Innovate Your Way out of a Recession

How on earth can companies compete in a global economy where staff costs in India are a tenth of those in the West and where Chinese companies are now looking to outsource their operations to cut costs further? We can not continuously improve our way out of the current challenges, rather we must fundamentally change what we do and how we do it - in short we must innovate.

Some people think innovation is the generation of new ideas - but we would refer to this as creativity. Creativity is part of innovation but is not a substitute for it! Being creative and coming up with new ideas is all well and good but if no one puts them into practice then they are worth nothing to a business. For us innovation is the "commercial exploitation of ideas." It needs to be a planned and proactive process.

Innovation is also seen as being synonymous with the development of new products. Whilst this is true to a degree it is only one part of what constitutes innovation. In fact many businessmen and women are put off by the term innovation because they do not fully understand what it means.



There are five generic types of innovation as represented in this Product-Market matrix:

1. Process Innovation - Improving how you do what you currently do. The emphasis here is on making the process more effective and efficient rather than changing the end product or service. The aim could be to improve reliability, reduce costs, improve timing etc.


2. New Product /Service Development - The creation of modified or new products and services to meet a market need. This can be done through re-engineering existing products, licensing existing products, creating differing versions of present products, running incubator generation schemes etc.


3. Market Development - Breaking into extended markets or segmenting an existing market in a new way can often give insights previously overlooked. Market innovation could be as radical as moving into a new geographical market like opening a store in Japan or sub-segmenting your existing market by different age groups.


4. New Business Development - As you become more radical, the extent of innovation will increase, and it will become more and more likely that you will need to build or bring in new capabilities. New business may result from taking modified products or technology into completely new markets, or offering new products to extended markets.


5. Strategic Change (Business Innovation) - Possibly the riskiest approach to innovation - that of moving the business into a different, unrelated market to capitalise on a new product idea or technology. A strategic change might require a new business model, leadership, merger, acquisition or new branding.

Now is the time for businesses to embrace Innovation Management as a core business process. Link innovation to your business goals and overcome the barriers to innovation, and you stand a very good chance of not only surviving the recession but becoming stronger in the process.


Also by Andy Bruce - The Golden Rules of Innovation

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Andy Bruce is widely acclaimed as an authority in 'Innovation Management', the author of "Fast Track to Success - Innovation", and the Director of two specialist innovation companies: SofTools and Project Leaders International.

The Golden Rules of Innovation

Like any other core business process there are some 'rules' of innovation management which will maximise the probability of success. These come under what we call "The 6 Ps":

PLANNING - Innovation must be linked to strategy

• Successful leaders link core business processes to their strategic goals and annual business planning targets, and innovation is no exception. Use a product-market matrix to clarify the extent and direction of your innovation. Without a strategic direction you run the risk of coming up with innovations that run counter to your businesses best interests!

PIPELINE - Maximise your sources of ideas

• Once you have linked innovation to strategy you need to generate ideas for performance improvement - but where do your best ideas come from? Ideas come from any part of your organisation; from Open Innovation to internal brainstorming activities. Whatever the source of the idea, you need an effective process to capture, screen, prioritise and resource your ideas.

PROCESS - Ideas to evaluation to execution

• Once exciting new ideas have been generated, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing them 'fall through the cracks' due to poor implementation. A rigorous approach based on good principles of project and management is required; schedule, sequence of activities and stakeholder management and ROI calculation are all key, as is Risk Management.

PEOPLE - Leaders and Champions

• The most important factor in creating an innovative culture is having leaders with ability and commitment to succeed. Managers must understand what innovation is, how to manage it and how to motivate. It must go further than the Board - every department or team should have an Innovation Champion. This role should be seen as a career enhancing opportunity and rewarded accordingly. Pick your best people.

PLATFORM - Technology as the accelerator

• IT systems are not the starting point for implementing an innovation framework, but they are critical enablers. Without an effective web-based innovation tracking system you cannot manage the ideas pipeline and people properly. Look for a solution that manages the overall innovation process from ideas to implementation, and provides key decision makers with the level of visibility and control they need.

PERFORMANCE - Measure, manage, improve

• Innovation is a business process, like any other. As such it has to be managed. Create a structure that monitors the effectiveness of your innovation process. From monthly or weekly meetings through to team rewards, put in a process. Performance management is the oil that makes Innovation Management happen, so take time to set the right Innovation Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Now is the time for western businesses to embrace Innovation Management as a core business process. Link innovation to your business goals, follow the golden rules and overcome the barriers to innovation, and you stand a very good chance of not only surviving the recession but becoming stronger in the process.


Also by Andy Bruce - Innovating Your Way out of a Recession

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Andy Bruce is widely acclaimed as an authority in 'Innovation Management', the author of "Fast Track to Success - Innovation", and the Director of two specialist innovation companies: SofTools and Project Leaders International.