Innovation @ Merage - UCI Paul Merage School of Business : Leadership Style, Innovation, Future

China’s Drive for 'Indigenous Innovation' - A Web of Industrial Policies

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 02:28:00 GMT

Abstract: This report published by U.S Chamber of Commerce concludes that China’s plan for “Indigenous innovation” is a massive plan to turn the Chinese economy into a technology powerhouse by 2020 and a global leader by 2050. Central to the plan is to trade market access in exchange for know-how and technology.

The report conclusion is that the indigenous innovation campaign and its corresponding industrial policies represent the beginning of a new phase in the US-China economic and political friction.

Published: U.S Chamber of Commerce Report

Link: China's Plan for Indigenous Innovation

The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It

Lynda Lawrence — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:49:00 GMT

By: Joshua Ramo: Little, Brown, 2009.

While it’s not strictly a business book, this is the best book for business that I’ve reviewed this year. It is, in fact, a whole new way of facing the future of any endeavor: Ramo suggests that the only way to deal with uncertainty is to accept that you can’t possibly predict anything.

He begins with an analogy from physics. When you methodically add single grains of sand to a pile, there is absolutely no way to tell which grain will cause an avalanche. Then, using examples from Google to Hizb’allah, he explains that no successful organization has a vision or strategic plan that can anticipate all the changes in a global and interconnected world. The successful ones, he says, are those that constantly adapt to change.

For most businesses, that attitude is too frightening to contemplate. Strategic planning, quarterly earnings projections, and overpaid executives are not guarantees of anything. Instead, he recommends that organizations think long-term, holistically and flexibly. It’s not innovation as a growth or survival strategy—it’s innovation as an organizational structure, a product and a philosophy.

This one gets a 9.8 on the LL innovation meter. I’d recommend it for anyone who wants to be part of a viable organization in the next few decades. And if any of our nation’s political leaders have the time, it should be on their reading lists as well.

Obama on Innovation

admin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:49:00 GMT

Abstract: In this YouTube video filmed last fall, Presidential candidate Barak Obama presents his innovation agenda at Google's Mountain View headquarters.

Link: YouTube

Posted: November 14, 2007