You force your competitors onto the horn of a dilemma. They can either run to protect themselves against one end of the horn, while exposing themselves to the other, or vice versa, but they cannot do both. READ»
This is way too long for a blog, but what the heck...
“There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system”- Machiavelli (1469-1527)
One of the ...READ»
“With few exceptions, every job people need or want to do has a social, a functional, and an emotional dimension. If marketers understand each of these dimensions, then they can design a product that's precisely targeted to the job. ...READ»
Plans, projections, decisions, debates, results – all these and many more depend on the provision and calculation of outcomes (forecast or achieved) measured in monetary terms.
However, very few managers have paused to consider ...READ»
This is a reposting of an article I wrote last week for NextBillion.net. NextBillion is a site that "brings together business leaders, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, policy makers, and academics who want to explore the ...READ»
Corporate politics are everywhere. They inflict every company. In fact, you'd be hard put to find a senior manager out there who has completely avoided the fray.
Depending how far you make it up the corporate ladder, you'll ...READ»
The term “disruptive innovation” is quickly joining the list of meaningless buzzwords that companies use to hype their latest products. Marketing managers seem to use it to describe anything new, along with “breakthrough” ...READ»
Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Thomas Edison said it nearly a century ago. Few listened.
We've been researchers in the field of innovation for several years now. We have shelves full of books on the topic. ...READ»
My last column on the benefits of failure prompted one reader to ask whether the converse is true: "do successful companies sow the seeds of their own destruction?"
Given that the average lifespan of a top 500 company in the U.S. is ...READ»
Lush Cosmetics is a fast-growing $100 million brand, thanks to founder Mark Constantine's contrary product-development philosophy: Innovate like mad, then start over again.READ»
Two seasoned renewal strategists offer a prescription for the corporate blahs. Carter Pate and Harlan Platt's medicine doesn't taste too good, but it may help cure what ails you.READ»
It is one of the defining strategic questions of the new economy: How do you build a company that excels over the long term, but that is also capable of reacting quickly to massive shifts in technology and markets? A new book offers a carefully argued study of that urgent question.READ»
Like lots of troubled companies before it, Herman Miller slashed and burned--people, facilities, businesses. But at the same time, it took a deep breath and made a big bet on the future.READ»
Kevin Plank's improbable hit -- a sweat-wicking undershirt -- kicked off the fastest-growing category of sportswear. Now Nike and other megabrands are in hot pursuit of Under Armour. Welcome to the disrupter's dilemma.READ»
Lush Cosmetics is a fast-growing $100 million brand, thanks to founder Mark Constantine's contrary product-development philosophy: Innovate like mad, then start over again.READ»
Each year, Microsoft spends more than $6 billion on R&D. And for all that money, it gets...digital toilets and SPOT Watches. Is there a problem here?READ»
There are plenty of internal reasons why Microsoft's record of innovation is so lackluster. Not to mince words, Bill Gates's researchers have placed a bunch of expensive bets on technologies that haven't panned out. But the company's failure also points to three much bigger lessons about innovation.READ»
