Category: business

  • Tesla in Texas: two innovations interacting?

    Selling innovative products If you are selling something, then you want people to buy it, but how? The challenge is greater if your product is more innovative. But maybe other innovations can come to the rescue. Resistance from existing distributors For Tesla, the electric car manufacturer which is shaking up the motor industry, Texas is…

  • Bring back the great British tea break!

    It’s an institution or, at least, it was an established ritual: the great British tea break. Get together When I first started work, and for many years afterwards, there was a break every morning and every afternoon. Everyone in the department would stop work for 15-20 minutes each morning and afternoon, to get together to have…

  • Innovation is betting: you’ve got to be in it to win it!

    Innovation fails Innovation is not guaranteed to work, if it were then it would not be novel enough to be termed “innovation”. So there is a risk involved. However, presumably, we would like our innovative efforts to work (that is, to pay out) some of the time, otherwise they would not be worth the price.…

  • Innovation is an opportunity

    Innovation happens as new perspectives, thoughts and ideas lead to changes in behaviour. Doing the same things and expecting a different outcome is unrealistic. Only when we do new things, do we make a substantial difference. Mankind has evolved through the application of small thoughts which continually make a difference to someone and big ideas…

  • To innovate or not to innovate? That is not the question!

    Sooner or later continuous improvement, by any individual or organisation, runs out of steam. Marching up the slope ahead of us makes sense as an effective way to move onwards and upwards, until we reach the summit. But the summit of what? Most likely it is not the summit, it is just a summit. There…

  • Organising for innovation

    Aspects and characteristics It is unlikely that anyone doubts that the ability of an organisation to innovate is strongly dependent on the nature of that organisation. Its nature can be described by various characteristics (including cultural, behavioural and structural characteristics) and by several aspects (including the static and dynamic aspects) of those characteristics. 

  • No, Nokia, No!

    Oh dear, what a crying shame! Today is an awful day in the mobile communications industry. Symbian is dead; Nokia jumps to Windows Phone 7 Many predicted it, some welcome it, others are horrified. I am horrified. This seems such a long time ago: Go, Nokia, Go! What is there to say? … oh well,…

  • Innovation strategy – where to aim?

    At an inspiring BrightIdea meeting on innovation management in 2010, mentioned in a previous post, I was given, by Vincent Carbone (COO), the opportunity to present some high level thoughts. The general upsurge in interest, activity and capability in the area of innovation management is continuing; however much of this is, as yet, tactical in nature.…

  • Highlights of a 2010 innovation management highlight

    One of the highlights of 2010, for me, was the opportunity to attend a meeting on innovation management at the request of BrightIdea who are a leading provider of innovation management products. Through a series of “birds of a feather” meetings (you know, they flock together) around the world, BrightIdea have promulgated thinking, information and…

  • Pull away

    How often does the response reveal more than the stimulus? There was an interesting observation in one of the comments on Robert Scoble’s recent post about Google and its difficulties with innovation. But there was an even more interesting remark in his response to the comment. In my earlier post, I described some general observations,…