Посты автора boydadmin

boydadmin

Business Model Innovation

Published date: March 7, 2011 в 3:00 am

Written by:

Category: Uncategorized

Tags: ,,,

Business model innovation was one of many hot topics at Innovation Suite 2011.  The conference hosted thirty two invitees from nine countries and a variety of companies including GE, Bayer, Kraft, and SAP.  On the minds of many was how to create new business models to transform a company and move to higher ground.

Business Model Innovation is defined as follows (from Wikipedia):

Business model innovation results in an entirely different type of company that competes not only on the value proposition of its offerings, but aligns its profit formula, resources and processes to enhance that value proposition, capture new market segments and alienate competitors.

Here are four ways to conceptualize a new business model:

The LAB: Innovating Inflight Services with S.I.T. (February 2011)

Published date: February 28, 2011 в 3:00 am

Written by:

Category: Uncategorized

Tags: ,,,,,

 Airline service innovation seems like an oxymoron considering the industry’s reputation for low quality.  But the industry is fighting back to improve its image.  Companies that specialize in inflight entertainment as well as airframe manufacturers are accelerating the use of new technologies to deliver more value in the air.  That’s good news for an industry that has focused way too long on cost-cutting.  The next battle for supremacy will be won by airlines and aviation companies that innovate services across the experiential “journey” in a sustained way.  For this month’s LAB, we will create new-to-the-world concepts for the inflight service experience using the S.I.T. tool set.

Lufthansa-crew-1 We begin by creating a list of the components of the product or service.  We select a component and we further break it down to its sub-components or attributes that we can focus on.  We then apply a tool to that component to change it in some way.  This creates the Virtual Product.  Working backwards (“Function Follows Form”), we envision potential benefits of the modified service to both the customer and the company.

Here is a list of components:

Innovation Sighting: The Division Template on Music

Published date: February 21, 2011 в 3:00 am

Written by:

Category: Uncategorized

Tags: ,,,,

The power of the SIT method lies in the fact that inventors, for thousands of years, have embedded five simple patterns into their inventions, usually without knowing it. These patterns are the “DNA” of products that can be extracted and applied to any product or service to create new-to-the-world innovations.  Here is an example of an innovator working diligently to create a new innovation in the field of music – called “Music for Shuffle.”  The inventor, Matthew Irvine Brown, is using the Divison technique to create musical phrases that can be played together in any random order.  The phrases interlock with each other to create a continuous stream of music – a song.  Listen:


Music for Shuffle #01 from Matt Brown on Vimeo.

While this music may not make the Billboard top 50, it may open up a whole new way to think about song generation.  With this innovation, he introduces the idea of taking a song, physically dividing out parts of it, and rearranging it to create a better outcome.  Music exists because of patterns.  Blues music, for example, is a 12 bar I-IV-V progression. The Division technique works by dividing a product or service (or one of its component) either physically or functionally and then rearranging them to form a new product or service.  The technique is particulary useful to help break structural fixedness, the tendency to see objects as a whole.

To extend this idea, imagine taking the most popular phrases out of songs and “repacking” them together to create a new song.  For example, take a phrase from “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zepplin and a phrase from “Freebrird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd and link them together at natural interlocking point to create a new phrase.  Now imagine taking tens of thousands of phrases from top selling songs and interlocking them randomly to find the most interesting sounding ideas.  These new phrases would create the starting point to make adjustments and improvements for better sounding music.

For some, the use of a template seems to defeat the creative purpose.  But in fact, most creative people used some form of pattern to “bootstrap” their innovations and get to a higher level.  The Beatles, for example, have sold more records in the US than anyone.  How?   They used templates.

