OnCourse Innovation initiative launch - Innovation in the Knowledge Economy
Interviewees
- John Saunders, chief executive of Global Operations Experian
- Patrick Hughes, strategic business development and marketing director at ClinPhone
Business Strategy
Go into high growth sectors
Exploit opportunities such as de-regulation, market gaps, conservative sectors/organisations, flawed processes
Play into the emerging markets of India, China, Asia Pacific, South America and Eastern Europe
Enter into sectors your team know about
Business Values
Innovate or die - it is a way of life
Focus on the customer needs
Be open to new ideas and light on your feet
Be obsessed by the competition
Keep on challenging and innovating to reduce cycle times and costs. Find new ways of doing things
Be passionate about the company and its products
Business Development
Ensure development decisions are based on good research and feedback from innovative customers - the 3 or 4 market leaders or "intelligent organisations" whose culture of innovation is based on excellent people and an ability to deliver
Develop credibility in the market place
Be willing to share benefits with customers and suppliers
Consider joint ventures in new geographic markets
Take things one at a time - satisfy one customer, introduce one product - but do it well
Measure performance on new products, services and processes
Product Development
Start with a clean sheet of paper if you can
Products pre-sold/market tested
Experiment with ICT
Recognise creative or technical people may never be satisfied so go to market with products and services which meet the market need but can be improved according to new market demands
Set tight deadlines and trade off bells and whistles
Introduce good and robust systems
Tax Breaks on R&D are useful
Grants or loans should not be the main means of funding investment
Public funding brings lots of bureaucracy
Be aware of potential IP loss
Take advice on patents, venture capital and how to get started
Drivers of Innovation
Frustrations of bureaucracy and lack of innovation in owner's old business
Competition
Company Culture
Teamwork is essential to success
Encourage ideas and self assessment
Be ambitious and confident in handling large scale, new markets and new products
Reward innovation
Make central places for teams to meet informally
Use functional and cross functional teams
Managers achieve through others so get on with and work with the people you need to achieve with
Business Skills and Competencies
Recruit for attitude, train for skills
Innovation skills can be developed
Develop team players and team-working
Nottingham has provided a good skills base on which to develop the business
Role play the position of customers and competitors