Innovation Zen

Open the New York Times or browse around the Internet for 30 minutes and I am sure that you will come across several business acronyms. Not knowing what they mean can be quite annoying. That is the purpose of the list below; to provide a quick reference to the most common used acronyms so you […]

We all accept that humans are born and die. Actually this is one of the very few things we accept for sure. Why, then, should people create a different belief regarding companies and organizations?
The famous “Built to Last!” moto…
Why? Why can’t companies just be conceived, do what they have to do (with excellence, don’t get […]

Most of you probably know that I decided to quit my job inside a large multinational company 6 months ago. And I did it despite having worked there for only 1 year. Trust me though, it was enough to figure that I was not suited for the corporate environment.
But is anyone really suited for that? […]

BusinessWeek has an interesting article by Roger Martin, where he questions some of the trends proposed by the consulting firm McKinsey. More specifically the article criticizes McKinsey’s views about Scientific Management. Quoting Mckinsey:
“Management will go from art to science. Bigger, more complex companies demand new tools to run and manage them. Indeed, improved technology and […]

Innovation oftentimes happens through teams both in the workplace and in projects. Therefore, I wanted to take a minute and discuss different motivation theories that might be helpful in examining exactly what it will take for your team to succeed.
Process Theories of Motivation:

Needs-Goal Theory - Motivation begins with an individual feeling a need. […]

What is the difference between management and leadership? I have seen a wide range of answers for that questions, including:
“The biggest difference between managers and leaders is the way they motivate the people who work or follow them. Managers have subordinates while leaders have followers.”
“Leadership is just one of the many assets a successful […]

A basic premise of good strategic management is that firms plan ways to deal with unfavorable and favorable events before they occur.  The key is developing contingency plans for the positive and negative effects of business, not just the negative ones.
Some contingency plans that a firm could establish are as follows:

If a major competitor withdraws […]

Horizontal integration refers to a strategy of seeking ownership of or increased control over a firm’s competitors.  One of the most significant trends in strategic management today is the increased use of horizontal integration as a growth strategy.
Mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers among competitors allow for increased economies of scale and enhanced transfer of resources and […]

Companies all over the world are positioning themselves to adopt a more diverse workforce.  When I was at Pepsi, plans were in place to achieve diversification from about 10 years out.  They knew that there would be no ethnic majority by the year 2075, so they got the ball rolling early.
Here are 13 Benefits of […]

Many corporations today use the controversial Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test, based on the work of psychologist Carl Jung, to label managers on four dimensions - as extroverts or introverts, thinkers or feelers, sensors or intuitors, and judges or perceivers.
The current research on leadership traits suggests that some factors do help differentiate leaders from nonleaders, […]

Empowerment is defined as, “the process that provides greater autonomy to employees through the sharing of relevant information in the provision of control over factors affecting job performance.”
Empowerment helps remove the conditions that cause powerlessness while enhancing employee feelings of self efficacy. It also authorizes employees to cope with situations and enables them to […]

The advantages of seizing the intiative are well documented throughout military history, as well as in countless buisness success stories. But how can you ensure that your organization gains, and keeps, the initiaitive?
These are five effective steps to do this:

Analyze the situation carefully
Seek hidden opportunities and new solutions
Act Now
Act boldly
Keep the pressure on

This may […]

Oftentimes, changing business strategy around a fixed corporate culture is one of the hardest things a strategist has to do.
The following is a list of ten elements that are most useful in linking culture to strategy:

Formal statements of organizational philosophy, charters, creeds, mission and vision statements
Designing physical spaces, facades, and buildings to mimic the company’s […]

Web 2.0 has brought about interesting changes in business strategy.  Initially, the generally accepted framework for business strategy, Porter’s Five Rules, applied across the board, no matter the sector or industry.  Today, Porter’s rules are under fire.
WinMarket has a great post (although it is an ‘alpha’ version) about the differences between traditional business framework and […]

“The problem is we get so caught up in the nitty gritty of implementation that we forget why we are here in the first place …. ‘Why’ is just as important as the ‘How’; they are not mutually exclusive.”

