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More on Difference
- By Business World
- Published February 22nd, 2010
- Business School
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More on Difference
I have been writing on the relationship between the Creation Story and business strategy. In the last few articles, my thoughts have centred on creativity and the difference it brings to the strategy of organisations. I have explored the meaning of difference and its benefits for corporate success. One useful analogy is that both nature and business thrive on difference (not similarity). This aligns with the Creation Story – plants, animals, aquatic species, male, female – each one distinct in its composition. As I contemplated the creativity captured in nature and the Creation Story, it led me to a consideration of the elements of corporate creativity. Yes, what are the elements of corporate creativity? That’s what I’m going to dwell on in this article.
Innovation
Innovation is what sustains companies through decades or even centuries. Innovation in the Concise Oxford Dictionary is a derivative noun of the word “innovate”: change something established by introducing new methods, ideas or products. Innovation has its origin in the Latin word “novare” which means renew or alter or make new. It’s easy to see why products and services are launched with the word “new”. The marketing lines will include expressions such as new edition, new model and new features. I’m unashamedly drawn once again to Peter Drucker’s wisdom which I quoted in a previous part of this series: “Any organisation, no matter how successful, that continues to do what made it successful in the past, will eventually fail.” Corporations that express creativity through innovation stay in the market longer and as business history will confirm often lead the market. The message is clear – seek the new and get rid of the old. Innovate or die!
Appetite for Risk
How can a company enter the market or survive in it without taking risks? The whole idea of running a business compels risk taking. Richard Branson is one businessman with a high risk appetite. He treads paths which many will not dare. In spite of his appetite for risk, his counsel is that people should take what he calls “calculated risks”. We are all surrounded by risks. Corporate entities face risks in several dimensions. Hiring an employee or a new CEO is a risk. Firing an employee is a risk. Acquisitions or mergers are risks. Entry into a new market is a risk. Investing in research is a risk. Introducing a product is a risk. Travelling for a business meeting is a risk. There is the risk of failure and inherent in risk is the possibility of failure.
The list of business risks is long. Yet, it is the risks that companies face that often release corporate and individual creative capacities. The advertising executive, Alex F. Osborn is credited with coining the terms ‘creative thinking’ and ‘brainstorming’. What may not be well known to many of today’s users of brainstorming is its origin. BBDO (Osborn’s firm) was almost going out of business when Osborn, came up with brainstorming as a way to rapidly generate more ideas. This was creativity at its best and it kept the company in business as they won major account. Out of the risk of closing down came fresh ideas and eventual survival. One military leader, Rear Admiral John Paul Jones puts it this way: “He who will not risk cannot win.”
Creating Customer Demand
To do this requires working from the unknown to the known. It also involves identifying the latent and bringing it to reality. This identification guides the introduction of numerous technology-based products and platforms. Yes, the market surveys to determine customer needs are useful and remain relevant. Still, there are services and products for which there is no obvious need and companies create that need – most times not knowing the outcome. For example, This Day in Business History records that the Sony PlayStation was launched in 1993 with eight game titles. 300,000 units were sold in the first three months, three times the number Sony had made. By 1998, 50 million units had been sold. One executive later recalled how his hand trembled when he signed the purchase order for $50 million to pay for the computer chips to be installed in the first batch of PlayStations. Fortunately, as his hand was trembling, the market was waiting to buy more than the company produced. Sony’s corporate creativity had birthed a customer demand but they didn’t even know it! Was it a chance or a risk? Yes, it was. Did their creativity yield a result? Yes, in this case, it did.
Creating customer demand is what Apple does very well with its various i-products. When the iPhone went on sale in the United States in June 2007, hundreds of customers had been waiting outside stores all over the country. Many of these customers queued for hours to buy the new gadget. By Quarter 4 of 2009, Apple had sold almost 34 million iPhones. Whether it is by forming a club of users, getting addicted buyers or wrapping it in exclusivity Apple created a demand by the introduction of a product. This is one more dimension of corporate creativity.