Innovation Tools – The Course

Published date: February 14, 2011 в 3:00 am

Written by:

Category: Uncategorized

Tags: ,,,,

It’s that time of year again for “Innovation Tools,” the graduate marketing course at the University of Cincinnati.   The course teaches how to use Systematic Inventive Thinking, a method based on three ideas.  First, most successful innovations over time followed one of five patterns, and these patterns are like the DNA of products that can be re-applied to innovate any product or service.  Second, innovation happens when we start with a configuration (the “solution”) and work backwards to the “problem” that it solves.  It turns out that humans are better at this than the traditional “problem-to-solution” approach to innovating.  Finally, better innovation happens when we start within the world of the problem (the Closed World).  Innovations that use elements of the problem or surrounding environment are more novel and surprising.  We innovate “inside the box,” not outside.

Students not only learn how to innovate, but they also learn how to link it to marketing strategy.  We teach a bit of the Big Picture marketing framework so that students know how to tie innovation and strategy to create an innovation roadmap.

We have 45 graduate students, mostly from our master of science of marketing program.  It is a diverse group and includes masters and doctoral candidates from other colleges.  From this class, we created eight teams working different projects.  The mix of products, services, and government programs should demonstrate that innovation methods can be applied virtually anywhere.  Here are the projects:

Super Bowl Innovation

Published date: February 7, 2011 в 3:00 am

Written by:

Category: Uncategorized

Tags: ,,,

At $3 million dollars for a thirty second spot, Super Bowl advertisers need to create the best, most innovative commercials possible.  How?  Creating innovative TV commercials is more effective when using patterns embedded in other innovative commercials.  Professor Jacob Goldenberg and his colleagues discovered that 89% of 200 award winning ads fall into a few simple, well-defined design structures.  Their book, “Cracking the Ad Code,” defines eight of these structures and provides a step-by-step approach to use them.

Here are the eight tools:
1. Unification
2. Activation
3. Metaphor
4. Subtraction
5. Extreme Consequence
6. Absurd Alternative
7. Inversion
8. Extreme Effort
Let’s see how well 2011 Super Bowl ads fit these patterns.

Academic Focus: University of Pavia

Published date: January 31, 2011 в 3:00 am

Written by:

Category: Uncategorized

Tags: ,,,

The Centre for International Business and the International Economy at the University of Pavia is conducting a comprehensive study on how companies leverage innovation as a competitive weapon.  It seeks to uncover the different strategic models and managerial practices adopted by the most successful and innovative firms to achieve a competitive advantage. 

I encourage you to participate by following this linkInnovation Survey 

The survey will be followed by companies like Microsoft, Alessi, Accenture, Siemens AG, and Deutsche Bank.  The survey is a replica of a similar one conducted in Italy in 2009 that involved over 120 companies.  Results are expected mid March.

The University of Pavia, one of Italy’s oldest and best, has a strong offering in innovation.  Dr. Stefano Denicolai, Professor of Innovation Management, teaches a course on “Innovation Management.”   The aim of the course is to develop specific skills in the field of innovation process, management, and entrepreneurial activities at the global level.  The program proposes basic notions, theoretical models and case studies about topics such as: development of new product, implementation of new processes, network management, appropriability of the competitive advantage.

Course topics include:

  • Entrepreneurship, theories of the firm and role of innovation within multinational companies
  • Understanding and renewing business models of the firm
  • From Ego to Open innovation
  • Knowledge generation vs knowledge brokering at the global level
  • Network practices (partner selection, contract negotiation, appraisal of alliance performance)
  • The geographical dimension: Innovative clusters and global networks
  • Appropriability of the competitive advantage: legal vs strategic mechanisms

In case you are wondering what the word appropriability means, it is defined as: the environmental factors that govern an innovator’s ability to capture profits generated by an innovation.  

Don’t Brand Your Innovation Program

Published date: January 24, 2011 в 3:00 am

Written by:

Category: Uncategorized

Tags: ,,,,

Companies should avoid the temptation to brand their innovation program. While it seems like a great way to bring excitement and focus to innovation, branding these programs does just the opposite.  Employees become cynical, they wait it out, and they go right back to doing what they were doing before.

I liken this advice to that from Edwards Deming on quality.  His 14 Key Principles are legendary in the quality movement worldwide.  Principle Number 10 says:

“Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.”

