Innovation @ Merage - UCI Paul Merage School of Business : Methodology

Using Knowledge Brokering to Improve Business Processes

admin — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 00:24:00 GMT

Abstract: This article describes how global companies have adopted a new process called knowledge brokering in which executives are actively seeking out external ideas from people in a variety of industries and disciplines to improve their core business processes and develop better solutions to their organizational problems.

Based on a study reviewing the use of knowledge brokering by more than 50 teams at ten multinational companies, it was found that these teams were able to devise innovative solutions to assigned projects twice as quickly as possible by conventional techniques. It was also found that these teams adopted the following similar path to projects in areas such as strategic planning, sales and marketing, corporate social responsibility and HR.

1. Analyze the problem space

2. Evaluate brokering communities and choose experts

3. Engage knowledge brokers to extract ideas

4. Incorporate the new ideas into an implementation plan for a new process.

The article’s conclusion is that companies can develop breakthrough process innovation and better position themselves for a new networked world by efficiently using their knowledge sources and combining outside insights into their core internal business processes.

Published: McKinsey Quarterly, January 2010

Authors: Corey Billington and Rhoda Davidson

Link: Improve_Business_Processes

The Productivity Imperative

admin — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 00:18:00 GMT

Abstract: The article describes how the wealthy nations of the world with low birthrates and graying workforces are finding it difficult to compete with emerging markets with much larger and younger working populations. This had made it imperative and compelling for the wealthy nations to take up the productivity challenge to produce more and more with fewer workers.

The article conclusion is that developed economies would have to deploy innovative business models to get more from their higher quality knowledge employees. This article suggests that some of the aspects of such a transformative business model can be changing the boundaries around the work–life balance or better adopting approaches such videoconferencing to collaborate and exchange knowledge with far-flung employees.

Published: McKinsey Quarterly, June 2010

Authors: Peter Bisson, Elizabeth Stephenson, and S. Patrick Viguerie

Link: Improving Productivity

Using Rivalry to Spur Innovation

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 03:12:00 GMT

Abstract: Many of the best practices of the Renaissance have already been largely integrated into today’s R&D practices to stimulate business innovation. Some of the practices adopted from that creative period of Renaissance include -

• Promoting “collision” between engineers, scientists, and managers ultimately leads to better collaboration and ultimately produce the best ideas.

• Giving researchers their space to spend time on their own ideas and projects.

• Setting stretch goals to encourage innovators to “shoot for the stars.”

The article concludes that a friendly and healthy degree of rivalry between two or more teams working on a given project can have a strong motivational impact and can lead to new levels of creativity and more valuable, business innovation. The article conclusion is that modern R&D organizations are missing an opportunity to promote pioneering innovation by overlooking this potential of rivalry.

Published: McKinsey Quarterly, May 2010

Authors: Bernard T. Ferrari, and Jessica Goethals

Link: Using Rivalry to Promote Innovation

Dispatches from the Front Lines of Management Innovation

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 02:42:00 GMT

Abstract: The articles concludes that Management Innovation eXchange (MIX), a web-based open-innovation project has been designed as a platform for creative thinkers to surface their bold ideas. The article narrates the following top three winning stories from the MIX’s first-ever management-innovation contest, which offers insights for management innovators everywhere -

• Redefining leadership in public housing

• Increasing trust at Microsoft

• Taking the work out of filmmaking

This articles conclusion is that the organizations that foster innovation in their every activity and promote collaborative cultures for individuals inspired by noble goals can spontaneously sustain themselves and easily thrive in the future.

Published: McKinsey Quarterly, November 2010

Authors: Gary Hamel, and Polly LaBarre

Link: Management Innovation

In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing

Lynda Lawrence — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:28:00 GMT

By: Matthew E. May, Broadway Books, 2009

Refrigeration without electricity. Traffic flowing without traffic lights. A smart phone without a keyboard. Houses without living rooms. May makes a convincing argument that the human tendency is to add complexity, but subtracting is the key to real innovation.

Using a handful of stories, May explains the neuroscience behind why we leap to less-than-optimal solutions, why we feel good when we complete a Sudoko puzzle (or solve a business problem) and how to get people involved in solving problems by making the missing pieces exactly the right size to provoke our natural curiosity.

In this environment of cost-cutting and limited resources, it’s good to hear that the most elegant ideas emerge precisely when there are serious constraints. And that by looking at what we don’t need to do, we will always find better ways to do nearly everything.

He quotes Steve Jobs, “Focus means saying no to the hundred other good ideas…I’m as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done.” And Jim Peters, of Good to Great fame, who starts each year deciding which things he’s going to stop doing.

For anyone in charge of streamlining processes, inventing new products, or just managing more with less, it’s an intriguing approach. I’d give it a 9.5 on the LL innovation meter, because it will make you think about everything a little differently.

Does Globalization Lead to Innovation?

admin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:38:00 GMT

Abstract: Competition is supposed to spur innovation. But the authors of this study found that the opposite is true for domestic firms in emerging economies. They examined 27 “transition” economies across eastern Europe and central Asia to understand how globalization — foreign direct investment, trade, and increased competition with firms operating in their home countries — affects markets and the likelihood that incumbents will develop new products and technologies. The authors looked at data from the 2002 and 2005 Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey.

