Innovation Now the Critical Strategy for Long-Term Success
23 February 1999
Beyond Quality, Speed and Operational Excellence - Innovation Now the Critical Strategy for Long-Term Success
LEXINGTON, Mass.--Feb. 19, 1999--Leading strategists Gary Hamel and Clayton Christensen warn corporate
leaders against complacency
As the Internet compresses time and the global economy shrinks the world, two renowned business strategists agree on what will define the competitive platform of our near future - innovation. Gary Hamel, acclaimed corporate strategist and author, Competing for the Future, believes that corporate obsession with things such as reengineering, enterprise resource planning and mergers, have consumed scarce management resources that would be better used addressing the virtually untapped sources of ideas for corporate renewal that exist within organizations. Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator's Dilemma, blames sound financial and corporate best practices as a major constraint to succeeding in new markets that impact or eliminate whole business models.
In a recent interview with Management Roundtable's newsletter, Product Development Best Practices Report (BPR), Hamel explained the consequences of ignoring this issue. "Because it's more than likely," he says, "at least in technology-related industries-that some place like the Silicon Valley will spawn the company that will ultimately kill you. You can wait for that to happen or you can create the same sort of discipline in your organization."
Clayton Christensen, also interviewed for BPR, warns that following the best practices that work for established markets, e.g. forecasting and market research, mislead companies into believing strong discipline in these areas can be applied successfully to innovation conditions. "When new markets for new technologies emerge," he says, "companies have consistently dismal records in forecasting demand for innovations that can ultimately lead to the new markets and customers that secure long-term growth."
Both Hamel and Christensen will further discuss their work on the strategic role of innovation at Management Roundtable's Product & Process Leadership Conference, being held April 6-9, 1999 in Boston, Massachusetts. Complete details about the conference are available at http://ManagementRoundtable.com/PPLC-99.html, or by contacting Dave Hajjar by phone at 1-800-338-2223 or 781-676-0606, by e-mail at info@roundtable.com, by fax at 781-676-1951 or by mail: Management Roundtable, 1050 Waltham Street, Suite 410, Lexington, MA 02421.
For more information, or to discuss these and other issues surrounding the strategic business impact of innovation with Management Roundtable, contact Alex Cooper, principal, at 781-676-0606 ext. 212 or by e-mail at alex@roundtable.com.
Links to additional information:
Gary Hamel Interview: http://www.roundtable.com/hamel.html Clayton Christensen Interview: http://www.roundtable.com/christensen.html Best Practices Report: http://ManagementRoundtable.com/BN0401_prod_desc.html
Management Roundtable: http://ManagementRoundtable.com Product & Process Leadership Conference: http://ManagementRoundtable.com/PPLC-99.html