How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate [Hardcover]

Andrew Hargadon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 2003 | ISBN-10: 1578519047 | ISBN-13: 978-1578519040 | Edition: 1

This book presents lessons from the famous 'Invention Factories' past and present. Did you know that the incandescent lightbulb first emerged some thirty years before Thomas Edison famously 'turned night into day'? Or that Henry Ford's revolutionary assembly line came from an unlikely blend of observations from Singer sewing machines, meatpacking, and Campbell's Soup? In this fascinating study of innovation, engineer and social scientist Andrew Hargadon argues that our romantic notions about innovation as invention are actually undermining our ability to pursue breakthrough innovations.Based on ten years of study into the origins of historic inventions and modern innovations from the lightbulb to the transistor to the Reebok Pump athletic shoe, "How Breakthroughs Happen" takes us beyond the simple recognition that revolutionary innovations do not result from flashes of brilliance by lone inventors or organizations. In fact, innovation is really about creatively recombining ideas, people, and objects from past technologies in ways that spark new technological revolutions. This process of 'technology brokering' is so powerful, explains Hargadon, because it exploits the networked nature-the social side-of the innovation process.Moving between historical accounts of labs and factory floors where past technological revolutions originated and field studies of similar processes in today's organizations, Hargadon shows how technology brokers create an enduring capacity for breakthrough innovations. Technology brokers simultaneously bridge the gaps in existing networks that separate distant industries, firms, and divisions to see how established ideas can be applied in new ways and places, and build new networks to guide these creative recombinations to mass acceptance."How Breakthroughs Happen" identifies three distinct strategies for technology brokering that managers can implement in their organizations. Hargadon suggests that Edison and his counterparts were no smarter than the rest of us-they were simply better at moving through the networked world of their time. Intriguing, practical, and counterintuitive, "How Breakthroughs Happen" can help managers transform their own firms into modern-day invention factories.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A light bulb flashing over the head of a lone scientist is the universal symbol of invention, but Edison's electric light bulb, which was the product of a whole team of engineers working with ideas cribbed from other inventors, is the rule rather than the exception, argues this fascinating primer on business innovations. Every breakthrough-be it the steamship, the transistor or the rise of rock 'n' roll-is a collective effort that combines and tweaks already existing ideas and technology in novel ways. Drawing on systems theory, cognitive psychology and "microsociology," management professor Hargadon examines innovation as a phenomenon of networks connected by "technology brokers"-people or organizations that link isolated groups and industries to integrate previously unrelated viewpoints and technologies to resolve new problems. He applies this framework to business case studies ranging from Henry Ford's mass-production methods to the work of present-day industrial design firms. Companies can stimulate innovation, he suggests, by cultivating a diverse network of projects, clients and suppliers to "capture" new ideas and exploit the resulting innovations, as well as by constantly testing models and prototypes, encouraging informal collaboration among employees and fostering a culture that embraces open-mindedness, iconoclasm and the freedom to "fail your way to success." Hargadon's argument is a well-written and well-supported corrective to the "lone genius" myth of technological innovation. While not quite a blueprint for breakthroughs, his provocative viewpoint and intriguing case studies will give managers new techniques to ponder.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Intriguing, practical, and counterintuitive..." -- Innovationwatch.com, September 2003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press; 1 edition (June 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578519047
• ISBN-13: 978-1578519040
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #297,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for managers and the MBA classroom August 20, 2003

By Rodney Lacey

Format:Hardcover

I have already been using Hargadon's research in MBA-level electives in innovation and technology management for its valuable insights to the managerial audience. Hargadon shows how innovation is intrinsically a social and cultural process (rather than the act of the isolated genius), and as a consequence, innovation is something that must be managed. The main advantage of Hargadon's work for a general managerial audience is it provides a theory of innovation that is adaptable to a wide-range of industries and technological settings, but at the same time eminently actionable with concrete recommendations and compelling, vivid examples that facilitate learning. Unlike most research on innovation that is narrowly focused on high-tech industries, Hargadon explores innovation as a general social process that is as important in areas as varied as mass manufacturing processes, specialty consumer products, and professional services. The book helps managers understand the importance of social structure and cultural context to the innovation process. In the process of explaining innovation, the book also introduces managers to complex theoretical issues around social structure and culture in a clear way that can be usefully applied by managers to arenas other than innovation. I will be assigning the book in my class this year as it compiles the previous research and adds new insights and cases in a handy and interesting package for the student.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Lone Genius Myth Must Die! January 22, 2004

By K. Sampanthar VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The Summary:
This is book looks to answer the question, "Can Innovation really be routine?" This book not only answers that questions but actually gets into the details of "How". The title of the book is "How Breakthroughs Happen" and Hargadon definitely successfully explains the `How'. He doesn't proclaim that it is easy, but he does give a road map of how to achieve innovation through technology brokering, he even explains the different paths that apply to different types of companies. This book is ambitious since it is going to go in the face of popular belief that innovation is the sole province of geniuses. But it also isn't just another create an "innovative work space" through giving break/games rooms, adding free soda machines and providing all employees with Herman Miller chairs! This isn't a superficial answer to innovation; you can't just throw money at this and hope that innovation will just happen! But follow his rules and strategies you should be able to create an environment where recombinant ideas can flourish.

