Innovation Practices of Firms - Lessons to learn


How Innovative organizations organize:

•   Executives say their companies use multiple organizational approaches to drive innovation and that the success of these efforts depends on integrated strategy and C-level support. In a survey conducted by Mckinsey, When executives were asked about the organizational innovation structures in place at their companies, the strategic and financial objectives these structures have set, and the people and processes involved in achieving innovation outcomes.

•      Nearly two-thirds of executives report broad innovation portfolios that include more than one type of organizational model, and nearly half say their companies use separate innovation functions that focus on developing new business opportunities, sit at company headquarters, and are less than three years old. While 86 percent say the structure of their separate functions positively influences outcomes, the results suggest that the most important factors for success are the extent to which innovation is integrated in corporate strategy and to which company leaders support and engage with innovation efforts.

•      These separate functions are most likely to report directly to the CEO and to interact formally with C-level leaders, yet across all types of structural models and rates of success in meeting financial goals, respondents cite the same perennial challenges: namely, competition with short-term priorities and integration of the functions’ strategic objectives with the rest of the business.

3 Things That Makes Apple what it is today:

       A start-up is formed:
       Once a new product has been decided on, a team is organized and segregated from the rest of the company by secrecy agreements and sometimes physical barriers. Sections of the building may be locked or cordoned off to make room for the teams working on a sensitive new project. This effectively creates a ‘start-up’ inside the company that is only responsible to the executive team, freeing them from the reporting structure of a big company.

       Apple New Product Process (ANPP): 
    Once the design of the product has begun, the ANPP is put into action. This is a document that sets out every step in the development process of a product in detail. It’s not an original Apple concept but was first applied at the company during the development of the Macintosh. It maps out the stages of the creation, who is responsible for completion, who will work on each stage and when they will be completed.

       Products are reviewed every Monday: 
    The ET (Executive Team) meets every Monday to go over every product that the company has in process. It is able to accomplish this because Apple has so few products in production at any given time. Any that do not get a review are rolled over to the next review Monday. This means that no product is ever more than two-weeks away from a key decision being made.





How is New Business Development Organized in Innovative firms?

       “This is a crucial question in new product and service development. Form an expert team to evaluate new ideas. The team members are knowledgeable people from business, science and engendering depending on the nature of the product or service proposed. The team can evaluate marketing channel, operational cost, technological advantage etc. It can be like putting pieces of puzzle together. Even the team overlook the importance of new ideas. Therefore, put those new ideas in the internal source so that good ideas do not go out from the organization. There are many examples that the original inventing organization did not commercialize its invention. IBM did not use its invention and Oracle was born to use it. Kodak's digital technology is also known as another example. These examples illustrate the importance of the evaluation of new ideas” - Professor in Economics



What can one learn from Google?

20% of the time of each worker is dedicated to personal projects.
Eight Pillars of Innovation at Google:

1.      Have a mission that matters
2.      Think big but start small
3.      Strive for continual innovation, not instant perfection
4.      Look for ideas everywhere
5.      Share everything
6.      Spark with imagination, fuel with data
7.      Be a platform
8.      Never fail to fail

Most disruptive/innovative projects are hosted and centralized in Google X Lab where they are funded by corporate budget.

Best Practices for Innovation Leaders:

·         Strategic Review: Base all initiatives in the strategic direction and goals of the organization taking into consideration the competitive market environment and the business operations.

·         Talent and Performance Management Review: Understand the existing processes for performance management, talent development, and competency models.

·         Innovation Leader Profile: Create a customized Innovation Leader Profile integrating the strategic context with the Innovation Leadership Capabilities.

·         Develop the Innovation Talent Management Strategy: Develop an Integrated Talent Management Strategy for innovation. The strategy should consider the development of existing Innovation Leaders and key cross-functional team members as well as anticipating the future capacity required to meet strategic goals. Elements of the plan include group and individual development plans and a talent identification process including recruiting screens.

·         Develop the Innovation Scorecard: Finally, create a scorecard that links strategic goals to innovation goals and to units and individual goals. The Innovation Scorecard balances current, past, and future innovations along with the organization’s current performance review process.



Innovation Ranking:

      Booz&co Ranking:

•Methodology: Ask the Global Innovation 1000 survey respondents to name the companies they consider the world’s most innovative.

•Results: Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon, 3M, General Electric, Microsoft, IMB, Tesla Motors, Facebook.

Universum Global’s Ranking:

•Methodology: Ask 88,000 engineering students and 94,000 business students at more than 1,300 college throughout the world, what are the 10 most innovative companies.

•Results for Business Students: Apple, Google, 3M, NASA, Daimler/Mercedes-Benz, BMW Group, Honda Companies, GE, SAS Institute, Nike.

•Results for Engineering Students: Google, Apple, NASA, UTC, Bose, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Autodesk, 3M, Genetech, Boeing.

 Forbes’ Ranking:

•Methodology:  Companies needs to have more that 7 years of financial data + more than $10 billion in market capitalisation. Companies are ranked by their innovation premium: the difference between their market capitalization and a net present value of cash flows from existing businesses. The difference measures how much the stock market, in its imperfect wisdom, credits a company for its aility to come up with profitable growth over the next several years.

•Results:

Salesforce.com, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Vmware, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, ARM Holdings, Baidu, Amazon.com, Intuitive Surgical, Rakuten, Natura Cosmetics.


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