innovation

1. Innovation Leadership
Rene A Rosenthal
Microsite Mobile
Founder & CEO
Part
3

2. INNOVATION LEADESHIP
“Innovation cannot be managed”
Creativity may well be unpredictable but it is not uncertain. It will happen. The
challenge is focusing it and capturing the outputs. Managing creativity within the
innovation process is not easy but just as with the rest of the more predictable
development and realisation innovation activities, it is possible. From providing
the initial stimulus for new ideas and a means of collating and evaluating them
through to determining the most appropriate exploitation approaches and
selecting delivery partners, innovation is a process and it can therefore be
managed. Moreover, it is a process that is largely generic and hence similar from
one sector to another. Innovation in financial services follows the same path as
innovation in consumer goods. The detail may vary but the approach is
frequently identical. As a consequence, managing innovation is also a generic
skill that can be learnt in one arena and applied to another.

3. INNOVATION LEADESHIP
“Innovation cannot be measured”
Although it is not an assembly line where efficiency can be measured by
tolerance or rejection rates and it is not itself a service where activation time or
number of customer complaints can be tracked to indicate effectiveness,
innovation can be measured.
Innovative companies do not encourage innovation without paying careful
attention to the success of their innovations. Just as the quality of output from
any production process can be measured both in terms of overall performance
as well as individual stage efficiency, so can innovation. Whether using high-level
metrics such as revenue from new products or component elements such as
ideas generated, patents granted, time to market, number of products launched
or payback times, any organisation can create its own series of innovation
indicators. Either as part of a cascaded balanced scorecard or
as a stand-alone performance metric, innovation is successfully measured and
monitored in many leading firms, An example of this is Samsung.

4. INNOVATION LEADESHIP
Innovation as a source of competitive advantage
This thing called innovation is clearly something that many firms are paying more
attention to - it sounds good but what is the real impact? Is it here to stay or is it
just another business school fad? Is this not just another convenient buzzword
for improved efficiency and effectiveness? Should you, as a manager busy with
meeting the needs of the day-to-day survival and growth of your business,
concern yourself with this innovation thing? Does it really apply? Is there not
something else that can have more immediate influence on company
performance? If innovation is relevant than how and where can it be applied?
What does it involve? What are the benefits? Basically, why innovate?

5. INNOVATION LEADESHIP
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s a wide range of panaceas for the problem of
becoming more competitive and improving business performance were
proposed. However, although a number of practices such as Total Quality
Management and Business Process Re-engineering provided some
improvement, not all delivered consistent benefit. It is not that the original
concepts were flawed, rather that many organisations assumed they
could simply be copied, without the need to adapt them to suit individual
circumstances.

6. INNOVATION LEADESHIP
Over the same period, some of the companies have shown repeatedly above
average growth in both performance and shareholder value and have used
innovation as a core strategic means of developing their businesses. Indeed
financial markets reward innovation. A recent study found the top 20% of the
most innovative firms deliver almost four times the total shareholder returns of
the bottom 20% of innovators. Share price include an element of implied growth,
be it organic or by merger and acquisition.
Even a decade ago, innovative organisations – those that are able to use
innovation to differentiate their products and services from competitors – were,
on average, twice as profitable as other firms.
Companies as varied as 3M, Xerox, Nike, Du Pont, First Direct and Sony have all
since continued to use innovation to meet such challenges as
exploiting discontinuities, accelerating activities, encouraging growth and
developing new businesses. Moreover, as new opportunities have been
identified, new companies have been created to exploit them. Innovation has
been at the forefront of the growth

7. INNOVATION LEADESHIP
and development of new products and services for a host of new arrivals from
Apple, Intel and Samsung in the consumer space, Each of these successful
companies continues to position innovation at the heart of their business
strategies to challenge convention and redefine the competitive landscapes
within which they operate.

8. INNOVATION LEADESHIP
The development of new products and services that can successfully compete in
local, national and global markets has now become a key concern for
organisations regardless of the sector in which they operate. Across industries,
effective innovation performance has overtaken production efficiency as the key
industrial battleground while companies all seek to reduce time to market and to
access new technologies in their bid to develop more and better products and
services. This is occurring not just in the core manufacturing sectors, but also in
service sectors such as insurance, waste management and education. In all
fields, the benefits to be attained range from better resource utilisation and
sustained competitiveness to increased revenue generation and improved
shareholder return. Whether involved in the manufacture of discrete products
such as consumer goods, medical devices and industrial machinery, in the
production of consumables such as chemicals, paper and cereals, or in the
provision of services such as banking, IT support and tourism, most forward-
looking organisations are continuously looking for new opportunities to develop
and exploit new or improved products and services.

9. INNOVATION LEADESHIP
‘Innovate or die’ has been the mantra for many leading companies over the past
20 years as they have sought to drive the whole ethos of innovation and
continuous improvement throughout their organisations.
Now days, businesses, specially in the high-tech sector, have to be one step
ahead of the competitors. One way to accomplish this to innovate constantly
products and services, assuring their relevance and up-to date-ness. If a
company fails to respond respectively to these kind of time pressures it may
have to face severe consequences. A great example in this respect is Motorola
and Siemens AG with its segment mobile communications which encompassed
both business and consumers applications. The company (Siemens) failed to
respond to certain pressures and literally overslept important trends in the fast
moving mobile market. This considerably weakened their position even before
the disastrous software-related defect in summer 2004.

10. INNOVATION LEADESHIP
Siemens finally announced a hand over of their ailing mobile communications
division to the Taiwanese technology group BenQ.
Firms worldwide have adopted an increasing variety of techniques and
approaches to improve their innovation performance and to benefit more from
new ideas. Some of these have addressed strategic issues, some the varied
processes in use across the company and its network of suppliers and
customers, others have focused on core organisational issues such as
motivation, reward and structure.

11. INNOVATION LEADESHIP
The expansion of the mobile phone, particularly in the case of developed countries, can be said to be nearing its
mature phase. Nevertheless, we believe there is still a great deal of potential which remains to be tapped.
Indeed, in recent years alone, the boundaries of the mobile environment have been extended beyond digital
voice capabilities to encompass data and video communications. Such innovations have added mobility and
connectivity to both professional and everyday life and they are but a mere hint of the possibilities that lay
ahead. The unrelenting demands for product innovation and downward price pressures mean that only the strong
survive in this industry. We have an ambition to be a global player I am confident that we will get there. To do it,
though, is going to require an obsession from our people with what creates real value. To harness this passion,
our strategy will be anchored along 3 dimensions: 1.Innovate in design as well as technology- Consumer
electronics is no longer about utilitarian brown goods and white goods. In all product categories from
handsets or washing machines consumers expect the latest in technology features, packaged in designs that
make them passionate about these products. 2.Invest in building a clear, global brand identity Our brand is
our identity our corporate DNA we must continue to invest to build a brand with a clear identity, one which
creates a real emotional bond with our consumers. 3.Develop a truly global, unsurpassed talent pool Focusing
our strategy on shareholder value, developing products that create consumer value and innovation these
things are not possible unless we have the most talented and motivated employees globally. We want to make
Microsite Mobile the employer of choice around the world. I am inspired by the opportunities that lie ahead and
am firmly committed to make Microsite Mobile a global brand in every business that we pursue. We have a strong
foundation on which to build. With the right focus, strategies, and people, I am confident that we will
get there.
Sincerely,
RENE A ROSENTHAL
FOUNDER & CEO

12. Innovation Leadership
Rene A Rosenthal
Microsite Mobile
Founder & CEO
Part
3