Published: January 2008

Authors: Yuriy Gorodnichenko, Jan Svejnar, and Katherine Terrell

Link: strategy+business

The Unique Advantage

admin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:02:00 GMT

Abstract: Innovation is difficult for mature, slow-growth businesses and often results in long line extensions rather than high-profit, game-changing innovations. Companies, especially those focused on food and consumer products, need to rethink their innovation strategies to develop products that are unique and hard to copy.

Published: Autum 2008

Authors: Alexander Kandybin and Surbee Grover by Alexander Kandybin and Surbhee Grover

Link: strategy+business

Inspiration Can Be Found in Many Places, but You Need to Be Looking

admin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:40:00 GMT

Abstract: How do successful inventors, entrepreneurs and writers come up with the big ideas? Constantly looking and keeping an open mind are important, but the critical ingredient is exposing yourself to things outside your usual purview.

Published: October 23, 2008

Author: Mickey Meece

Link: The New York Times

Capturing Culture

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:13:00 GMT

Abstract: A corporate anthropologist helps Chronicle Books design its office around organizational relationships.

Published: June 18, 2008

Authors: Kristin Palm

Link: METROPOLISMAG.COM

Sleep on It: How Snoozing Makes You Smarter

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:42:00 GMT

Abstract: During slumber, our brain engages in data analysis, from strengthening memories to solving problems.

Published: August 2008

Authors: Robert Stickgold and Jeffrey M. Ellenbogen

Link: Scientific American Mind

P&G Changes Its Game

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:32:00 GMT

Abstract: P&G is using "design thinking" to tackle difficult business problems. While this may seem like the latest innovation buzzword, P&G is using the technique to generate effective ideas and, more importantly, change its culture.

Published: July 28, 2008

Author: Jenanne Rae

Link: BusinessWeek

Striking While the Iron's Hot

admin — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:43:00 GMT

Abstract: Callaway has long been the leading seller of women's golf equipment, but it wanted to expand its lead in this growing sector of the golf market. To do that the company figured it couldn't settle for an attitude of "OK, let's paint it pink, cut the shaft down by an inch and a half, put a woman's grip on it, and we have a woman's club." While the technical people at Callaway knew what could be done with the design of a golf club, they didn't know exactly what women needed and wanted in their clubs.

Published: Wall Street Journal, June 23, 2008
Authors: Timothy J. Carroll

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121372702050581575.html?mod=2_1585_topbox

A Joy(stick) to Behold

admin — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:43:00 GMT

Abstract: Faced with a shortage of skilled machine operators, Caterpillar needed a grader that was easy to use -- without alienating old-timers. While older models of the motor-grader construction vehicle had as many as 15 levers, a steering wheel and foot pedals, Caterpillar's latest version has two of the controls normally found on videogame consoles.

Published: Wall Street Journal, June 23, 2008
Authors: Ilan Brat

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121372801482581657.html?mod=2_1585_leftbox

UC Irvine’s Merage School of Business Is First to Embed ‘War Games’ into Course Curriculum

admin — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:07:00 GMT

Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and SecondLife are four leading companies in the online world of social networking. What would happen if Apple suddenly jumped into the fray?

That was the challenge posed to 41 students at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business during their day long final examination known as “war games” in Professor Leonard Lane’s strategy and competitive intelligence classes. Rather than huddle over test papers for their final exam, students were assigned either to Facebook, My Space, YouTube or SecondLife teams and spent the day trying to obtain the highest score from four judges. The students’ challenge was to prepare and present long range business plans and then develop, in 45 quick minutes, strategies for Apple’s mock announcement that it was creating “iTown,” a social networking website.

In the real business world, companies use war games to prepare their staff for such situations. The Merage School, according to Lane, is the first educational institution to insert war games into its regular curriculum. Fuld & Company, a competitive intelligence consulting firm, conducted Merage’s war game on June 1.

The Facebook team collected the highest score of the judges—Orange County business executives Chuck Martin, Linda Zimmer, Joel Calvo and Kathryn Campbell. But the final tallies were close. Facebook earned 62.4 points; YouTube, 61; SecondLife, 60.5, and MySpace, 57. The primary reason was that all four teams came to the same conclusion: their company didn’t have to make major strategy shifts when faced with Apple’s entry into the social network space. “iTown, schmi Town,” quipped one of the teams at the start of its presentation.

After the day long exercise, Lane said: “Using war games as the capstone experience of the school’s class in competitive intelligence helps students grapple with realistic learning experiences.”

Published: Summer 2007

Author: John Gregory

Business Strategy: Shall We Play Games?

admin — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:31:00 GMT

Abstract: War games are commonly used by the military to evaluate strategies, explore scenarios and reveal unexpected weaknesses. This Economist article explores how war games could provide valuable insight into how your competitors might react to your plans.

Published: May 31, 2008

Author: The Economist

Link: Economist.com (subscription required)

For information about how the Merage School uses war games in the classroom to prepare future leaders click here (link).