It’s time to get innovative

While most companies are running for the hills as a result of the current economic crisis, the really smart ones will use the tough times to try out new ideas to enhance their chances of surviving unscathed.

A posting on the Knowledge @ Wharton website (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2086) puts the case for engaging in “disruptive innovation” in the current climate. “Paul J.H. Schoemaker, research director for the Mack Center for Technological Innovation, suggests that, for some companies, the economic crisis can actually provide an innovation platform. ‘The crisis has multiple impacts,’ Schoemaker says. ‘Loss of revenue and profit will at first instill a cost cutting mentality, which is not good for innovation. But if the patient is bleeding you need to stop that first. Then, however, a phase starts where leaders ask which parts of their business model are weak (and perhaps unsustainable) and that, in turn, can lead to restructuring and reinvention.’

“He also cautions against too much caution - over-reliance on incremental innovation versus transformative, or ‘disruptive,’ innovation. In innovation circles, the two have come to be differentiated as ‘little i’ and ‘Big I’ innovation. ‘The largest gains in business come from more daring innovations that challenge the paradigm and the organization,’ Schoemaker says.”

Companies who dismiss social media marketing as “too hard” or too “out of the box”, and who use tightening budgets as a reason to put off trying to get started, are missing a big opprtunity. It could lead the the type of “disruptive innovation” that leads companies into new areas and new levels of success.

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Posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 3:18 pm under Marketing, Technology.

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