A NEW BUSINESS BOOK
FROM NOW TO NEXTCreating an Innovation Strategy to Build Your Future Business
What business will you be in five years from now?Business changes daily. Technology is wiping away entire industries every week.This book will help you deploy something even bigger than just another innovation.To survive and thrive in the next five years, your company needs an Innovation Strategy.
Is innovation powering your business strategy?What business are you really in?Do you have a stream of innovations ready?
If you answered "I don't know" or "No" to any of these questions or have doubts about your current business trajectory, read on.
WHY THIS BOOK?
Organizations are achieving innovation in all areas of their business, such as customer experience, operations, marketing, purchasing, billing, and so on. But there is a notable exception: Innovation Strategy.Few companies, especially in the SME segment, have implemented innovation as part of a company-wide business strategy. The need right now is for companies to be more ambitious and more strategic in the use of innovation to leverage their brand and create disruptive new business opportunities.We invite you to imagine the future and then work towards that future.
WHO SHOULD READ
THIS BOOK?
We believe anyone in any organization can benefit from the Innovation Strategy ideas in this book. However, we aim to particularly help leaders and employees of small and mid-sized organizations.Although an SME typically has modest resources compared to a corporation working with innovation consultants, it is often better placed to make organizational changes and to experiment with innovation strategies. They possess fewer layers, fewer gatekeepers, and are often run by their founders, who may be open to big ideas.
HOW IS THIS BOOK ORGANIZED?
First off, you’ll notice that we’ve included a story about Cariboo Boot Works, a fictional business that faces serious challenges. The story runs throughout the book, with a brief episode at the beginning of each chapter.As with any business book, each chapter introduces a core Innovation Strategy concept, prompted by a question that we feel is important to ask.Each episode of the story aims to illustrate the question, as well as Innovation Strategy concepts and tools you can use to answer the question of the chapter.Throughout, we include stories and quotes about organizations that have tackled the same questions and have found ways to be innovative repeatedly. Each chapter ends with a summary of key takeaways, as well as warnings about difficulties you can expect to meet.You can read the entire book straight through or pick and choose among chapters. Read the story episodes first and the non-fiction discussions after, or vice versa. You don’t have to read the story at all, though we feel you would miss out on a lot of valuable insights.
THE AUTHORS
John Stoddard is a business innovation consultant based in the Bay Area, working with companies and teaching at business schoolsJohn’s experience includes leading innovation projects with companies ranging from AI startup YouSpace
to international consultancy IDEO. He has worked with clients that include Cisco, Ford, P&G and Samsung.He teaches innovation at UC Berkeley Extension, USF School of Management, and other business schools alongside client innovation workshops.
Mark Smallwood, writer and marketer, worked for over 35 years in the software business, mainly in Silicon Valley.He has worked for a number of Fortune 500 companies including Oracle, Tandem Computers, Juniper Networks, and Yahoo! As a consultant, Mark worked for several pre-IPO startups as well as established software vendors.
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Testimonials
SELECTED CHAPTER CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Why This Book?
What Problem Does It Address?
Who Should Read This Book?
How Is The Book Organized?
Accessing This Book
Who Are We?CHAPTER 1 WHICH CHALLENGES REVEAL YOUR FUTURE ?
Unexpected Crosswinds Controlling the Chaos
Tough Challenges Reveal Your Future
If It’s Not a Big Challenge, It’s Not Innovation
Tackle Tough Problems
SimpliSafe Goes Beyond the Product
Ridwell Tackles Recycling
Seek the Right Challenges
Strategy Is a Team Sport
Customer Interviews Are Key
A College Challenged By Its Students
Look for Trouble Imagine the Future
Reframe Challenges to Stress Benefits Trust Your Employees
Know Your Appetite for Risk
Key Takeaways
A Word of WarningCHAPTER 2 WHAT BUSINESS ARE YOU IN?
Siezing the Opportunity
Where Do You Want to Be In Five Years Time?
Beware of Short-Term Trends
What Business Are You Really In?
What You Do Is NOT Who You Are
What Problems Do You Really Solve for Customers?
Become Vitally Important To Your Customers
Your Current Business Path May Be The Wrong One
Amazon Went Beyond Books
Sears Sold Aspirations
Selling a Lifestyle and a Nation
A Medical Equipment Manufacturer Includes Services
Your Growth Will Depend On What Business You Want to Be In
Best Buy Differentiated
Unlike Kodak, FUJIFILM Saw the Future
Grammarly Course-Corrected
Apple Refocused on Customers Siemens Added Monitoring YouTube Expanded Video Sharing WeChat Combined Features
LEED Non-Profit Organization Became a Service
Three Actions Will Reveal the True Nature of Your Business
Key Takeaways
A Word of WarningCHAPTER 10 WHY DO YOUR CUSTOMERS LOVE YOU?
Your Customers Love You, But Why?
It’s Not the Product, It’s the Whole Package
Learn These Essentials Right Now
Why Not Ask Your Customers Directly?
Conduct and Build On Research
What Is Ethnographic Research?
A B2B Company Gets a Reality Check
Analyze and Evaluate to Build Strategy
Amtrak Acela Applies Ethnographic Research
A Chinese Retailer Asks Questions
A Biotech Company Nurtures Teamwork
LEGO Knows Why
IKEA Makes House Calls
Key Takeaways
A Word of WarningCHAPTER 11 WHO WILL DISRUPT YOUR BUSINESS?
The End Is the Beginning
Is Business Disruption Inevitable?
What Is a Disruptor?
PillPack Reinvents the Pharmacy
It’s Not Just New Markets
Smartphones Outclassed Nokia
Technology Drives Disruption
A Restrictive Industry Gets Disrupted by a Startup
Services Are Co-Opting Products
Firmhouse Embraces a Subscription Platform
Apple and Philips Become the Disruptors
Consumer Products Company Fast Tracks to the Future
Do These Things Now
You Can Recover from Disruption
Key Takeaways
A Final Word of Encouragement