The Business of Innovation: Managing the Corporate Imagination for Maximum Results [Hardcover]

Roger Bean (Author), Russell Radford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 16, 2001

This is a guide to building innovative, creativity-rich organizations through astute and skillful management. Whatever the end goal, this book provides a systematic process for managing focused, usable innovation - without the micro-managing that can stifle creativity. With examples from McDonald's, Toyota, Palm (Pilot), 3M, Sony, Singapore Airlines and others, this model helps managers and executives: nurture an environment of innovation; support market-focused innovation through effective policies; gather expert feedback to properly evaluate innovations; develop and launch innovations successfully; and project future trends and developments.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This guide's weakest advice concerns the specific area in which many managers need the most help: how exactly does one spur corporate creativity? To their credit, the authors--both consultants--suggest helpful focusing techniques (ask questions like "What should we be creating; which customers should we target and how should we compete?") and offer strategies for applying systems thinking to the innovation process. After that, readers are left largely on their own to follow a step-by-step process that oddly avoids specifics for getting the most out of any idea that happens to surface. The logical but extremely dense prose is somewhat mitigated by useful chapter summaries. Illus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In their second book, Bean and Radford (Powerful Products: Strategic Management of Successful New Product Development, 2000) offer textbook advice on how to integrate innovation into contemporary business practices. The book is well written and draws on some interesting examples; it is unlikely, however, that any organization of significant size will ever adopt, wholesale, the principles and practices recommended by the authors. In fact, even with a proven track record in innovation, the best of the contemporary innovators Bell Labs, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola, for example may not see the end of the decade. The author's view on systems and innovation is also somewhat shortsighted. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus (sixth century B.C.E.) dealt with change and order in the universe; about 200 years later, Aristotle pretty much wrote the book on systematic thought. The Roman Catholic Church, a favorite Drucker example, has managed to stay focused, contemporary, and innovative over two millennia. Ultimately, successful innovation is the result of leadership, research and development, and a little luck. While there is something to be said about a synthetic textbook approach, most libraries could do without this book. An optional purchase. Steven Silkunas, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Philadelphia
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (October 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814406319
• ISBN-13: 978-0814406311
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,443,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read!, June 11, 2004

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Business of Innovation: Managing the Corporate Imagination for Maximum Results (Hardcover)

Roger Bean and Russell Radford examine the history of innovation for ways that your organization can innovate continually. They ask why companies successfully innovate for a while and then lose steam. Their answer is a new organization-wide system that prioritizes innovation, management and strategy. This fairly academic structure - more like a proposal than a working process - encourages building systemic promotion of continual innovation by creating an environment that values, nurtures and encourages it, cascading from the executive to the managerial to the operational team level. However, toward the end of the book, the authors refer to using a Balanced Scorecard for assessing performance from a total quality perspective. That approach bypasses the inspirational, charismatic form of innovation and cuts right to the process, like an accountant or an engineer's model of innovation. Thus, if you are process-savvy but hesitant about new ideas, we suggest that this might just be the innovation book for you: lots of system, not much flash.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read!, April 29, 2003

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Business of Innovation: Managing the Corporate Imagination for Maximum Results (Hardcover)

Roger Bean and Russell Radford examine the history of innovation for ways that your organization can innovate continually. They ask why companies successfully innovate for a while and then lose steam. Their answer is a new organization-wide system that prioritizes innovation, management and strategy. This fairly academic structure - more like a proposal than a working process - encourages building systemic promotion of continual innovation by creating an environment that values, nurtures and encourages it, cascading from the executive to the managerial to the operational team level. However, toward the end of the book, the authors refer to using a Balanced Scorecard for assessing performance from a total quality perspective. That approach bypasses the inspirational, charismatic form of innovation and cuts right to the process, like an accountant or an engineer's model of innovation. Thus, if you are process-savvy but hesitant about new ideas, we from getAbstract suggest that this might just be the innovation book for you: lots of system, not much flash.