We expect start-ups and high technology companies in general to be innovators. We know, in contrast, that large incumbents are likely to want to continue to exploit their past innovations rather than venture into new innovations that may cannibalize current products and/or ultimately fail. How do family businesses fit into the innovation picture? A study […]
Read More… from Family Firms Innovate Less But Better: Their Boards Make a Difference
Corporate strategy rarely offers a clear and unified directive for the company’s functions and business units. Instead, companies often have competing sets of corporate strategies. In a study based on the product development activities of a large food company, researchers from Oregon State University and the University of Auckland demonstrate that strategic alignment challenges can […]
Read More… from How to Align Conflicting Corporate Strategies to Functions
Corporate venturing, a collaboration between an established firm and an innovative start-up, has been gaining ground as a strategic path to innovation. There is a wide range of mechanisms for corporate venturing, of which the following is a sample: Scouting missions. Looking for innovations aligned with the company’s goals, representatives of the corporation meet with […]
Read More… from Choosing the best Corporate Venturing Projects
Ambidexterity involves two goals that are often at odds: exploitation – successfully competing in the present with quality products and services, superior execution, and successful marketing; and exploration – preparing to win the future through investments in R&D and innovation and acquiring the knowledge to anticipate changes in the business environment. How can companies navigate […]
Read More… from Staying Competitive Today While Preparing Full-On for Future Success
Past research has demonstrated the benefits of collaboration in creative endeavours. A new study drills down into the issue of collaboration and creativity by asking the question: does the quality of the collaborator make a difference? The results of the study are unequivocal: collaborator quality makes a difference in the outcome of creative innovation efforts. […]
Read More… from To Become a Creative Star, Collaborate with Stars
How does competitive pressure impact innovation? To answer this question, two researchers, Kenneth Younge of the E?cole polytechnique fe?de?rale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Tony Tong of the University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business, took advantage of a fortuitous series of court rulings in Delaware that eased the competitive pressure on firms incorporated in […]
Read More… from Less Competitive Pressure Leads to Less Innovation
To sell innovative products in emerging markets, companies from developed countries must take into account two fundamental facts about emerging markets. The first is that the growing middle class in emerging economies that represents the most valuable market for new products is price-sensitive — they do not earn what their middle-class counterparts in developed economies […]
Read More… from Using Frugal Innovation to Serve Emerging Market Customers
Reflecting the growing trend of companies searching beyond the boundaries of the firm for innovative ideas, British Petroleum hired innovation intermediary InnoCentive to broadcast an appeal for new ways to help contain the disastrous Gulf oil spill. BP received 1000 ideas… and used none. More and more companies are using intermediaries such as InnoCentive to […]
Read More… from How to Choose the Right Innovation Intermediary
Where does innovation come from? A new study of the ‘geography of innovation’ indicates that most innovation continues to be generated in the advanced economies of the world. However, emerging countries are starting to make their presence known. And multi-national enterprises (MNE’s) can play a major role in advancing innovation in regions throughout the world. […]
Companies in technologically dynamic industries — industries in which competitive advantage is built on innovation and R&D breakthroughs — seek out different types of partner firms than companies in technologically stable industries. This difference in collaborative behaviour results in different types of industry-wide networks: technologically dynamic industries have ‘clan’ networks that feature separate groups of […]
