In 1897, James Henry Atkinson, a British inventor, came up with the notion of combining a small piece of wood, a wire spring, and a piece of cheese. He called it the “little nipper.”
Procter Brothers, the Welsh company that bought the patent from Atkinson, has been fortunate that, in the 107 years since, no one has come up with a more efficient means of dispatching rodents. In fact, the company still commands 60% of the British market. For nearly every other business, though, building just one better mousetrap every century is not enough. To stay ahead, they must constantly search for the next idea that will best the competition.
Of course, successful innovation isn’t simply a matter of coming up with ideas. It’s the ability to nurture those ideas, make them work, and bring them to market that distinguishes a truly innovative company. With that in mind, Fast Company and global professional-services firm Monitor Group present this inaugural version of the Fast Company/Monitor Group Innovation Scorecard.
“Competitive advantage roots best in soil nourished by disciplined, sustained innovation — in assets, their configuration, the offerings they make possible, and the business models that support them,” says Mark Fuller, Monitor’s chairman and CEO. “But such discipline is impossible to sustain without rigorous — and relentless — efforts to measure and improve performance along all relevant dimensions.”
