Edge Strategy

Edge Strategy

Author: Alan Lewis

Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press

Published: 2015-12-29

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1633690164

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Are you missing opportunities for growth that are right in front of you? In today’s volatile economic environment, filled with uncertainty and sudden change, the forces pushing you to stay focused on the core business are extremely powerful. Profiting from the core is crucial, but the danger is that overfocus on the core can blind companies. Scanning the horizon for new markets and new products can also be tempting, but risky. Fixating too much on either strategy can cause you to miss the substantial opportunities for growth that are often hidden in plain sight, at the edge of the core business. In this insightful yet practical book, strategy experts Alan Lewis and Dan McKone articulate a mindset that helps leaders recognize and capitalize on these opportunities. The Edge Strategy framework challenges how the boundaries of your existing products and services map to your customers’ views of the world and then provides three different lenses through which you can see and leverage value: • Product edge. How to capture incremental profits and other benefits by slightly altering the elements and composition of a core offering • Journey edge. How to create and capture extra value by adjusting your role in supporting the customer’s journey to and through your offering • Enterprise edge. How to unlock additional value from resources and capabilities that support your core offering by applying them in a different context, for a different offering or different set of customers With engaging examples across many industries, Lewis and McKone coach you on how to identify and assess each of the different “edges” and then provide concrete insights and advice on applying edge strategy and tactics to use in specific business contexts. The book concludes with a ten-step process to help executives and managers find and leverage the edges in their own companies. Edge Strategy is the concise, hands-on guide for growing your business by getting more yield from assets already in place, relationships already established, and investments already made.


Open Innovation

Open Innovation

Author: Henry William Chesbrough

Publisher: Harvard Business Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9781422102831

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"Based on the author's extensive field research, academic study, and professional experience, Open Innovation calls for revolutionary organizing principles for managing research and innovation. Through descriptions of the innovation processes of Xerox, IBM, Proctor & Gamble, and other firms, Henry Chesbrough shows you the principles of open innovation in practice."--BOOK JACKET.


Democratizing Innovation

Democratizing Innovation

Author: Eric Von Hippel

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2006-02-17

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0262250179

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The process of user-centered innovation: how it can benefit both users and manufacturers and how its emergence will bring changes in business models and in public policy. Innovation is rapidly becoming democratized. Users, aided by improvements in computer and communications technology, increasingly can develop their own new products and services. These innovating users—both individuals and firms—often freely share their innovations with others, creating user-innovation communities and a rich intellectual commons. In Democratizing Innovation, Eric von Hippel looks closely at this emerging system of user-centered innovation. He explains why and when users find it profitable to develop new products and services for themselves, and why it often pays users to reveal their innovations freely for the use of all.The trend toward democratized innovation can be seen in software and information products—most notably in the free and open-source software movement—but also in physical products. Von Hippel's many examples of user innovation in action range from surgical equipment to surfboards to software security features. He shows that product and service development is concentrated among "lead users," who are ahead on marketplace trends and whose innovations are often commercially attractive. Von Hippel argues that manufacturers should redesign their innovation processes and that they should systematically seek out innovations developed by users. He points to businesses—the custom semiconductor industry is one example—that have learned to assist user-innovators by providing them with toolkits for developing new products. User innovation has a positive impact on social welfare, and von Hippel proposes that government policies, including R&D subsidies and tax credits, should be realigned to eliminate biases against it. The goal of a democratized user-centered innovation system, says von Hippel, is well worth striving for. An electronic version of this book is available under a Creative Commons license.


Serial Innovators

Serial Innovators

Author: Abbie Griffin

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2012-05-30

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 0804783322

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Serial Innovators: How Individuals Create and Deliver Breakthrough Innovations in Mature Firms zeros in on the cutting-edge thinkers who repeatedly create and deliver breakthrough innovations and new products in large, mature organizations. These employees are organizational powerhouses who solve consumer problems and substantially contribute to the financial value to their firms. In this pioneering study, authors Abbie Griffin, Raymond L. Price, and Bruce A. Vojak detail who these serial innovators are and how they develop novel products, ranging from salt-free seasonings to improved electronics in companies such as Alberto Culver, Hewlett-Packard, and Procter & Gamble. Based on interviews with over 50 serial innovators and an even larger pool of their co-workers, managers and human resources teams, the authors reveal key insights about how to better understand, emulate, enable, support, and manage these unique and important individuals for long-term corporate success. Interestingly, the book finds that serial innovators are instrumental both in cases where firms are aware of clear market demands, and in scenarios when companies take risks on new investments, creating a consumer need. For over 25 years, research on innovation has taken the perspective that new product development can be managed like any other (complex) process of the firm. While a highly structured and closely supervised approach is helpful in creating incremental innovations, this book finds that it is not conducive to creating breakthrough innovations. The text argues that the drive to routinize innovation has gone too far; in fact, so far as to limit many mature firms' ability to create breakthrough innovations. In today's economy, with the future of so many large firms on the line, this book is a clarion call to businesses to rethink how to nurture and thrive on their innovative workforce.


