Nambisan Satish, Sawhney Mohanbir
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Lally School of Management and Technology, Troy, New York, USA.
Harv Bus Rev. 2007 Jun;85(6):109-16, 118, 142.
Companies seeking new ideas or product concepts from outside sources may find the "innovation bazaar," with its wide array of choices and methods of acquiring them, a confusing, chaotic place. Nambisan and Sawhney have crafted a conceptual guide for managers who understand the importance of going outside their firms for innovation but are uncertain about how to do it. The authors' "external sourcing continuum" shows at a glance how shopping for, say, raw ideas compares with shopping for market-ready products in terms of cost, risk, multiplicity of options, and speed of commercialization. Raw ideas, whether acquired directly from the inventor or through a patent broker, licensing agent, or some other intermediary, tend to be low cost but high risk and take a long time to bring to market. Market-ready products, often acquired as stand-alone businesses through a venture capitalist or business incubator, are more expensive and narrow one's choices, but they can be launched quickly and with less risk. Between these two approaches lies a third, facilitated by the "innovation capitalist." This new kind of intermediary provides client companies with access to a broad range of innovative product or technology ideas that are nearly market ready, thereby mitigating early-stage risks and lowering the time to market without significantly increasing acquisition costs. The authors compare the advantages and disadvantages of using intermediaries associated with the three approaches and provide a checklist of factors to consider when placing your company on the external sourcing continuum. If you've been oriented toward one end of the continuum or the other, you can increase your options and your flexibility by expanding into the middle.
寻求从外部获取新想法或产品概念的公司可能会发现，“创新集市”虽然有各种各样的选择和获取途径，但却是一个令人困惑、混乱的地方。南比桑和索内为那些明白从公司外部获取创新的重要性但不确定如何去做的管理者精心打造了一份概念指南。作者的“外部采购连续统一体”一目了然地展示了，比如说，采购原始想法与采购已具备上市条件的产品在成本、风险、选择的多样性以及商业化速度方面的比较。原始想法，无论是直接从发明者那里获得，还是通过专利经纪人、许可代理商或其他一些中介机构获得，往往成本低但风险高，且需要很长时间才能推向市场。已具备上市条件的产品，通常是通过风险投资家或商业孵化器作为独立业务收购的，成本更高且会限制选择，但可以更快推出且风险较小。在这两者之间还有第三种方式，由“创新资本家”推动。这种新型中介机构为客户公司提供接触大量近乎已具备上市条件的创新产品或技术想法的机会，从而降低早期风险并缩短上市时间，同时又不会大幅增加收购成本。作者比较了与这三种方式相关的使用中介机构的优缺点，并提供了一份在将公司置于外部采购连续统一体时需要考虑的因素清单。如果你一直倾向于连续统一体的一端或另一端，那么通过向中间扩展，你可以增加选择和灵活性。
