How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate 1st Edition

by Andrew Hargadon (Author)

20 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-1578519040

ISBN-10: 1578519047

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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.

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Sustainable Innovation: Build Your Company’s Capacity to Change the World (Innovation and Technology… by Andrew Hargadon Hardcover $33.42
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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

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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: 6.5 x 0.8 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 20 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #782,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #470 in Books > Business & Money > Processes & Infrastructure > Structural Adjustment
- #514 in Books > Textbooks > Business & Finance > Entrepreneurship
- #522 in Books > Business & Money > Processes & Infrastructure > Organizational Change

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Looking Under Innovation's Hood

June 27, 2009

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

If you're looking for a book that details how breakthrough innovation happened at places like Thomas Edison's Menlo Park workshop or Henry Ford's assembly line...this is a book that will enhance your understanding. Andrew Hargadon's How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate, is an excellent read if you're looking for history, anecdote, and insight into the components of innovation.

There are paragraphs sprinkled throughout, and pages here and there, that prompted underlining and notes in the margin. There were also many stretches where the "how" in how breakthroughs happen was too academic to be practical. On the whole, this is a helpful book if you're building an understanding of innovation.

One person found this helpful

Herning Grissom

Innovative Idea: Innovators are merely competent

February 10, 2006

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

As an experienced engineer/researcher, I agree with Hargadon's basic thesis that great innovators in history have not been leagues above everyone else. More commonly they have simply had the proper education and are in a position to use analogies from other fields to solve a problem in a unique way. Indeed, I would go further and say they are usually merely competent, which does not mean average.

In my experience, the average researcher is usually ineffective. This is due to funding management systems which reward mediocrity, staying within bounds, and not taking risks. True innovators have usually taken personal and financial risks, which Hargadon does not emphasize. However, he emphasizes that once one has a successful invention, they should realize they will not stay unique long and must broker the technology to not wind up like Philo Farnsworth.

This is a new research area pioneered by Hargadon, so the book is not a finished compedium like a macroeconomics text, which can draw upon decades of research. The book is very readable and interesting. It draws upon a number of historical and recent examples. My only complaint is that he might overplay a few firms like IDEO, but later editions might add more examples.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

Is innovation key to your business? This is the book for you!!

February 3, 2006

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

History of innovation process from Thomas Edison on. Focuses on examples of "brokering" processes by which existing ideas from multiple communities (isolated networks) are recombined to improve a new product/process/industry. Example Henry Ford's production line used the processes and ideas that were refined in Brewing, Sewing Machine Factories and Granaries.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

The Value of Disruption

November 27, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Should be required reading for any organization, but not least directors and board members in the Performing Arts.

One person found this helpful

Andrea Marshall

The book is very repetitive, however Andrew Hargadon givea ...

April 11, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The book is very repetitive, however Andrew Hargadon givea so many examples that it helps with your understanding of getting hia point.

One person found this helpful

B.Sudhakar Shenoy

Innovation redefined

February 5, 2004

Format: Hardcover

This book provides a totally new dimension to look at innovation as a process. The concept of defining technology as an arrangement of Objects (hardware and software, tangible and unchanging), Ideas (understanding how to interact with objects) and People (those who know these objects and ideas) lays the foundation for the research. Innovation is a result of (Objects + People + Ideas) recombined in new ways.Innovations that happen this way are cheaper, quicker and are more likely to succeed. The social side of innovation as a process bridging distant worlds and building new communities is the most valuable contribution of this book. The author uses theories of sociology very effectively to further exploit this phenomenon.
Definition of networks and their relevance to the process of innovation is another important concept." Man is suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun" - Max Weber. Networks link distant social groups and their relationships. Breakthrough Innovations cause a dramatic shift in these networks according to the author. Case studies are liberally used to explain each concept. If Edison was an innovator he was actually great networker transforming the Menlo Park Laboratory of 15 engineers into a factory for patents. If Ford at Highland Park pioneered the assembly line for magnetos and then cars, it should also thank the meat packaging industry among others for the origination of these ideas.
If innovation is a recombination of objects, people and ideas in new ways, it is possible for firms having access to different industries to be the leaders in innovation. Design Continuum's contribution to Reebok pump athletic shoe came from its experience in the pharma industry. This firm with just 110 people is a place for combination of ideas in a systematic manner. " We enjoy working in diverse industries and it brings great benefit to our clients" - Gian Zaccai, CEO of Design Continuum.
The Concept of "Technology Brokering" to create new relationships is the key lesson for managers to practice. Managers in today's global businesses should see innovation as an integral part of business strategy. Taking this responsibility for innovation as a process, they should then promote networking to connect diverse product divisions across countries, encourage people to work in new areas, attract and retain people from diverse industries, and accept innovation as a social process rather than merely pumping money into laboratories that work in isolation. Innovation should happen by design and not by accident.
This book is very different from most other books on innovation and introduces a new paradigm that we cannot afford to ignore.

4 people found this helpful5 people found this helpful

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