The Innovation Premium: How Next Generation Companies Are Achieving Peak Performance And Profitability [Hardcover]

Ronald S. Jonash (Author), Tom Sommerlatte (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999

In today’s constantly shifting marketplace, innovation has become the mantra of companies large and small. In The Innovation Premium, Ron Jonash and Tom Sommerlatte draw on years of research and experience on the front lines to demonstrate—for the first time—that those companies that consistently achieve innovation leadership enjoy measurable advantages, including a 15 percent increase in shareholder returns. But innovation must be nurtured and channeled in a disciplined fashion, with the full support of top leadership and a culture that rewards it at every level. Bridging the gap between the technological and organizational aspects of innovation, Jonash and Sommerlatte shhow managers at all levels how to move beyond continuous improvement to create the “Next Generation Enterprise,” an organization that thrives on innovation and knows how to harness it to create and capture value, spark and speed growth, and achieve the highest standards of performance.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In The Innovation Premium, two experts with Arthur D. Little show how some of the world's best companies boost shareholder wealth by continually coming up with new products and services and ways of doing business. Ronald S. Jonash and Tom Sommerlatte look at Lucent Technologies, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Canon, Boston Scientific, DaimlerChrysler and others that rely on innovation to drive growth and profits. They write, "More than a change of leadership, more than a merger or an acquisition, more than a renewed commitment to cost reduction, investors consistently reward--and pay a premium for--innovation." Their main message: A new breed of technology managers is sparking innovation by freeing company researchers to work hand in hand with customers, suppliers, partners, and even competitors. Nokia, for example, used this approach in transforming itself into the largest mobile-phone company in the past decade, and Lucent did the same in developing a lucrative modem chip for DSL high-speed Internet use. The stocks of both companies also exploded. In a global survey of 669 companies, the authors found that companies can spur innovation with clear management support for generating new ideas, a chief technology officer with executive clout, strong cooperation between marketing and technology departments, and a free flow of information. An illuminating and easy read, The Innovation Premium is for business leaders seeking ways to develop and manage innovation in their organizations. --Dan Ring

About the Author

Ronald S. Jonash is Vice President of Arthur D. Little, Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Global Leader of the firm's Technology and Innovation Management Practice.

Tom Sommerlatte is Chairman of Management Consulting Worldwide and Vice President of Arthur D. Little, Inc., in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 162 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738201103
• ISBN-13: 978-0738201108
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,147 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN IMAGINATIVE WORK, PROVIDING A VIVID, COMPELLING VISION., January 14, 2000

By 

Gerry Stern "Stern's Management Review Online" (Culver City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Innovation Premium: How Next Generation Companies Are Achieving Peak Performance And Profitability (Hardcover)

This book examines how companies become innovation leaders. The authors view first-generation R&D as inadequate; they see innovation as encompassing everything from start to finish, to create new products, services, processes and businesses.

In this enlightening book, a model organization is proposed-the next-generation (NG) company. This is an organization that is collaborative and networked, enabling people to communicate and work together as a team; it is also a knowledge-based learning machine, committed to innovation. NG managers encourage personal interactions and cross-fertilization. The key leadership role is that of the Chief Development Officer who inspires innovation and technology, develops new business, builds strategies, exploits intellectual property, and creates alliances. Many examples are presented to illustrate the NG concept, the framework of which involves strategy, process, resources, organization and learning.

This book presents an excellent macro view of innovative, innovating companies. It is imaginative and provides a compelling vision. Highly recommended. As reviewed by Yvette Borcia and Gerry Stern, editors of Stern's Management Review online, HRconsultant.com, founders, Stern & Associates and the Human Resources Knowledge Network, authors of Stern's SourceFinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Information and Resources, Stern's Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder, and Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A framework for capturing innovation, February 15, 2006

By 

Louise McCauley (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Innovation Premium: How Next Generation Companies Are Achieving Peak Performance And Profitability (Paperback)

Businesses that achieve growth and profitability through innovation have been valued higher on Wall Street and have been rewarded by investors. There is a premium on innovation in the marketplace. However, it is often difficult to know how to capture and foster innovation within the organization. Based on studies of companies that have successfully integrated innovation, the authors present both a framework for capturing innovation and guidance on transforming your organization into a next-generation company, where customers, suppliers and strategic partners are all involved in making the company an innovative leader.

The goal of becoming a next-generation company must be management driven and is based on two principles.
1. Management must drive innovation across the entire enterprise to create value.
2. Management must leverage technology and competency to drive sustainable innovation and capture competitive advantage.

The framework the authors present focuses on five areas:
1. Strategy: Companies must construct technology and competency platforms than can be tapped to generate improvements and innovation. Platforms are sets of key technologies and/or capabilities applied as the basis for growth.
2. Process: Companies must be willing to search for innovative ideas in a wide variety of sources at the beginning. At the end, they must be prepared to market an array of products and services, promoting the commercialization of captured innovations.
3. Innovative resources: Invest in alliances with suppliers who will coordinate efforts to save time and money. Leverage the expertise of your employees to sustain innovation.
4. Innovative organization: Create worldwide networks of innovators. Allow ideas to flow across the organization. Network employees to each other and to partners outside the organization.
5. Innovative learning culture: Learning is the key to sustaining the pace of innovation. Learning must be continuous and company-wide. Companies must gather the expertise from every corner of its enterprise and extend it across the organization.

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read, September 12, 2009

By 

Jay Jaboneta "The Gift Revolutionist" (Manila, Philippines) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Innovation Premium: How Next Generation Companies Are Achieving Peak Performance And Profitability (Paperback)

Innovation Premium is a great resource book on today's emerging need to integrate Creativity and Innovation as vital elements of any business enterprise. Gone are the days of relying on effectiveness and efficiency alone.

As companies around the globe learn to adopt effectiveness and efficiency programs, companies with these advantages will continue to lose those advantages in the future. Only by incorporating an innovative culture in every operation of their companies can they begin to build a new vibrant, dynamic learning organization that can withstand the test of time.

Arthur D Little, Inc.'s research into the relationship between companies which are very innovative like Nokia to their performance in the stock markets are proof enough that investors and financial analysts today give premium to companies who created the right culture on excellence and innovation.