores what is meant by innovation harmony and how to go about achieving it.

“Mad scientists”—rule-breaking geniuses whose resistance to convention sometimes produces radical innovations—are both a blessing and a challenge to R&D organizations. Recent studies suggest how such rogue innovators can shape a company’s culture and what can be done to channel their influence.

In their new book The Innovative University Clayton Christensen and Henry Eyring explore why higher education is heading for disruption. As budget deficits and healthcare costs squeeze government support for higher education, enrollments at traditional institutions will steadily shrink. This will force the education sector to major changes and the students will come out winners, as is typical when disruption reshapes an industry. InnovationManagement asked the writers to elaborate on trends in higher education and the way education is delivered to students.

If they want to compete successfully in the future, companies should hold off on rapid ideation and faster commercialization until they take an unflinching look at what is truly stifling breakthrough innovation. In this article, Soren Kristensen provides insight on how honest self-reflection can free you from your biggest impediment to growth.

China’s ambition of become an innovation-oriented country by 2020 is an important part of the nation’s long-term strategic plan. Being the second largest science and technology thesis producer, and running the second largest economy next to the US, a lot of things are happening in China. Innovation Management spoke to Professor Richard Li-Hua, word-leading expert on innovation about his thoughts on China’s innovation.

Innovation changes the world and is the key to tackling the slow recovery of the western economy, and to solving unemployment issues according to professor Richard Li-Hua, a world-leading expert on innovation. Innovation Management spoke to him about his thoughts on the need for, and the role of, innovation management.

In the June issue of Harvard Business review, Intuit, the American software company, was labeled “a design-driven innovation machine.” InnovationManagement talked to Roy Rosin who was Intuit’s first innovation leader, building the company’s innovation programs and working with teams on creating new products and services.

Asian companies are different from Western companies in their approach to innovation. A recent study has identified four generic elements of the Asian approach that might help any Western company think differently and to be more effective in their business creation. In this article Peter Hesseldahl gives a brief overview of the conclusions.

Success of Vestel Electronics is directly related to its dedication to innovation, to the high-quality research carried on in its large R&D centers and to its connections to national and international research organizations. In this article Mr. Reha S. Senturk, Project Manager at Ege University Science and Technology Centre (EBILTEM) describes an open innovation initiative resulting in a successful innovation.

The Chinese are innovating in a uniquely Chinese manner and consequently rising as formidable challengers to traditional multinational companies. Professor Winter Nie has found four interesting features regarding the manner in which the Chinese innovate: innovation on-site, innovation to reduce costs, tailored innovation and rapid product innovation.

Apple has passed arch-rival Microsoft to become one of the most highly valued companies in the world, but retaining its position among the most valued of all companies will require considerable skill as well as perhaps a good dose of good luck, because maintaining a phenomenal growth rate when your sales total $19 billion is a lot easier to do than your sales have grown to $65 billion. So what are Apple’s best strategic options? That’s what I’ll like to explore in this article.

The skin care market is an interesting business to be in. Every single person on our planet is a potential customer and yet it takes a good deal of focus and expertise in every corporate function to become globally the number one. This is what Beiersdorf, the Hamburg (Germany) based champion in the skin care business has achieved with its Nivea brand. Innovation is a key ingredient in the success formula. InnovationManagement caught up with Martin Rudolph from Beiersdorf and discussed about innovation and in particular about the Open Innovation approaches Beiersdorf is taking.

Why does gender diversity matter when it comes to product and service innovation? What has research shown? And what does hard-won experience tell us? This article shows how businesses gain a competitive edge by integrating a gender perspective into their innovation work – a much needed boost as global competition becomes increasingly tough.