The IERP®Monthly Newsletter September 2018 8
In the last 60 years, the average lifespan of an S&P500 company has dropped from 61 years to 15 years. Globally, businesses are more than aware that they constantly need to keep up with rapidly changing market conditions. At the same time, however, littered across the corporate world are haphazard, unsuccessful innovation initiatives.
As Partner and Managing Director at Rainmaking ASEAN, a consultancy aiming to bridge the gap between startups and corporates, Samuel Hall is on the front lines of pushing for innovative growth. Speaking on Day 2 of the IERP® Global Conference, Samuel emphasized that there is little value in invoking the idea of ‘innovation’ without careful thought about what that means for your organization.
And make no mistake: innovation is not digitization; digitization is only keeping up with everyone else. Optimizing processes and capitalizing on new technology are not necessarily innovation. To Samuel, innovation means generating growth, which comes from exploration into uncertainty. On the other hand, successful execution of day-to-day operations is business as usual.
Corporate innovation is the capability to renew the organization within a changing business environment. Within all the uncertainty, both execution and exploration must be done in tandem. Innovation only needs to involve a few key leaders, those with the strategic vision, the technical know-how, and/or the decision-making power. The rest of the company just needs to do their job.
Organizations have to be cognizant that what they do now is only good for now. By building the capacity to identify emerging opportunities and map new technologies, leaders can then articulate a clear investment thesis in line with overall objectives - contributing to future growth and sustainability. As Samuel noted, “It’s not the technology that drives change, it’s the business model.”
Global Conference 2018 Highlight: Strategies to De-Risk Innovation, Generating Growth Alongside Business as Usual