The central thesis of the book is that Innovation can be achieved through some best practices but first companies need to overcome the romantic preconception that innovation is the sole province of lone geniuses. Hargadon is a social scientist that has been researching innovation for the past decade. He explores the concept of technology brokering and creating Innovation factories a subject he first wrote about in a Harvard Business Review article - Building an Innovation Factory.

Hargadon's research explores in detail Edison's Menlo Park as an example of one of the first documented innovation brokerages. He also looks at modern day examples such as IDEO (a company he has worked at) and Design Continuum.

One of the most interesting topics that is discussed is the debunking of the `Lone Genius Myth' and how the media could be responsible for putting American companies years behind the Innovation race by propagating and even probably being the original instigators of this myth. America's love affair with heroes is behind this myth; everyone wants to believe the stories of the lone genius in the garage inventing the next great technology that will change the world. This is not to say that lone geniuses don't come up with great inventions, but more to the point, they aren't the only source of innovation. Hargadon even goes as far as to explore the theory that Edison propagated this myth as a marketing exercise, he tapped into the America's need for heroes and played up his role as the lone inventor in the lab. In actuality his lab was a perfect example of innovation factory. He had a lot of very smart engineers that worked at the lab and most of his long list of inventions was really a product of their combined genius.

Menlo Park, New Jersey represented the first dedicated R&D facility and showed the industrial world the power of organized innovation. Menlo Park exemplifies Hargadon's model for innovation; by linking people, objects and ideas together from diverse worlds of knowledge you can create an environment where innovation through recombination happens. An modern day example of `Recombinant Innovation' is taken from Design Continuum; they combined the concept of an `inflatable splint' and a basketball shoe to create the concept of a basketball shoe that is used to prevent injuries by providing inflatable ankle support. They created these `air bladders' from medical IV bags.

Menlo Park created an environment where recombinant innovation could happen by modeling the lab on machine shops from which Edison emerged. These machine shops were where mechanics and independent entrepreneurs/inventors worked side by side, sharing tools/machines, stories and inevitably ideas. Edison built his organization to redistribute the ideas emerging from the telegraph industry and applying it to any new industry that electricity was being applied to. By bringing these diverse industries together, by creating an environment where people with diverse background worked on diverse projects, side by side he had created one of the first Innovation Factories. People, Industries and ideas were brought together in an environment conducive to sharing.

Hargadon goes on to explain some of the underpinnings of his theory drawing from network theory and the theory of "small worlds". He then gets into the "how" by showing different brokering strategies:
- A company committed to a full time strategy i.e. IDEO, Menlo Park
- Remain focused on the core business but dedicate groups that bridge different worlds (departments) and help broker ideas - Xerox Parc, 3M's Optical Technology Center
- Develop a strategy to seize on one-time opportunities for brokering i.e. Microsoft and building the Xbox.

Hargadon completes the book by listing 8 rules that are the basis of an organized pursuit of innovation through technology brokering.

If you truly want to create an innovation factory, you should read this book and then apply what it teaches you.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Paradox of Innovation March 8, 2004

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

For many who read this book, it may well be a "surprising truth" that innovation succeeds "not by breaking free from constraints of the past but instead by harnessing the past in powerful new ways." I am among those who agree with the prophet Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun; also with the Greek philosopher Heraclitus who asserted that everything changes...but nothing changes. I also agree with Hargadon's emphasis on the importance of an innovation strategy which seeks to take full advantage of what can be learned from the past inorder to create the future. His core concept is "technology brokering" which he introduces and then rigorously examines in Part I; next, in Part II, he describes the "networked perspective" of innovation, explaining how this strategy influences the innovative process within organizations, regardless of their size and nature; finally, in Part III, Hargadon provides specific and practical examples of how various organizations have designed and then implemented technology brokering strategies. Throughout the narrative, Hargadon explores in depth with rigor and eloquence his core premise: "that breakthrough innovation comes by recombining the people, ideas, and objects of past technologies."

In this context, I am reminded of what Carla O'Dell asserts in If We Only Knew What We Know when discussing what she calls "beds of knowledge" which are "hidden resources of intelligence that exist in almost every organization, relatively untapped and unmined." She suggests all manner of effective strategies to "tap into "this hidden asset, capturing it, organizing it, transferring it, and using it to create customer value, operational excellence, and product innovation -- all the while increasing profits and effectiveness." Almost all organizations claim that their "most valuable assets walk out the door at the end of each business day." That is correct. Almost all intellectual "capital" is stored between two ears and much (too much) of it is, for whatever reasons, inaccessible to others except in "small change....there is no conclusion to managing knowledge and transferring best practices. It is a race without a finishing line."

I think this is precisely what Hargadon has in mind when insisting that the future is already here, that the "raw materials for the next breakthrough technology may [also] be already here [but probably] without assembly instructions," that decision-makers must find their "discomfort zones" rather than remain hostage to what Jim O'Toole calls "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom," and that they should build a "bridge" to their own strengths but also to their weaknesses because, as they perform, so will their organization. I agree with Hargadon that innovation must unfold at the ground level, "in the minds and hearts of the engineers and entrepreneurs who are doing the work." Also, that -- meanwhile -- they and their associates must be guided and informed, not only by their own organization's "beds of knowledge" but also by external sources of information concerning prior successes and failures of the innovation process elsewhere. In the final analysis, there is good news and bad news. First the bad news: "New ideas are built from the pieces of old ones, and nobody works alone." Now the good news: "New ideas are built from the pieces of old ones, and nobody works alone."