I have been writing on the relationship between the Creation Story and business strategy. In the last few articles, my thoughts have centred on creativity and the difference it brings to the strategy of organisations. I have explored the meaning of difference and its benefits for corporate success. One useful analogy is that both nature and business thrive on difference (not similarity). This aligns with the Creation Story – plants, animals, aquatic species, male, female – each one distinct in its composition. As I contemplated the creativity captured in nature and the Creation Story, it led me to a consideration of the elements of corporate creativity. Yes, what are the elements of corporate creativity? That’s what I’m going to dwell on in this article.
Innovation
Innovation is what sustains companies through decades or even centuries. Innovation in the Concise Oxford Dictionary is a derivative noun of the word “innovate”: change something established by introducing new methods, ideas or products. Innovation has its origin in the Latin word “novare” which means renew or alter or make new. It’s easy to see why products and services are launched with the word “new”. The marketing lines will include expressions such as new edition, new model and new features. I’m unashamedly drawn once again to Peter Drucker’s wisdom which I quoted in a previous part of this series: “Any organisation, no matter how successful, that continues to do what made it successful in the past, will eventually fail.” Corporations that express creativity through innovation stay in the market longer and as business history will confirm often lead the market. The message is clear – seek the new and get rid of the old. Innovate or die!
Appetite for Risk
How can a company enter the market or survive in it without taking risks? The whole idea of running a business compels risk taking. Richard Branson is one businessman with a high risk appetite. He treads paths which many will not dare. In spite of his appetite for risk, his counsel is that people should take what he calls “calculated risks”. We are all surrounded by risks. Corporate entities face risks in several dimensions. Hiring an employee or a new CEO is a risk. Firing an employee is a risk. Acquisitions or mergers are risks. Entry into a new market is a risk. Investing in research is a risk. Introducing a product is a risk. Travelling for a business meeting is a risk. There is the risk of failure and inherent in risk is the possibility of failure.
The list of business risks is long. Yet, it is the risks that companies face that often release corporate and individual creative capacities. The advertising executive, Alex F. Osborn is credited with coining the terms ‘creative thinking’ and ‘brainstorming’. What may not be well known to many of today’s users of brainstorming is its origin. BBDO (Osborn’s firm) was almost going out of business when Osborn, came up with brainstorming as a way to rapidly generate more ideas. This was creativity at its best and it kept the company in business as they won major account. Out of the risk of closing down came fresh ideas and eventual survival. One military leader, Rear Admiral John Paul Jones puts it this way: “He who will not risk cannot win.”
Creating Customer Demand
To do this requires working from the unknown to the known. It also involves identifying the latent and bringing it to reality. This identification guides the introduction of numerous technology-based products and platforms. Yes, the market surveys to determine customer needs are useful and remain relevant. Still, there are services and products for which there is no obvious need and companies create that need – most times not knowing the outcome. For example, This Day in Business History records that the Sony PlayStation was launched in 1993 with eight game titles. 300,000 units were sold in the first three months, three times the number Sony had made. By 1998, 50 million units had been sold. One executive later recalled how his hand trembled when he signed the purchase order for $50 million to pay for the computer chips to be installed in the first batch of PlayStations. Fortunately, as his hand was trembling, the market was waiting to buy more than the company produced. Sony’s corporate creativity had birthed a customer demand but they didn’t even know it! Was it a chance or a risk? Yes, it was. Did their creativity yield a result? Yes, in this case, it did.
Creating customer demand is what Apple does very well with its various i-products. When the iPhone went on sale in the United States in June 2007, hundreds of customers had been waiting outside stores all over the country. Many of these customers queued for hours to buy the new gadget. By Quarter 4 of 2009, Apple had sold almost 34 million iPhones. Whether it is by forming a club of users, getting addicted buyers or wrapping it in exclusivity Apple created a demand by the introduction of a product. This is one more dimension of corporate creativity.
