Hansen Morten T, Birkinshaw Julian
Family Enterprise at Insead, Fontainebleau, France.
Harv Bus Rev. 2007 Jun;85(6):121-30, 142.
The challenges of coming up with fresh ideas and realizing profits from them are different for every company. One firm may excel at finding good ideas but may have weak systems for bringing them to market. Another organization may have a terrific process for funding and rolling out new products and services but a shortage of concepts to develop. In this article, Hansen and Birkinshaw caution executives against using the latest and greatest innovation approaches and tools without understanding the unique deficiencies in their companies' innovation systems. They offer a framework for evaluating innovation performance: the innovation value chain. It comprises the three main phases of innovation (idea generation, conversion, and diffusion) as well as the critical activities performed during those phases (looking for ideas inside your unit; looking for them in other units; looking for them externally; selecting ideas; funding them; and promoting and spreading ideas companywide). Using this framework, managers get an end-to-end view of their innovation efforts. They can pinpoint their weakest links and tailor innovation best practices appropriately to strengthen those links. Companies typically succumb to one of three broad "weakest-link" scenarios. They are idea poor, conversion poor, or diffusion poor. The article looks at the ways smart companies - including Intuit, P&G, Sara Lee, Shell, and Siemens- modify the best innovation practices and apply them to address those organizations' individual needs and flaws. The authors warn that adopting the chain-based view of innovation requires new measures of what can be delivered by each link in the chain. The approach also entails new roles for employees "external scouts" and "internal evangelists," for example. Indeed, in their search for new hires, companies should seek out those candidates who can help address particular weaknesses in the innovation value chain.
对于每家公司而言，想出新点子并从中实现盈利所面临的挑战各不相同。一家公司可能善于发现好点子，但将其推向市场的体系却很薄弱。另一家公司可能在为新产品和服务提供资金及推广方面有出色的流程，但缺乏可供开发的概念。在本文中，汉森和比尔金肖告诫高管们，在不了解公司创新体系中独特缺陷的情况下，不要使用最新、最先进的创新方法和工具。他们提供了一个评估创新绩效的框架：创新价值链。它包括创新的三个主要阶段（创意产生、转化和传播）以及在这些阶段执行的关键活动（在本部门内部寻找创意；在其他部门寻找创意；从外部寻找创意；筛选创意；为其提供资金；以及在全公司推广和传播创意）。利用这个框架，管理者可以对其创新努力有一个端到端的了解。他们可以找出最薄弱的环节，并适当地调整创新最佳实践以加强这些环节。公司通常会陷入三种广泛的“最薄弱环节”情况之一。它们要么创意匮乏，要么转化能力差，要么传播能力差。本文探讨了像直觉公司、宝洁公司、莎莉集团、壳牌公司和西门子公司这样的明智企业如何调整最佳创新实践，并将其应用于满足这些组织的个人需求和缺陷。作者警告说，采用基于链条的创新观点需要对链条中每个环节所能交付的成果采取新的衡量标准。这种方法还需要员工扮演新的角色，例如“外部侦察员”和“内部宣传者”。事实上，在招聘新员工时，公司应该寻找那些能够帮助解决创新价值链中特定弱点的候选人。