Innovation

Innovation

Author: Thomas D. Kuczmarski

Publisher: Contemporary Books

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13:

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American business must develop an "innovation mindset" to remain competitive in the global marketplace. Based on a 10-step approach to creating and developing new ideas, this book examines the problems related to fostering and managing innovation, defines and explains management styles, and concludes with the Innovation Management Tool Kit.


Innovation Nation

Innovation Nation

Author: John Kao

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2007-10-02

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 141655257X

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Not long ago, Americans could rightfully feel confident in our preeminence in the world economy. The United States set the pace as the world's leading innovator: from the personal computer to the internet, from Wall Street to Hollywood, from the decoding of the genome to the emergence of Web 2.0, we led the way and the future was ours. So how is it, bestselling author and leading expert on innovation John Kao asks, that today Finland is the world's most competitive economy? That U.S. students rank twenty-fourth in the world in math literacy and twenty-sixth in problem-solving ability? That in 2005 and 2006 combined, in a reverse brain drain, 30,000 highly trained professionals left the United States to return to their native India? Even as the United States has lost standing in the world community because of the war in Iraq, Kao warns, the country is losing its edge in economic leadership as well. The future of our prosperity, and of our national security, is at serious risk. But it doesn't have to be this way. Based on his in-depth experience advising many of the world's leading companies and studying cutting-edge innovation "best practices" in the most dynamic hot spots of innovation both in the United States and around the world, Kao argues that the United States still has the capability not only to regain our competitive edge, but to take a bold step out ahead of the global community and secure a leadership role in the twenty-first century. We must, though, take serious and concerted action fast. First offering a stunning, troubling portrait of just how serious is the erosion in recent years of U.S. competitiveness in innovation, Kao then takes readers on a fascinating tour of the leading innovation centers, such as those in Singapore, Denmark, and Finland, which are trumping us in their more focused and creative approaches to fueling innovation. He then lays out a groundbreaking plan for a national innovation strategy that would empower the United States to actually innovate the process of innovation: to marshal our vast resources of talent and infrastructure in the particular ways that his studies of innovation have shown lead to transformative results. Innovation Nation is vital reading for all those Americans who are troubled by the great challenges the United States faces in the ever-more-competitive economy of our twenty-first-century world.


The Customer Experience Edge: Technology and Techniques for Delivering an Enduring, Profitable and Positive Experience to Your Customers

The Customer Experience Edge: Technology and Techniques for Delivering an Enduring, Profitable and Positive Experience to Your Customers

Author: Reza Soudagar

Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional

Published: 2011-10-28

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0071786961

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“This excellent book makes it quite clear that your business has to focus on customer experience for 21st-century business success. It’s more than refreshing to read the multiple case studies and well thought out approach and to hear the experienced voices of these authors. You’ve spent way too much time reading this endorsement. Read the book instead. It’s so worth it.” —Paul Greenberg, author of CRM at the Speed of Light “To differentiate yourself and delight your customers, you must manage your customers’ experience with your goods or services, and your company. This invaluable book will show you why you must do this, and how to do it well.” —Henry Chesbrough, author of Open Innovation and Professor at the Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley “Technology advances are raising the human expectation of what an experience with a company can and should be. Finally, a book has been written that combines behavioral psychological, micro-economic, and technological considerations defining the customer experience edge.” —Paul D’Alessandro, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers “As we move from Customer Experience 1.0 to Customer Experience 2.0, organizations and practitioners need a solid blueprint for success. Reza, Vinay, and Volker have created a clear and concise guide based on global best practices and proven principles. If you are ready to transform your organization, start by reading this book.” —Lior Arussy, President, Strativity Group, and author of Customer Experience Strategy “The Customer Experience Edge is an excellent book to gain insights on how to leverage customer experience as a competitive advantage. The case studies serve as recipes that can be added to, modified, or simply baked into business plans to improve or deliver an exceptional customer experience.” —Deb Dexter, Customer Service Director, Cardinal Health About the Book: Globalization and advanced technologies have given ever greater power to the person who decides if your business will succeed or fail—the customer. Whether your company serves consumers or other businesses, you can no longer compete on price and quality alone. To gain profits and market share, you have to deliver an experience that makes customers want to come back—and that sets you apart from the competition. You need to seize The Customer Experience Edge. Drawing on over sixty years of experience in shaping customer centric strategies and technologies for leading companies, three innovators bring you practical and proven ways to create your customer experience programs and overall business strategies. The key is to strike a balance between programs that are effective but prohibitively expensive and programs that fail to dedicate enough resources to be effective. In the middle ground lie the tools that everyone overlooks—foundational and disruptive technologies. These are the authors’ main fields of expertise, and these are what make the customer experience profitable. The Customer Experience Edge explains how to combine strategy, leadership, organizational change, and technology to: Develop products and services that are highly valued by customers Form bonds that keep clients from turning to competitors Transform customers into your best advocates It’s a new world of business, and customers are keenly aware that their loyalty is valuable currency. The Customer Experience Edge gives you a cost-effective, sustainable way to provide an unforgettable experience that builds loyalty and turns it into real, measurable profits.


