A couple of articles in the Oil and Glory blog describe innovation at Bell Labs (Book Review: Jon Gertner’s “The Idea Factory” and What Obama could learn from Bell Labs). Bell Labs, as the article points out, delivered many of the innovations that made modern devices possible: “The name Bell Labs is synonymous with cutting-edge invention, winning
The article In Praise of Dissimilarity from MIT Sloan Management Review has very important implications for R&D management. The article describes how most managers view similarity based on functionality or product taxonomy (e.g solid state drives and hard drives are similar). However, another way to look for similarity is based on how different products interact in a
I am writing a paper on the use of R&D plans as a foundation for effective R&D management. As a part of the effort, I am collecting prior research on R&D planning and roadmapping. I plan to summarize some of the interesting papers I find along the way. The first is from a roadmap seminar
The article What’s Wrong with This Picture: Kodak’s 30-year Slide into Bankruptcy in Knowledge@Wharton makes some interesting points. Here is my summary. Kodak, once an industry leader and an innovator could not succeed because of the fear of cannibalizing existing film business. The technology is one of countless innovations that Kodak developed over the years but failed to
We have often discussed how innovation has become a buzzword with many myths surrounding what drives innovation. I was recently discussing Open Innovation with an R&D executive. He made a pretty significant remark: There are lots of positive articles around open innovation, but there do not seem to be many balanced evaluations of the approach. Fortuitously, Knowledge@Wharton
As most regular readers may know, I admire Steve Jobs for his ability to manage R&D and deliver innovative products. Here is a summary of a series of articles that might help us learn a bit more of his methods. Let us start off with INSEAD Knowledge (Apple Without Steve): Steve Jobs was a master
INSEAD Knowledge had an intriguing article that I have been meaning to write about. The Innovation Premium meanders along multiple themes (some of them untenable) but in the end has a couple of interesting observations. The article discusses the book The Innovator’s DNA: “Innovation makes millionaires and undermines monopolies. It raises the profitability of companies and
Prof. Birkinshaw has a must read article for all innovation managers in the MIT Sloan Management Review: The 5 Myths of Innovation. Here are my learnings from it: Innovation is NOT about the Eureka moment. Innovation is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. Companies are good at generating ideas, but it is in the detailed development and getting the
Nokia has been in the news quite a bit lately. Nokia’s new CEO Elop was recently quoted in the WSJ saying: Rising competition in China and Europe has forced Nokia to cut its prices, contributing to the second-quarter sales miss, Mr. Elop said. He singled out Google’s Android operating system as a major source of Nokia’s current
I found an interesting article in the Star Tribune Does Wall Street hate innovation? Recent studies by Mary Benner, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, concludes that’s often the case for major players in their industries. She examined how analysts reacted when companies like Kodak and Polaroid shifted to digital