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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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Michael Hammer explains operational innovation and the effects it can have on business. The main areas of change executives address are exciting and benefit companies in the short run while both the company and their executives get noticed. On the other end of the spectrum exists operational innovation which is considered an under the radar innovation causing many companies to not even consider it. Observing companies like Progressive, Walmart and Toyota this article explains how a company could implement operational innovation, in the end proving to be much more valuable then the loud and exciting short term changes several companies indulge in today.
Joseph L. Bower and Clayton M. Christensen explain how Disruptive Technologies work and the repercussions they have on industry leaders. Disruptive Technologies are dangerous because initially underestimated they end up coopting a large majority of that industry's clients when further developed. This article explains what makes a Disruptive Technology so dangerous and what current industry leaders can do to compete and keep their consumer base.
