| Innovation Strategy | |
5 Steps to Identify...Your Strategic Capabilities
Innovation doesn't happen by accident. The very best innovators, like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Michael Dell, have followed  systematic processes to improve their own creative thinking and to enhance their corporate sustainability. That is, understanding their core competencies. Core capabilities are considered to be fundamental to the business if they strategically differentiate a firm against its competitors.
What made Microsoft, Apple, and Dell successful? A clear understanding of their strategic competencies led these firms to concentrate on specific technologies with delivery to clearly defined markets with a value that allowed them an advantage over any other existing competitor.
While the path to success is never easy, the systematic process itself is simple. By identifying your organization's strategic core competencies, you can focus on more efficient New Product Development (NPD) for a motivated customer base. An effective innovation strategy starts from what the company is good at, not from what it would like to be good at. Innovation revitalizes the core strengths of the business. Five steps to identify your core capabilities are:
- Articulating the Passion (or Mission),
- Observing and Connecting,
- Assessing Technology,
- Utilizing Unique Business Processes, and
- Executing with Superiority.
Download the full white paper for just $8.95 (tax included).
GNPS Premier Members, who have access to NPDP Certification dscounts and more, can download this dynamic thought leadership paper for free. |
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Greetings!
Innovation is an on-going effort. Most firms find themselves following unknown cycles to generate new ideas and to connect with customers.
In this issue of The Village, we investigate 2 Functions and 3 Ways to Implement Innovation. Using people and  experiences, you can enhance quality of ideas, effectiveness of teams, and engagement with customers.
Thanks to everyone who participated in our survey last month. You'll see your favorite sections - Innovation Fun Facts and Recommended Reading - below, too.
In honor of the month of love, we're offering a special discount on three reader favorites - a bundle of strategy thought leadership papers for only $15.95 - a discount of over 10% from the cover price. Buy Now
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Innovation Fun Fact | |
NASCAR
Did you know that professional football is the only sport in the United States that has more fans than NASCAR? NASCAR is the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. It has its roots in Daytona Beach, Florida, dating back to 1903. Races today are broadcast in more than 150 countries!
Stock car racing in the U.S. initiated by using fast cars to  deliver whiskey during Prohibition, especially in the Appalachian region. Thus, all but a handful of today's NASCAR teams are based in North Carolina.
Click on the stock car race for a short video to see how NASCARs are made. (A short 2.5 minute video.) |
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Recommended Reading | | |
The Power of Co-Creation (Ramaswarmy and Gouillart )
Co-Creation, sometimes called co-development or open innovaiton, brings customers into the design conversation.
 This book is filled with case studies of companies who have been successful wtih setting up web-based platforms for customer engagement. One of my favorite examples is in Chapter 1 - discussing how Nike has successfully integrated music playlists and GPS routes to enhance the experience of consumers buying their running shoes.
Co-creation is not for everyone. The technique takes an investment of time and energy to really listen to your customers and to engage them in new ways, but The Power of Co-Creation will set you on the way to better customer engagements! |
| 2 Functions and 3 Ways to Implement Innovation | | |
People and Experiences via Ideas, Teams, & Customers
Innovation is a popular buzzword today. There are "innovative" hair salons, "innovative" day care facilities, and "innovative" business processes and products. Unfortunately, many companies lack both a visionof innovationfor the firm and an innovation vision for each product or service.
In the case of business processes, New Product Development Professionals (NPDP) utilize and encourage a particular set of best practices that tend to deliver higher rates of commercial success. For example, a recent study by the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) showed that firms that follow systematic New Product Development (NPD) processes will introduce only four ideas to generate one commercially successful product as compared to other firms who will pursue nine ideas to yield a single product that is demanded by a market segment.
Not only is there a financial cost associated with working on too many, low value projects, team members can suffer a lack of appropriate motivation, thus leading to lower quality ideas entering the NPD pipeline. Companies with higher rates of innovation success instead stimulate creativity through the NPD best practices.
Two focus areas for any organization to enhance their success with innovation are people and experiences. Applied to specific thematic arenas, a focus on people and experiences can change the odds of innovation success to your favor. The three ways to apply people and experiences to implement innovation successfully are:
- Ideas,
- Teams, and
- Customers.
GNPS Premier Members can access this dynamic thought leadership paper in pdf format. Download the full white paper for just $8.95 (tax included). Download Now |
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