Technology & Innovation — September 16, 2011

Forget Innovation, Focus on Increasing Value

Most innovation efforts are doomed to fail; they direct focus away from what is required to succeed instead of onto how to create more value for customers.

bigthinkeditor

What’s the Latest Development?

Jack Springman provokes debate on that much-used word ‘innovation’ with his suggestion that companies drop it from their vocabulary. Why? He says that most innovation efforts are doomed to fail because they direct focus away from what is required to succeed. Creating something new is the goal of most innovation initiatives, but new does not mean valuable.

What’s the Big Idea?

Instead, increasing the value created for customers should be the focus of initiatives intended to generate business growth. At a high level, there are eight ways to create value for customers: productivity, convenience, speed, choice, feel-good factor, security, low price, and gross margin uplift. Innovation experts encourage businesses to challenge the widespread assumptions of their industry. Is it time to do the same with innovation?

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