Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 15, 2012

Given the unrelenting pace of change surrounding organizations in virtually every industry, companies are looking for executives who know how to innovate and introduce change, not simply caretakers who can manage the status quo. Senior management doesn't really encourage innovation, you'll hear. They won't let me take risks."

Innovation 15

Innovation Merchandising How To Proposal 15

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

What really struck me is that both Xerox and Waste Management are doing something mostly unheard of: they're working with customers to help them use less of their traditional product or service. And what's really important is that these are not just niche product lines, but fundamental shifts in what these companies do.

Productivity 15

Productivity Products Christensen Document 15

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

With scarcely any help from management, knowledge workers can increase their productivity by 20%. Knowledge workers own the means of production — their brains. So large-scale re-engineering programs, productivity drives, and changes to the incentive system are unlikely to work: they can easily be resisted, ignored or gamed.

Productivity 8

Productivity Products Peer Review Short-term 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

You’ll often find customer relationship management within marketing, budgeting within finance, supply-chain management within operations, outsourcing within procurement, training within HR, and new product development within R&D. Permanent cross-functional teams tend to fare better.

Development 8

Development Supply Chain Incentives Outsourcing 8

Strategy Driven

MARCH 18, 2011

PL and CM: Coherent companies – those that possess a capabilities system that aligns their strategy with their product/service portfolio – generate superior performance over time, which is what we call the coherence premium. SD : What is the ‘coherence premium?’. SD : What does it mean to have a ‘right to win?’. SD : Why now?

Resources 52

Resources Industry System Strategy 52

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 10, 2014

Education is on the brink of rapid change that will create a lot of value for innovators. One representative example: April’s Education Innovation Summit , where more than 2,000 people energetically discussed how technology and markets are charting the future of education globally. But still sitting on the sidelines?

Real Estate 8

Real Estate Education Disruptive Innovation Asset Management 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 20, 2013

That we're capable of creating new products, constantly experimenting with new ideas, technologies, content formats, and are more prolific. Nor should you outsource everything. Technologists are creatives, and they not only make the work better through the production process, but come up with and make ideas smarter. Start small.

Advertising 9

Advertising Brand Creativity Content 9

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 13, 2013

Public variants of outsourcing were pushed as part of George W. American business remains the country's most vibrant source of innovation. Government has traditionally looked to business for tools and techniques to help improve productivity and cut costs through greater efficiency.

Efficiency 8

Efficiency Six Sigma Benchmarking Outsourcing 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 18, 2012

Executing this strategy required seamless integration of IBM's product capabilities with its geographic reach. This meant abandoning IBM's existing organization, in which product silos and geographic entities operated independently and frequently were more competitive than collaborative. Cisco now sells mostly commoditized products.

Globalization 15

Globalization Golden Parachute Short-term Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

But the opportunities for data-science-enabled efficiencies and innovation are too important to defer or deny. Big organizations can afford — or think they can afford — to throw money at the problem by hiring laid-off Wall Street quants or hiring big-budget analytics boutiques.

BHAG 8

BHAG Software Information Technology Short-term 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 19, 2013

Are you selling a lower margin product that will take time to gain traction? Your product or service should offer true value. Does your intended service or product bring something new to the consumer? Others travel sites outsource their call centers overseas and really push all interactions to be electronic.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur Hotels Travel Call Center 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 18, 2015

Processes are bolted on in response to new products and services. Indeed, any IT outsourcing contracts will be based on a particular way of running the business, locking these in for many years. Neither is acceptable in a world dominated by digital innovation, change, and disruption. Policies to aid efficiency are ignored.

System 8

System Enterprise Architecture Agility Operations 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 1, 2011

Every single innovation conversation I've had recently with business unit leaders, product managers and/or marketing executives invariably focuses on the importance of partnership and collaboration with their best suppliers and vendors. If anything, they wish their suppliers came forward with even more actionable and innovative ideas.

Price 15

Price Innovation Disintermediation TCO 15

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 27, 2015

Can you think of any business topic that’s been hotter for longer than innovation? In a McKinsey poll , 94% of the managers surveyed said they were dissatisfied with their company’s innovation performance. And yet when it comes to innovation, the gap between aspiration and accomplishment seems as big as ever.

Innovation 8

Innovation Company Engineering Supply Chain 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 3, 2013

It shouldn’t happen, but it does: You realize much too late that your innovation project is in deep trouble. In a recent analysis of a massive, expensive innovation failure, Kim van Oorschot of BI Norwegian Business School, Henk Akkermans of the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, and Kishore Sengupta and Luk N.

Stage-Gate 8

Stage-Gate Innovation Execution Management 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 23, 2012

As I've written before , there's plenty of evidence that people who make a tangible product, use their senses, and help others are happier than mere office dwellers. Before I turned to writing and starting an incubator, my last traditional office job was leading growth and innovation at a Fortune 100 company. Send them to the factory.

ROE 13

ROE Gordon Incubator Chemicals 13

The Horizons Tracker

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

It’s into this domain that Israeli startup SixAI Robotics is attempting to make its mark by providing a ‘robotic recruitment agency’ to help firms access the kind of technologies they need to become more productive and keep pace with their larger rivals.

TCO 83

TCO Decentralization CAPEX Industry 83