In other words, don’t cheer people on to do something they already do or, worse, don’t know how to do.  For example, don’t place huge banners in the cafeteria or on the employee website about the importance of quality.  That’s because…they already know it!  It annoys employees when the company condescends.

The same is true with innovation.  Branding your corporate innovation with hyperbole and slogans only defeats the purpose.  But there are some who would argue the merits of branding.  It signals leadership support, and it creates enthusiasm.  GE’s “Ecomagination” for example, makes a clear statement about the company’s emphasis.

Ge eco What to do?  A recent study on the effects of time pressure on innovation outcome might lend some insight.  Michael Hsu and Hsueh-Liang Fan demonstrated that putting time pressure to innovate in a company that already has a high organizational innovation climate actually hurts performance.  In other words, cracking the whip on employees who already perform well makes them perform worse.  On the other hand, creative outcomes will be enhanced by putting time pressure in companies with a poor innovation culture.

Perhaps the same could be said for branding your innovation program:

  • In corporate cultures where the innovation climate is strong and well supported, branding the innovation does absolutely no good.  It may signal that something is wrong, or the leadership just doesn’t get it.
  • In corporate cultures where the innovation climate is weak or non-existent, branding the innovation program may give a short term burst of energy and results.  ‘Might as well try it…nothing else seems to work.

If you insist on bringing high visibility to your innovation program, don’t brand the entire program.  Rather, brand the innovation training program.  Signal to your employees that you are serious about giving them the skills that matter most – the ability to create new and useful innovations across the entire enterprise.  THAT is worth bringing attention to.

Innovation for the Non-Profit Sector

Published date: January 17, 2011 в 3:00 am

Written by:

Category: Uncategorized

Tags: ,,,

Non-profit organizations need innovation every bit as much as for-profit firms.  Some might argue they need it more because they lack the resources and cash flow of large commercial firms.  Non-profits need innovation in:

  • Fund Raising
  • Expanding their reach
  • Mission delivery
  • Resource utilization

The need for innovation in the non-profit sector is widely recognizedAwards, grants, and other forms of recognition for innovative programs help stimulate managers to be more aggressive.

While the need is recognized, the approach to innovating non-profits is not.  These organizations should use the same methods found so effective in corporate innovation.  Structured methods based on patterns inherent in inventive solutions can be applied to the non-profit business model just as effectively as the for-profit model.  A method like S.I.T. can help an organization “break fixedness” about its role, resources, and process, thus opening new possibilities and approaches.

Here is how I would do it.  Start by making a list of the components of the non-profit, both internal to the firm as well as external.  The list might include:

  1. the office
  2. volunteers
  3. phones
  4. fund raising events
  5. website
  6. promotional material
  7. donations and grants
  8. beneficiaries
  9. benefactors
  10. mission statement
  11. management board
  12. executive director

Start with a tool like Subtraction.  Try removing an essential internal component (for example, donations and grants).  Use “Function Follows Form” to imagine benefits and uses of all the remaining components.  Try it with other components.  Next, use the Task Unification tool.  This tool helps you see existing resources in a new light, usually creating innovative ways to use those resources.  Finish the exercise with one of the three remaining tools.  Division, for example, will likely create new configurations of the non-profit and stimulate innovative ideas.  For example, try dividing out some of the executive director’s roles but placing them somewhere else back in the “Closed World.”  Where would those roles go and why would that be beneficial?

