How is innovation organized as a process?
The first chapter reviews the innovation progress from a macro perspective to find the pattern. Innovation divided into two levels, macro-level and micro-level. First, from the macro-level, one should keep three questions in mind:
- How does innovation create wealth?
- How does innovation transform scientific nature into economic utility?
- Who makes innovation?
Innovation progress is sketched as Figure 1.3. Innovation of Internet is the case to illustrate the macro level of innovation. One can see that the innovation of the Internet occurred at a macro-level of a nation - motivated by researchers seeking ways to have computers communicate with each other.Google is a great example of innovation at a micro-level - which used the macro-level technology of the Internet to begin a new business in the micro level technology of search engine to find Websites on the Internet.
To create wealth, two stages are necessary in innovation:
- Inventing new technology
- Commercializing new technology in high-tech products or services
Therefore, to bring economic benefits, the two roles are necessary:
- An inventor has the technical talent
- An entrepreneur has a business talent
In the case study of Xerography, the early innovation in micro level is xerography. The technical talent, Chester F. Carlson invented xerography technology, and then having the license agreement with the business talent, Joseph Wilson who founded Xerox creating a new industry in office copying. Xerox became one of the fastest growing companies in the world for the decades of the1950s and 1960s. Consequently, Joseph became very wealthy.
Historically, the hard fact is that relatively few managers have both technical vision and financial strategy. Joseph Wilson had both technical and financial savvy. It is noteworthy that, technically savvy manager may not fully understand the technical details, but must be able to appreciate technology and effectively organize technically skilled personnel for innovation.
Look at another invention in Xerox - a problematic case in which Xerox invented Altos PC systems but failed in commercialization. The system was in the form in which today’s graphic operating system. But the executive was looking backward at technology, stuck to the office copying business to obtain short-term interests, rather than forward-looking. In contrast, Steve Jobs was pleasantly surprised by the graphical operating interface when he visited Xerox and, then back to APPLE to create the foundation of the graphical interface in MAC computer. Later in the story we all know, Microsoft and APPLE made their fortunes in this field, respectively. And Xerox was from a "once- great" company degenerated into a "not-so-great" company. So, matter and money is equally important for innovation.
As a technical marketing manager, both technical vision and business strategy are necessary. I still stay in more engineering mindset and less business sense. The second case of Xerox reminds me of the negative impact from the lack of business savvy. I should always think to add market value to my product/service and value exchange with my customers and partners.
On an annual basis, mangers tend to pursuit quantifiable performance by maximizing the return from existing product/service. We must pay attention to the loss of the future growth engine of opportunity cost.
Look at another invention in Xerox - a problematic case in which Xerox invented Altos PC systems but failed in commercialization. The system was in the form in which today’s graphic operating system. But the executive was looking backward at technology, stuck to the office copying business to obtain short-term interests, rather than forward-looking. In contrast, Steve Jobs was pleasantly surprised by the graphical operating interface when he visited Xerox and, then back to APPLE to create the foundation of the graphical interface in MAC computer. Later in the story we all know, Microsoft and APPLE made their fortunes in this field, respectively. And Xerox was from a "once- great" company degenerated into a "not-so-great" company. So, matter and money is equally important for innovation.
Technology savvy and business savvy
As a technical marketing manager, both technical vision and business strategy are necessary. I still stay in more engineering mindset and less business sense. The second case of Xerox reminds me of the negative impact from the lack of business savvy. I should always think to add market value to my product/service and value exchange with my customers and partners.
Looking backward and looking forward
On an annual basis, mangers tend to pursuit quantifiable performance by maximizing the return from existing product/service. We must pay attention to the loss of the future growth engine of opportunity cost.
