Maintaining Focus on Innovation

Posted by Hal Hopson on September 27, 2010 in Event-related blog postings, Innovation

I’m off to Boston this week to participate in a panel discussion on Innovation at Aberdeen’s Leadership in Product Development Summit. One of the topics for discussion is whether companies should focus on innovation during an economic downturn. It can be very tempting for companies to “batten down the hatches” and minimize innovation expenses which often are not contributing to short term earnings. However, forsaking investment in innovation is a dangerous and bad strategy. At the heart of market downturns are re-alignments of demand, new business models, and other significant changes that often require fundamental changes to the way business is conducted. Identifying and implementing the correct changes is imperative to sustaining a healthy business. Companies that have built a fortress around their old business models risk not being prepared for the “New Normal.”

We’re fortunate at Pitney Bowes that innovation is part of our DNA. Our company was founded over 90 years ago on the basis of innovative technologies that fostered the growth of business communications. During this recent period of economic contraction, we’ve maintained our focus on customer-centric innovation – collecting and collaborating on ideas from across our organization. We’ve established formal processes to shepherd and magnify these creative efforts – from diverse review teams to shape and extend the best ideas to establishing programs that connect the best ideas with the best resources. Our teams have leveraged a scientific approach to idea development and market validation called the “Learning Launch“. The “Learning Launch” methodology, developed by Professor Ed Hess of University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, creates a focus on understanding the key assumptions that have to be true in order for a new innovation to be successful. The teams develop meaningful tests to support or reject those assumptions. This has enabled us to approach innovation in a more confident and disciplined way.

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Tags: customer-centric innovation, Darden, Leadership in Product Development Summit, Learning Launch, market downturn, Professor Ed Hess