Innovating in a Secret World

Innovating in a Secret World

Author: Tina P. Srivastava

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2019-07-01

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1640122087

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Our national security increasingly depends on access to the most sophisticated and advanced technology. Yet the next time we set out to capture a terrorist leader, we may fail. Why? The answer lies in a conflict between two worlds. One is the dynamic, global, commercial world with its thriving innovations. The other is the world of national security, in which innovation is a matter of life or death. The conflict is about secrecy. Innovating in a Secret World is a detailed examination of the U.S. government and innovation landscapes and of the current trends in often secret national security-related research and development (R&D). Based on case studies, detailed research, and interviews with executives at Fortune 500s, startup entrepreneurs, and military directors and program managers, this accessible and timely book is a must-read. Tina P. Srivastava evaluates whether the strategy of technology innovation in the world of national security leaves certain innovations behind or unintentionally precludes certain classes of innovators from participating. She identifies the unintended consequences and emergent behaviors of this conflict. This examination unfolds in a complex, dynamic system that includes the legal framework in which technology innovation must exist. For more than a decade Srivastava has been on the front lines of cutting-edge technology innovation. She suggests focusing on an emerging class of R&D strategy called "open innovation"--a strategy that broadens participation in innovation beyond an individual organization or division traditionally assigned to perform R&D activities. Through compelling stories of commercial and early government applications, she shows how open technology innovation strategies can enable, accelerate, and enhance technology innovation. Successful incorporation of open innovation into the previously closed U.S. government R&D landscape can yield profound benefits to both national security and global leadership.


EDGE

EDGE

Author: Jim Highsmith

Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional

Published: 2019-08-02

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0135263581

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EDGE: The Agile Operating Model That Will Help You Successfully Execute Your Digital Transformation “[The authors’] passion for technology allows them to recognize that for most enterprises in the 21st century, technology is THE business. This is what really separates the EDGE approach. It is a comprehensive operating model with technology at its core.” —From the Foreword by Heidi Musser, Executive Vice President and Principal Consultant, Leading Agile; retired, Vice President and CIO, USAA Maximum innovation happens at the edge of chaos: the messy, risky, and uncertain threshold between randomness and structure. Operating there is uncomfortable but it’s where organizations “invent the future.” EDGE is a set of fast, iterative, adaptive, lightweight, and value-driven tools to achieve digital transformation, and EDGE: Value-Driven Digital Transformation is your guide to using this operating model for innovation. Jim Highsmith is one of the world’s leading agile pioneers and a coauthor of the Agile Manifesto. He, Linda Luu, and David Robinson know from their vast in-the-trenches experience that sustainable digital transformation requires far more than adopting isolated agile practices or conventional portfolio management. This hard, indispensable work involves changing culture and mindset, and going beyond transforming the IT department. EDGE embraces an adaptive mindset in the face of market uncertainty, a visible, value-centered portfolio approach that encourages continual value linkages from vision to detailed initiatives, incremental funding that shifts as strategies evolve, collaborative decision-making, and better risk mitigation. This guide shows leaders how to use the breakthrough EDGE approach to go beyond incremental improvement in a world of exponential opportunities. Build an organization that adapts fast enough to thrive Clear away unnecessary governance processes, obsolete “command and control” leadership approaches, and slow budgeting/planning cycles Improve collaboration when major, fast-paced responses are necessary Continually optimize investment allocation and monitoring based on your vision and goals Register your product for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.


The GAME of Innovation: Conquer Challenges. Level Up Your Team. Play to Win

The GAME of Innovation: Conquer Challenges. Level Up Your Team. Play to Win

Author: David Cutler

Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional

Published: 2022-03-22

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 126425749X

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As a leader, how do you discover and implement breakthrough opportunities? Gamify challenges. Level up your team. And play to WIN. Unveiling a comprehensive approach to extraordinary problem-solving, The GAME of Innovation offers all you need to meet challenges head on and seize the competitive edge. Conceived by a super-creative quartet of top-tier business consultants, The GAME of Innovation builds upon a novel premise: What if you framed problems as if they were games of profound significance? How might you design something new or reimagine the old, particularly when competition increases, technology disrupts, change accelerates, money tightens, and the rules of success are constantly evolving? The book then shares a flexible methodology for designing powerhouse problem-solving GAMEs (Guidelines, Arena, Materials, Experience), aligning teams with 5 problem-solving “lenses,” building consensus behind change, and leading/managing the process. This uncommon, easy-to-read, visual book is packed with actionable strategies that will help you and your community thrive when playing The GAME of Innovation.