The innovation paradox
Subtitle: why good businesses kill breakthroughs and how they can change
By: Tony Davila, Marc J. Epstein
Contributors: Epstein, Marc J.
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 217
ISBN-13: 9781609945534
Subjects: Technological innovations; Management; Organizational change
Description: " It's a paradox: as big companies get better at achieving operational excellence, actual breakthroughs seem to decrease. It's the scrappy little startups, with comparatively tiny budgets, that continue to be founts of innovation. Why is it that as industry leaders get better at what they do, they get worse at innovation? By conducting deep research within companies as diverse as Apple, Google, Pfizer, General Motors, Nike, and Sony, the authors have found the answer: the very pursuit of operational excellence--that is, making one's existing business as efficient as it can be--blinds managers to the kinds of disruptive business model changes vital for innovation. These changes could threaten all that hard work. It's why Nokia famously killed its smart phone--the company was too invested in "dumb phones." Nothing less than a complete redesign and rethinking of the corporation--down to how accountants capture innovation costs and overhead--is necessary to get companies moving again. The authors' new model, "the startup corporation," marries the strengths of corporate scale to the nimbleness of entrepreneurs. For a model of the new startup corporation, the authors return again and again to Apple, which doesn't have the usual corporate structure and accounting systems. Not every company can be an Apple, but all companies can learn to break the bonds of operational thinking if they'll take the authors' lessons to heart"--

"From the bestselling authors of Making Innovation Work (30,000 copies sold and translated into ten languages) comes a book that questions everything about how organizations innovate. Key takeaway: classical business management and corporate structures by their very nature will kill, not create, breakthroughs. The authors describe a new kind of organization--the startup corporation--that will make established companies as innovative as startups"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-204) and index.
Table of contents: title: What is the innovation paradox?; title: The benefits and limits of the business unit; title: The success of startups; title: The startup corporation the new kid on the block; title: Implementing the startup corporation; title: Overcoming the innovation paradox designing the startup corporation; title: Innovative cultures; title: Leading for breakthrough innovation; title: Hard foundations strategy, incentives, and management systems; title: Wrapping up.