Why Corporations Don’t Innovate

Tue 07/31/07

Despite all the pro-innovation rhetoric that one encounters in annual reports and CEO speeches, most still hold the view that innovation is a rather dangerous diversion from the real work of wringing the last ounce of efficiency out of core business processes. Innovation is fine so long as it does not disrupt a company’s finely-honed operating model…As change becomes ever less predictable, companies will pay an ever-escalating price for their lopsided love of incrementalism.
Gary Hamel, author

2 Comments

  1. Grant Blakeman

    This is so true – so many companies miss out on innovation because they’re concerned with the 9-5. Their employees can’t get any breathing room for the high-level thinking that is required for innovation because that type of thinking, at a cursory glance, looks unproductive. And it is, in the immediate sense, but at the same time it should be the lifeline of any company that expects to stick around for a while.

    Tue 07/31/07 at 5:38 pm

  2. beth

    A lot of large companies don’t innovate because their brand is holding them back. This is particularly true when a company with a strong offline presence maintains an online business with a completely different revenue stream.

    Wed 08/01/07 at 7:42 am

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