article thumbnail

Match Your Innovation Process to the Results You Want

Harvard Business Review

We are often asked whether the best way to structure for innovation is top-down or bottom-up. Bottom-up approaches work well for incremental (keeps you in the game) innovations. Breakthrough (changes the game) innovations, contrary to popular belief, need a top-down approach. They must also be willing to see value in absurdity.

Process 15
article thumbnail

How to Quantify Sustainability’s Impact on Your Bottom Line

Harvard Business Review

We found that sustainable and deforestation-free practices created significant financial benefits for all players in the industry’s value chain. Specifically, our analysis found that the net benefits to ranchers ranged from $18 million to $34 million (12% to 23% of revenues) in net present value projected over 10 years.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Why Some Digital Companies Should Delay Profitability for as Long as They Can

Harvard Business Review

This has led to high levels of AWS specific investment from innovators like CloudHealth Technologies, Qubole, Mapbox, and the like. That ecosystem investment reinforces the value proposition and drives more developer adoption. The Refresher: Net Present Value. So is Facebook. So is Google. The list goes on.

article thumbnail

4 Assumptions About Risk You Shouldn’t Be Making

Harvard Business Review

And, the misunderstood poem helps to highlight how innovation-seeking executives need to reframe the word risk. Most readers assume Frost’s poem is hopeful, describing the value of the rugged individualism that has long served as an American hallmark. Encouraging risk taking, therefore, can help to boost innovation.

article thumbnail

Why We Need to Update Financial Reporting for the Digital Era

Harvard Business Review

Business students have traditionally considered net present value, payback period, and hurdle rates as necessary tools to determine which project to select. Furthermore, the operating managers cannot take their eyes off day-to-day operations to focus on innovation. Traditional companies therefore rely on two strategies.

Report 8
article thumbnail

Shape Strategy With Simple Rules, Not Complex Frameworks

Harvard Business Review

Its new management team took over an organization that was bureaucratic, overstaffed, and bleeding cash. The team decided to adopt a simple-rules approach to the work ahead. Accordingly, the management team identified capital budgeting as a critical bottleneck keeping the company from achieving its objectives.

article thumbnail

How to Choose the Ideas Your Company Should Invest In

Harvard Business Review

In The Innovator's Guide to Growth we suggested that companies should create one-page "Idea Resumes" that capture the essence of an idea on a single PowerPoint slide. If you don't have an innovation strategy , go and create one.). A small decision-making team can come to consensus about the right plans to take forward.

Company 14