MANUAL CREATIVITY AND BUSINESS INNOVATION

MANUAL CREATIVIDAD, INNOVACIÓN Y EMPRENDIMIENTO

3. CRITICAL FACTORS IN INNOVATION. .

For product-oriented companies such as technology, food, etc.: the number of new products launched in a given period of time (a year? ) could be called Innovation. For example, how many new products have Apple or Danone launched in the last year?

However, there are companies, such as service companies, whose main focus is not the "new" product. In this case, innovation is associated with "process", any process/ system that makes the company more cost and/or revenue efficient (Oslo Innovation Manual). Innovation, both product and process innovation, does not have to be "radical" (innovation never seen before in the world), but only in the specific environment of the company. "To innovate is to use knowledge, and generate it if necessary, to create products, services or processes, which are new to the company, or to improve existing ones, thereby achieving market success" (Oslo Manual 1997). Apple is perhaps the clearest example of diversification in its innovation strategy. Apple was (and still is) a hardware manufacturer (PC workstations, laptops, etc.). But at a certain point it believes that the "core" of its hardware business will become increasingly low-margin and it embarks on a diversification strategy: iPod, iPhone, iPad, iWatch, etc. If you look at its current sales figures, its traditional PC and laptop businesses now account for less than 15% of total sales. We could say that its diversification-innovation strategy has been very successful (think that the iPod is only about 15 years old, the iPhone about 13 years old, etc.). Innovation is a complex process to introduce in organisations. Unlike productivity, which is a "push process" (the organisation "pushes" the new process and "either you adapt or you adapt"), innovation is a "pull process". Innovation comes from who makes things and/or consumes them. A critical agent of innovation is the employees (innovation comes from who makes things), so for them to actively participate in innovation processes, a culture of innovation must prevail in organisations. It requires a culture and organisational structure that fosters innovation. It is worth highlighting the innovation culture model at Google, with the "80/20 rule", employees have 20% of their time to work on new innovation projects for the company. This culture of innovation gave rise to the email product (Gmail).

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European Open Business School