Innovation Reinvented: Six Games that Drive Growth

Citation

Wollard, K. (2013), "Innovation Reinvented: Six Games that Drive Growth", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 27 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/DLO-08-2013-0065

Innovation Reinvented: Six Games that Drive Growth

Article Type: Book review From: Development and Learning in Organizations, Volume 27, Issue 6

Keywords: Innovation

Innovation Reinvented: Six Games that Drive Growth is a well-researched and intelligently written book that categorizes and then explores six patterns of innovation. The book discusses innovations in product features and business processes, looking at them across the spectrum from new and rapidly growing markets to mature and well established environments.

The authors have extensive academic and business credentials. Roger Miller is the Distinguished Research Scholar at the Said Business School in the University of Oxford. Dr Miller works with Secor, a strategy consulting and public policy advising firm in Canada, of which Marcel Côté is founder. The authors have spent more than 40 years together studying innovation (Miller and Côté, 2012).

This book is the result of research from the MINE project (Managing Innovation in the New Economy) conducted over several years beginning in 2003. The survey of 335 questions was completed by 1,000 businesses and research institutes. In addition, 50 case studies were drawn from 100 companies considered innovative. The case studies each included at least four interviews with senior executives. This extensive research data yielded seven clusters of patterns of innovation. Further analysis showed that two continuums could account for the variability: the maturity of the market and the architecture of the product or system. The book discusses six of the seven clusters in depth, leaving an outlying cluster of mostly support organizations to a later study. The results create a framework for six different patterns, which the authors call “games of innovation.”

What’s worthwhile?

The book is “based on a simple idea: market conditions, not R&D, shape innovations and drive innovators’ strategies (p. 13)”. The book then delves into two important questions regarding why innovators look for new solutions and what conditions determine an innovation’s success. This view is contrary to the prevailing wisdom that innovation is a logical and straight path from research lab to market, dominated by large firms and driven by technological development.

The book recognizes that innovation can take many forms. Some innovations are radical and disruptive, while others are incremental improvements in product or process. Some innovations create new markets while others solidify customer loyalty. Technology is creating new forms of innovation as applications and software platforms deliver benefits to consumers using networks of products and systems that are continuously evolving.

What’s inside?

Part one is an extensive presentation of the research and the findings of the distinct patterns of innovation. Chapter 1 begins by defining innovation as “the creation of something of value that did not exist before (p. 3).” The chapter goes on to discuss three cases that illustrate different paths to innovation, from a cancer researcher’s flash of insight to the constant improvement of Tide detergent since its introduction in 1947. Chapter 2 presents an historical perspective of the evolution of thinking about how innovation occurs, from the radical ideas of entrepreneurs to the plodding development of corporate giants. Chapter 3 explains the research of the MINE project, beginning with an effort to document best practices and ending with the six games of innovation.

Chapter 4 introduces the six games of innovation, first explaining the elements as: the business context, the rules of the game and the competencies of the organization. The rest of the chapter describes each of the games, which are then further explored in section two. Chapter 5 discusses the impact of the continuum from emerging markets to mature ones, using the example of the personal computer from its emergence in the 1970s to its maturity 35 years later. While the pressure to innovate is relentless, mature markets tend to be dominated by a few large businesses that innovate in organized and continuous ways. About 90 Per cent of the economy is in these mature and structured markets. Chapter 6 discusses product architecture, differentiating organizational innovation depending on whether the company creates stand-alone products that are self-contained without having to interact with other products; open modular systems that possess a platform that orchestrates the interconnectivity of numerous other players; or tightly integrated closed systems that are carefully controlled effort to address a complex problem. Each type of architecture dictates different types of innovation.

Part two is an in-depth look at each of the games of innovation. Each is very briefly described here. The value of this book is in the depth of discussion into each pattern, with each chapter using case studies and the author’s business insights to explore the way that the market’s maturity interacts with the product’s architecture.

• Eureka! Chapter 7 describes innovations in emerging markets that create autonomous products. Examples include new pharmaceutical introductions, solar panels and Cirque du Soleil. These are innovative products that are often scientifically driven. Entrepreneurs and inventors drive these games, using research to innovate and patents to keep others from stealing their inventions. Finding a market of open-minded consumers willing to try something emergent is essential.

• Battles of architecture. These are emerging markets with platform-based products, such as the Microsoft operating system, the smart phone, and the beginning of the television. These companies must build coalitions between numerous organizations while at the same time attracting funding and consumers.

• System breakthroughs. These are emerging markets for closed systems, often based on the collaboration between inventors and a client looking for a creative solution to a difficult problem.

• New and improved. Chapter 10 introduces innovations in mature markets for autonomous products, where continuous improvement is key. This category includes companies like Proctor & Gamble, 3M and many manufacturers who are constantly looking for incremental improvements.

• Mass customization. These are innovations in mature markets driven by platform-based products. This is the battle of brands and their networks and systems. Examples include Wal-Mart with its global suppliers and Toyota and Ikea who maintain quality through constant system improvements.

• Pushing the envelope. These are innovations in closed systems. Chapter 12 is full of examples of large clients with extensive infrastructures looking to improve their products and processes by looking to consultants and suppliers for constant improvement. Information technology has been key in more than 50 years of continuous innovation.

Chapter 14 explores the transitions from one type of innovation to another, due to the changes in business environments and markets. These transitions can be the result of market maturity leading to commoditization, industry upheaval creating new emerging markets for systems, the opening of closed systems and the emergence of dominant design. As markets and consumers seek lower prices, constant development and stable platforms, organizations must address the need to change the way they innovate.

Part 3 looks ahead. Chapter 15 discusses what it takes to win at innovation and presents seven principles that encourage organizations to make innovation a central focus of their strategies. The chapter also presents winning strategies for each of the six games as their market evolves. Chapter 16 focuses on public policies that support or hinder innovation and strategies that can foster innovation for each of the six patterns or games. Finally, chapter 17 allows the authors to consider the future as new global emerging markets create a race to discover new ideas, processes and products to address new issues and challenges. Governments will have to consider whether to fund and encourage entrepreneurs, universities, or large businesses for discoveries and breakthroughs that have not even been considered. The six games of innovation framework can help policy makers and business strategists make the better choices.

What’s the recommendation?

Students of innovation and anyone in an organization that depends on innovations should read this book and discover their own organization’s style and the game or games that underlie their approach. Because the research base for the book is so robust, there are excellent examples and explanations of how innovation is encouraged and pursued across a wide spectrum of organizations, from start-ups to market leaders.

This is a scholarly, thoughtful and provocative look at how businesses innovate. Readers will have a heightened understanding of how innovation happens, allowing for planning and debate among business strategists and public policy advocates.

Karen Wollard
Principal at Kelly, Wollard & Associates, Hollywood, Florida, USA.

References

Miller, R. and Côté, M. (2012), Innovation Reinvented: Six Games that Drive Growth, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 301pp, £23.14 ($34.95)