When Howard Schultz became the President and CEO of the Starbucks Corporation in 1987 the company was selling basically whole-bean coffees, and it counted dozens of stores across the United States. Less than 20 years later Starbucks is one of the most popular brands in America. It has more than 12,000 stores around the world, […]

Despite those (supposed) qualities, however, some recent studies are starting to show that the practice of using formal business plans as a corner stone of business ventures is not as widely spread as the theory suggests. Caddell mentions, for instance, a recent study that appeared on the Inc Magazine, outlining the following statistics…

Most organizations identify their customers as one single entity. If a certain company is producing miniatures of racing cars its customer is going to be boys aged between 3 and 12 years right? Well, it is right, but only to a certain extent. Those young boys are certainly the “users” of the product, but they are not the only people involved in the buying process. Apart from the “users” you will also have the “purchasers”, who in this case will probably be the parents and the “influencers” who could be the close friends or family.

Since the beginning of the business administration science its theories were entangled with war analogies. One of the most mentioned books of the past decades, in fact, was The Art of War, written more than 2000 years ago by the Chinese general Sun Tzu.

- Women get to decide 83% of all consumer purchases
- Women write 80% of all checks and pay 61% of all bills

Design is starting to gain attention from corporations all over the world. The discipline itself is expanding beyond “form and look” to include processes and business strategy in general. Corporations are also using design as a tool to stimulate creativity and foster innovation on the market.

A solid and well-crafted strategy is vital for the success of companies, specially if they are operating in emerging and high-tech sectors where innovation plays a central role. This point is clear and beyong discussion. What is not so clear, however, is what forces within a company are responsible for the formulation of that strategy.

In our modern economy many industries are facing a shortage in managerial talent. At the same there is a need to improve the responsiveness and the collaboration among employees and among different departments and business units.

It is important to differentiate between strategic planning and strategy innovation. Most corporations indeed have defined processes only for carrying out the former, basically studying historical data and making extrapolations for the future.

There is a lot of theoretical evidence supporting the model, but does this evidence emerge empirically as well? Not quite. Consider the markets for safety razors, disposable diapers, photographic film, laser printers, game consoles, VCRs, energy drinks, personal computers, internet browsers, operating systems, search engines, online bookstores, online auctions, VoIP services, and the list goes on.

The message is that managing new and innovative markets is distinctively different from managing existing ones. It will require different competencies, different strategies and, most importantly, a different managerial mindset.

The expression managerial mindset is often used in the business world to describe the set of assumptions and hidden norms that govern the behavior of managers. Bear in mind, however, that mindsets or paradigms have a much broader meaning. Every society, organization or geographic region carry its own set of assumptions and patterns; ruling how people communicate, interpret information, react to given situations, and so on.

What do daycare teachers and managers have in common? Both should learn storytelling. Stories represent a powerful tool to illustrate ideas, convince people and generate commitment. Below you will find the story of the cash register machine and NCR, the undiscussed leader in the manufacturing of mechanical cash registers during the 1960s.

There is no novelty in the fact that carrying change, in whatever dimension, is a difficult task. Already in 1513 Niccolo Machiavelli affirmed that “there is no more delicate matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful on its success, then to be a leader in the introduction of changes”.

China has invested heavily over the past decades to improve its industrial capacity and competitiveness and to create internal Research & Development poles. Now the domestic companies, in order to become true global players, will need to mix all that investment with solid management techniques and business expertise.

The first confusion to dismiss is the difference between invention and innovation. The former refers to new concepts or products that derive from individual’s ideas or from scientific research. The latter, on the other hand, represents the commercialization of the invention itself.

Stories like the above one, even if not as dramatic, are not uncommon. Consider the lists Fortune 500, Forbes 100, Global 1000, S&P 500 and so on, they collect the largest and, supposedly, the best managed companies in the world. If we take a closer look, however, practically all of those large organizations underperform the market in the long term, a rather counter-intuitive fact.

There are many costumers who would be willing to drive an all-electric car, despite the reduced performance, because the alternative would be not driving at all. Consider parents who are worried about how far and how fast their kids might drive. An electric car could be the perfect choice.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” (Charles Darwin)

I think most sciences can learn a lot from nature, and management is no exception. As we move into a fast-paced, information based economy the ability to react promptly and decidedly to environmental changes will become much more important than financial resources, economies of scale or any other “industrial age” competitive advantages.