In this article Darell Mann and Dr. Ellen Domb discuss the 40 Inventive Principles and provide examples of each principle being applied with respect to the business industry. The 40 Inventive Principles were developed to allow practitioners to create solutions to problems through the use of TRIZ methodologies. Through these examples practitioners can observe the 40 Inventive Principles at work and learn to apply these methods to their own business related problems.
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by in Amory B. Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken on July 01, 2007
In this article Amory B. Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken talk about natural capitalism and the effects it has on both the environment and our economy. Today, companies operate on inefficient incentives concentrating on selling product. Instead companies should concentrate on solutions. With this change of mindset and introducing implementation steps toward natural capitalism by dramatically increasing the productivity of natural resources, shifting to biologically inspired production models, moving to a solutions-based business model and reinvesting in natural capital a company is able to reduce production costs, improve the efficiency of their company and improve the environment at the same time.
by in The McKinsey Quarterly on November 02, 2000
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.
by in The McKinsey Quarterly on May 01, 1996
Jugen Kluge, Rupert Deger and Jurgen Wunram talk about innovation all over the world especially in Germany. Observing many companies all over the world largely relying on innovation for profits the question was asked, "Can Germany Still Innovate?". The conclusion was Germany's ability to innovate had not diminished, but in order to become a world leader in innovation once more, German companies must change their processes and attitudes when it comes to innovation. Along with determining Germany's innovation flaws this article shows many different tactics used by successful companies based on innovation.
by in Harvard Business Review on March 21, 1996
Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad tell about the importance of looking into the future when it comes to companies. Many companies in the business world today are only looking at the short term attempting to stay a successful company. What a company really needs to do is to develop some foresight and obtain the ability to control the future of the company and redefine the industry.
by in The McKinsey Quarterly on November 02, 2006
In this article Scott C. Beardsley, Bradford C. Johnson and James M. Manyika talk about the positive effects of, and how to properly manage tacit interactions in a company. In the current business market, tacit interactions are increasingly important because they create competitive advantage if supported with the right management techniques. Unlike production lines and other processes where variables are indications that the process is improvable, tacit interactions constantly change making the process a challenge to deal with. Training somebody takes experience and apprenticeship, but the training is worth it because the resulting competitive advantage is increasingly hard to match.
by in The McKinsey Quarterly on November 02, 2007
In this article Suzanne Heywood, Jessica Spungin and David Turnbull talk about managing complexity. Two types of complexity exist including institutional complexity and individual complexity. Mostly complexity is an aspect companies try to minimize in order to make their systems more efficient and effective, but if complexity is split into institutional and individual, companies can utilize it as a competitive advantage. Taking into account clarity of accountability, control in key areas and coherence a company is able to take complexity and turn it into an effective strategy.
by in Harvard Business Review on May 01, 2006
Donald L. Laurie, Yves L. Doz, and Claude P. Sheer talk about what a company needs to do in order to increase their growth rate after it begins to fall short of expectations. The main idea this article presents involves creating a new platforms for businesses instead of developing new products. In some cases the development of products can increase growth rates, but creating new platforms is more effective in the long term.
by in Harvard Business Review on January 01, 1999
W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne explore the idea of creating new market space allowing a company to expand and increase growth rates. Many companies today observe their closest competitors attempting to get ahead of them with the same idea of value. These companies are growing but with incremental margins. Using different techniques including looking at similar industries, looking at the same industry in different ways, looking ahead in an industry, etc. a company gives itself the ability to expand and grow.
by in Strategic Management Journal on December 21, 1998
In this article Stanley F. Slater and John C. Narver discuss market orientation strategies and the difference between customer-led and market-oriented. Both customer orientations concentrate on their customers but customer-led focuses directly on what customers ask for and filling those needs, and market-oriented concentrates on latent needs and understands different customers give them different information. Competitive advantage is described as providing a skill or resource that is difficult to imitate. Overall it was shown that both strategies create competitive advantage in different scenarios. Market-led proves useful in short term stable markets and market-oriented in long term dynamic markets.