Here are some creative examples from the non-profit sector (courtesy of PSFK):

  1. Nonprofit Shopping Mall is a new service that turns consumer dollars into charitable donations. The organization partners with major online retailers like Target, Amazon, Home Depot, Bloomingdales, Expedia, Petco, and iTunes.  They donate a percentage of each purchase to the nonprofit of choice.  A shopper begins on Nonprofit Shopping Mall, choosing a charity and clicking through to a retailer. Tracking data is used to identify which shoppers came via Nonprofit Shopping Mall, and which charities they’ve chosen to donate to.
  2. Holiday Matinee recently worked with a local, non-profit charter school-offering its students an opportunity to design their own silkscreen tees, which they then voted on which designs to take part in their Artist Series. 100% of all the proceeds from these shirts go to school funding.
  3. Can Too is an Australian non-profit program that provides professional training in running and swimming in exchange for charitable fund raising. Members are given twice-weekly training sessions, daily guides, speakers and social events.  In return, they have to raise funds for Cure Cancer Australia. Runners can train for 10K or half marathon and full marathon events while swimmers can choose from among 1 km, 2 km and 2.7 km ocean swims and raise funds when they participate in their respective events. Can Too has raised more than AUD 4 million for Cure Cancer Australia.
  4. The MarkProf Foundation is a non-profit organization in Manila.  Its main event is an all-expenses paid, seven week “boot camp” led by multinational CEOs and reputable captains of local industry. Participants from diverse socio-economic backgrounds are ranked based on two core virtues: innovation and inquisitiveness.  The proof of success is in quality job creation. “MarkProf is already the biggest source of management trainees for some of the top multinational companies in the Philippines” says current president, Jem Perez who also refers to the organization as a “resume equalizer”.

The LAB: Innovating the Book with S.I.T. (January 2011)

Published date: January 10, 2011 в 3:00 am

Written by:

Category: Uncategorized

Tags: ,,,

 Book publishing faces turbulent times.  While the market is growing, key parts of the business model are coming apart at the seams.  Market segments are fragmenting, price points are changing, channel power is shifting, and barriers to entry are lowering.  Even the definition of “a book” is in question.  Is it the medium (printed pages between two pieces of cardboard, electronic, online)?  Or is it the message (the story, the characters, the themes)?  When an industry faces turmoil, there is only one thing to do – innovate!

For this month’s LAB, lets innovate the plain old, everyday book, an idea that goes back 5000 years.  We will use the corporate innovation method, S.I.T..  It is based on five patterns.  We use the patterns to create hypothetical, abstract “solutions.” Then we work backwards from the solution to try and identify potential problems that it solves.  The term for it is called Function Follows Form.

D Book We start by listing the components:

  1. cover
  2. table of contents
  3. preface
  4. introduction
  5. chapters
  6. pages
  7. words
  8. page numbers
  9. spine
  10. appendix
  11. endorsements
  12. author
  13. title
  14. jacket
  15. bibliography

We apply one pattern at a time to a few of the components.  Applying a pattern morphs what we once new as a book into something strange and ambiguous.  The secret to being successful with the S.I.T. method is to be comfortable with the abstract concept even when it assaults your sense and sensibilities.  The templates help you automate the creation of these abstractions – you don’t need any special talents to use them.  But then you have to push through your discomfort to imagine the abstraction having benefits and potential users.

Here are five innovations for the book industry, one for each pattern.

1.  SUBTRACTIONRemove the author.  What are the benefits of a book with no author?  Perhaps it is a way to create marketing buzz as it did with Primary Colors by that famous author, Anonymous.  It is not a new idea, so let’s push further. Here is how it might work.  The author’s name is left off the book until it has sold a certain number of copies.  Once it reaches the threshold, the publisher prints a new run with the author’s name.  This would motivate authors, especially well established ones, to write great stuff.

2.  MULTIPLICATIONMake copies of the words.  To use this pattern correctly, you need to make the copy but change it in some way.  The key is to change it some way without first figuring out why it would be beneficial.  In this example, I would make copies of the words, but change color of the copied words.  Perhaps the copied words (different color) are placed at the bottom of the page.  Maybe this is for people who just want to skim the book or a chapter.  The colored words are the same as what is in the original book, but the page also has those few key words that help the reader skim through it quicker.  This is like having a “Cliffsnotes” version already within the book.  It would help publishers compete with those publishers who print summarized versions of their books.

