A new report by Arthur D. Little explores the reasons why both industry and government surveys repeatedly show some companies are more successful at harnessing the power of innovation than others. A key success factor behind high street clothing giant Zara, electronics behemoth Phillips, and automotive manufacturers Scania and Volvo, innovation programmes that deliver real value require businesses to first identify the type of value they aim to create and then to tailor the innovation process based on the businesses' specific marketplace.
Ensuring innovation investment is maximized in such competitive and fast-moving sectors takes far more than just a CEO reiterating their committment to research and development in the annual report - but is there a formula for securing increased performance per R&D dollar spent? Arthur D. Little's latest report "Innovation for Value" examines and articulates how businesses can strategically review their innovation culture and processes to create business value and long-term competitive advantage.
"Our research has shown that successful innovators achieve on average two-and-a-half times higher sales of new products and achieve 10 times higher returns on their innovation investment than the underperformers," reflects Per I Nilsson, Director of Arthur D. Little's Technology & Innovation Management Practice. "Innovation is not about how much you spend, but why and how you spend it. We aim to show CEOs and business leaders how maintaining an innovation strategy based on specific goals and with an eye to one's own industry landscape is vital to improving the overall value that a business gains from its innovation efforts."
Companies across all sectors are increasingly developing sophisticated approaches to solving business goals as varied as climate change, IT infrastructure, new product development and Corporate Social Responsibility. However, in many cases such activities are not linked back to the company's overall business targets. According to Arthur D. Little's study, businesses achieve the most impact for their innovation efforts when they first identify what source of value creation is most suitable to their business model: top-line growth, bottom-line optimization, or enhanced shareholder value.
According to the report, innovation consultants and practitioners who advocate a single best practice process for building a company's innovation program have got it wrong. The right choice for how to run innovation within an organization depends crucially on industry sector, competitive environment, and where the company is positioned in the value chain. The Innovation for Value report provides Arthur D. Little's Aspiration-vs.-Concept matrix, a useful guide for organizations to better understand how to effectively deliver innovation within their market.
The Innovation for Value report is now available for download at:
www.adl.com/i4v