Innovation in Large Organisations
The leaders of large organisations recognise the need for innovation and they allocate targets and resources accordingly but often the results are disappointing. Corporate lectures about the importance of creativity and an increase in the R&D budget are just not enough. There are too many obstacles within the organisation to the implementation of new and unorthodox ideas. Often the approval processes are over-elaborate and difficult.Â
In an article on this subject on Innovation Tools, Jeffrey Baumgartner explores these issues and gives some specific advice. His two key recommendations are:
1. Decentralise research and innovation into smaller units with fast track approval and rejection processes.
2. Develop methods for buying in ideas from outside the company - ‘open innovation’.
He quotes Glaxo Smith Kline and others as examples succeeding in innovation with these approaches.
Paul Sloane.