In a recent post, I noted that many companies are trying out different ways to change how we make payments, with American Express having decided that apparently key fobs is not the way. Just today,… Read more »
Innovation
FotoNation: Why new entrants to an industry often see opportunities incumbents don’t
This past Friday’s Wall Street Journal reported on a terrific little Irish-based company, FotoNation, that has achieved breakthrough growth by using software algorithms to solve problems that have bedeviled the photography industry for years. Red-eye,… Read more »
Innovation and the last gasp of dying technologies
In the January, 2008 edition of the Harvard Business Review, Daniel C. Snow shared some research he’s been doing on product transitions—when one dominant design or conventional product gives way to a different or more… Read more »
Staples “M Line” an effort to escape brutal commoditization
As a long-time fan of stationery supplier Staples, I was intrigued to note that they are adding a whole new, more upscale, line of products called the “M Line”. The goal is to create a… Read more »
Business Models based on “free”
A point of departure for discovery driven planning is the selection of a unit of business, which implies a particular business model. In a recent edition of Wired magazine, editor Chris Anderson created a useful… Read more »
The Innovation Value Chain – Thoughtful, useful, concept
Colleagues Morten Hansen and Julian Birkinshaw posted a really solid piece in the June 2007 Harvard Business Review (which I’ve just gotten around to reading). Essentially, they argue that companies tend to focus their attention… Read more »
Fail Fast, Fail Cheap – Merck rewards scientists for failure
Bob Cooper, over at the Kellogg Innovation blog, draws attention to a Business Week article on Richard Clark’s efforts to turn Merck around. While the article itself is interesting, what caught my eye was the… Read more »
Fascinating study on R&D Spending and return on innovation by Booz Allen & Hamilton
My colleague, Gray Hammond, drew attention to this year’s installment of the fascinating study of innovation conducted annually by Booz Allen and Hamilton. To access the study click here Synopsis: Booz Allen Hamilton’s annual study… Read more »
Fascinating study on R&D Spending and return on innovation by Booz Allen & Hamilton
My colleague, Gray Hammond, drew attention to this year’s installment of the fascinating study of innovation conducted annually by Booz Allen and Hamilton. To access the study click here Synopsis: Booz Allen Hamilton’s annual study… Read more »
Business Model Change as an industry sector evolves
Both Clayton Christensen and Geoffrey Moore have noted that players exploiting different business models are advantaged in different stages of a categories’ evolution. I’ve build on their thinking to argue the following: Stage I categories: … Read more »
How fleeting an advantage can be in financial services –
Yesterday, I was teaching in Columbia’s flagship Columbia Senior Executive Program (which we call CSEP for short). We were discussing how difficult it can be to prevent competitive imitation of innovations in financial services, and… Read more »
Corporate Venturing – Stop being so fickle!
Enthusiasm for corporate venturing (efforts by firms to create new businesses from within) come and go over time. Firms set up venture groups, get disillusioned with them, fold them back into the core business only… Read more »