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A Manager’s Guide to Human Irrationalities

Dan Ariely while being interviewed talks about strategies in the business world.  Knowing the thought process of humans we can use strategies based on common irrationalities to cause a person to consider a product, work harder or more efficient in the work place, and work better together in groups.  Overall humans are irrational and Dan Ariely gives strategies in order to direct those irrationalities.
Dan Ariely || MIT Sloan Management Review || Cost icon

Are Your Ideas Mixing and Mating?

Richard Galant covers the TED 2010 conference.  He discusses the process of idea creation with topics including the rise of coffee, "ideas having sex with each other" and comparisons between Chinese growth and U.S. decline.  He believes the development of an idea is interesting and complex, but these talks help bring light to the process.
Richard Galant || CNN || Cost icon

Assessing Innovation Metrics: McKinsey Global Survey Results

This article looks at surveys observing metrics companies use in order to measure innovation and common trends between successful and unsuccessful metric practices.  It goes on to show how most companies deal with metrics and gives comparisons between companies all over the world.  The idea of using metrics to keep track of your company's innovation is a good idea, however using the correct metrics to guide innovation will cause your business to excel.
Operations Practice, Strategy Practice || The McKinsey Quarterly || Cost icon

Best Practice Does Not Equal Best Strategy

Philipp M. Nattermann explains why strategic herding, meaning adopting a competitors successful business plan, may be a good operational tool, but a bad benchmark.  When two companies are competing in the same market both of the companies margins decline in the long run.  This happens because when more and more companies enter into the same market the amount of profit is split between all of the competing businesses eventually making the market unprofitable.  Philipp M. Natermann discusses other possible business plans that may be a better option.
Philipp M. Nattermann || The McKinsey Quarterly || Cost icon

Better Strategy Through Organizational Design

Lowell L. Bryan and Claudia I. Joyce talk about effective business strategies for today's market and gaining a competitive advantage.  Most businesses today use metrics based on accounting earnings and returns on capital.  Instead, if a business wants to grow in today's economy, they should be focused on a greater economic growth relative to worker intangibles and earnings per employee.
Lowell L. Bryan and Claudia I. Joyce || The McKinsey Quarterly || Cost icon

Breakthrough Thinking from Inside the Box

Kevin P. Coyne, Patricia Gorman Clifford, and Renée Dye convey different ways to come up with ideas in the business setting. Instead of going into an ideation session and asking your team to think outside the box or breaking apart the current box to create new ideas, a good way to encourage new and useful ideas from your team include making a new box. Using some additional tools, along with creating a new box, allows a company to create many new and useful ideas. 

Kevin P. Coyne, Patricia Gorman Clifford, & Renée Dye || Harvard Business Review || Cost icon

Built for Innovation

Stephen Wunker and George Pohle talk about the innovation process and the four different archetypes a company can fall under.  Each archetype involves a successful innovation environment including CEO involvement, staff support and different innovation processes.  In all four archetypes there are big name companies that have defined themselves as successful innovators.
Stephen Wunker and George Pohle || Forbes Magazine || Cost icon

Can Germany still innovate?

Jurgen Kluge, Rupert Deger and Jurgen Wunram talk about the German industries and how far behind they are from everybody else.  After exposing the German industry they go on to talk about what needs to happen if German businesses are going to increase their presence in the global economy.
Jurgen Kluge, Rupert Deger and Jurgen Wunram || The McKinsey Quarterly || Cost icon

Clive Thompson on Why Idling Mind Is Mother Of Invention

Clive Thompson talks about the positive aspects of drifting during the job and the effects on innovation and productivity.
Clive Thompson || Wired Magazine || Cost icon

Coaching Innovation: An Interview With Intuit's Bill Campbell

Lenny T. Mendonca and Kevin D. Sneader interviews Bill Campbell the CEO of Intuit who talks about innovation in high tech companies today and the importance of having the correct engineers and how to communicate with them.
Lenny T. Mendonca and Kevin D. Sneader || The McKinsey Quarterly || Cost icon