The lifecycle of products and services dictates that decline is inevitable. No matter how well your sales are doing now, you always need to think about tomorrow. Either that or sit back and watch as competitors eat up your customers.
Because nothing stands still, you need to develop your products and services even if you don’t want to grow. But if you want to eclipse the competition and grow your business - innovation can be king.
But hang on a minute. According to the 2007 BusinessWeek-BCG annual survey of senior executives, just 46% of respondents said they were satisfied with their return on innovation spend.
The same BusinessWeek-BCG survey also named Apple, the US based computer and iPod maker, ‘the world’s most innovative company’ for the third year running. Apple’s R&D spend is significantly lower than its main competitors, but year after year it yields more return on innovation spend than anyone else.
A global innovation study by management consultancy firm Booz Allen concludes that “It’s the process, not the pocketbook. Superior results seem to be a function of the quality of an organisation’s innovation process - the bets it makes and how it pursues them - rather than either the absolute or relative magnitude of its innovation spending.”
So, are you content to spend big money on innovation? Or do you see innovation as something more unique that grows from process and quality of judgement? Considering such questions is important if you want to innovate to grow.
More info - Use innovation to grow your business
Or visit the Planning how to grow section of the Business Link website.
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