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First Mover or Fast Follower?

Harvard Business Review

Many of these trends seem to fit historical patterns of transformation , which means banks need to up their innovation game. The first innovators in the market are often too early in the technology curve. Here's one of the biggest that would-be innovators should ask: Should I lead or follow? Do the panelists agree?".

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Xbox Live: How an Old Tech Company Built a Social Media Juggernaut

Harvard Business Review

Fair or not, Microsoft has long had a reputation for being a fast follower. They deserve credit for not only successfully competing in the brutal gaming arena with breakthrough product innovations Xbox 360 and Kinect, but also by breakthrough business model innovation via Xbox Live.

Media 15
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The Building Blocks of Successful Corporate IT

Harvard Business Review

If they work for a product company, it may be looking to services revenue for growth. The persona of the next-generation CIO is evolving from Chief Infrastructure Officer through Chief Integration Officer and Chief Intelligence Officer to Chief Innovation Officer. Understand the three organizational building blocks. Organizational DNA.

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Xbox Live: How an Old Tech Company Built a Social Media Juggernaut

Harvard Business Review

Fair or not, Microsoft has long had a reputation for being a fast follower. They deserve credit for not only successfully competing in the brutal gaming arena with breakthrough product innovations Xbox 360 and Kinect, but also by breakthrough business model innovation via Xbox Live.

Media 13
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Too Much Profit Can Doom Your Company

Harvard Business Review

The contrast could not be clearer: Amazon – fearlessly making big, risky bets like a serial entrepreneur; and Microsoft, eschewing disruptive innovation in favor of remaining the “ fast follower ” it has always been, wringing profit from previously proven technologies.

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Are You Driving Too Much Change, Too Fast?

Harvard Business Review

At Electrolux, for example, the company has implemented a new " 70% rule " for testing its new product innovations to make sure it's not getting too far ahead or falling too quickly behind either its customers or competitors. The clear exception occurs when your innovations effectively create a new kind of customer or client.

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Amazon's Fire and the New Integrated Platform

Harvard Business Review

Amazon hasn't simply come up with a new product or — as Bezos himself declared — a new service. The net pioneer that reinvented retailing and redefined "word-of-web" recommendations has devised a new innovation ecosystem. Amazon's presence will intensify the innovation tempo in every market touched.