3.  TASK UNIFICATION:  The page has an additional job of making you more efficient. Reading is hard work, but enjoyable for many, so it would be beneficial if there was a way to help readers enjoy the book more while being more efficient.  For example, what if a page in the book could tell readers when to take a break.  Or perhaps that page alerts the reader NOT to take a break because something ahead is really important.  Perhaps the page has a role in conveying the emotion of what readers feel while reading the words on that page – perhaps it is a certain color or type of paper related to the story.  Or, perhaps the page alerts you when you should go back to a certain page and re-read it to make sure you understand what is happening on that page.

4.  DIVISIONThe introduction is divided out physically and put somewhere else in the book.  This is a clever idea because we typically think of “introduction” as being at the front a book.  We all have “fixedness” about where introductions should be located.  In this example, perhaps we put the introduction in the middle of the book, after the reader has had a chance to get through some of it.  Now the person who is “introducing” the book can write it with a different tone and message.  “Hey, now that you’ve read half the book, let me tell you my thoughts.”  This would make the role of introductions much more interesting and useful.

5.  ATTRIBUTE DEPENDENCY:  To use this pattern correctly, we do not use components of a book, but rather use the attributes (characteristics) of the book.  We create correlations between attributes – when one changes, so does the other.  I created a correlation between the “type of endorsement” and the “message of the book.”  Here is how it would work.  A book is digitally scanned and analyzed for things like word count, readability, tone, and style.  Then it is compared to a database to identify other books that are similar.  The publisher offers this as a service to readers so they have better information about the book they are considering buying.  The “endorsement” is not from a person, but rather from other books that are most similar.

Academic Focus: The Live Well Collaborative

Published date: January 3, 2011 в 3:00 am

Written by:

Category: Uncategorized

Tags: ,,,,

The Live Well Collaborative at the University of Cincinnati is an academic-industry innovation incubator for regionally, nationally and internationally prominent firms.  The focus of LWC is the aging population.  Firms partner with UC to address product or service needs for the 50+ market. The UC students and faculty conduct research and develop ideas incorporating expertise from fields including design, business, engineering, medicine and anthropology.

From the Live Well website:

The Live Well Collaborative is an invaluable resource of up-to-date, ever-growing information about the 50+ market. As a member of the LWC, your organization will have access to unique research and consumer insights on the Baby Boomer population. We work with industry leaders, experts in the fields of design, engineering, marketing, nursing, and medicine, and utilize a host of young creative talent. LWC is perfecting this new model, harnessing the vast potential of interdisciplinary problem solving and innovation.
Working with the University of Cincinnati (UC), a major research university, the Live Well Collaborative taps the talent of the top-ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, College of Business, College of Medicine and Nursing and College of Engineering, each with a long track-record of successful industry-sponsored research and studio projects.
The Live Well Collaborative presents innovation and problem-solving workshops to meet the needs of industry partners as well as interested organizations. The LWC also provides yearly collaborative events focused on the 50+ consumer.

Img-process_model LWC uses a structured innovation and design process.  The process begins with the sponsoring company identifying an opportunity to be explored. This could be a product or a service solution. Next, the interdisciplinary faculty and staff team is created. During the 10-12 week studio project, the sponsoring company provides background information and reviews progress. Based on qualitative research, consumer insights, and company feedback, the teams then design innovative products or services which can include prototypes, technology solutions, and business models.

Craig Vogel, President of LWC and Associate Dean of Research and Innovation at the College of Design Architecture Art and Planning at the University of Cincinnati said that the over-50 consumer of today wants to continue their current quality of life as they age.  “Younger consumers look for the latest technology breakthrough while 50 plus consumers look for comprehensive innovation. A new product for over-50 consumers must be technologically advanced but also easy to adopt into and support the needs of aging consumers’ diverse and active lifestyles.”

To get your company involved with the Live Well Collaborative, contact info@livewellcollaborative.org.

Get our innovation model that has worked for 1000+ companies.

    No thanks, not now.