What evidence-based advice would you give to a corporate CEO to increase innovation in her company?
Are there specific management practices, elements of corporate (not national) culture, or management behaviors that promote innovation? Can we apply insights from research on funding organizations (DARPA, NIH) to for-profit organizations? Are there robust principles (e.g., tolerate short-term failure, reward long-term success) that should apply in a corporate setting?
What are your favorite journal articles, working papers, or books on corporate innovation? Who is doing good research on this topic?
2mattclancy2yProbably the most concrete topic I've written the most about is the geographic
distribution of an R&D workforce. I think one of my main takeaways is to not
assume that everyone working together in the same building is as good as it
gets, in terms of innovation, though it depends on the industry. Reasons to
consider a more distributed workforce:
* You can hire people who are a better fit for a specific role if you are set
up for a remote workforce
* A distributed workforce is exposed to a greater diversity of information
environments
* Modern communication technology makes it feasible to collaborate effectively
at a distance, so that in person communication is no longer so crucial
That said, a distributed workforce offers its own challenges. You have to be
more intentional about facilitating random meetings among different parts of the
org for one, or you risk excessive siloing. And I think occasional in-person
meetups are also important.
If you think nothing matters as much as getting the right people, then this is
all the more important!
Some of my favorite papers on corporate innovation is the works of Ashish Arora
[https://www.nber.org/people/ashish_arora?page=1&perPage=50] and his colleagues,
who are actively working on this stuff.
What evidence-based advice would you give to a corporate CEO to increase innovation in her company?
Are there specific management practices, elements of corporate (not national) culture, or management behaviors that promote innovation? Can we apply insights from research on funding organizations (DARPA, NIH) to for-profit organizations? Are there robust principles (e.g., tolerate short-term failure, reward long-term success) that should apply in a corporate setting?
What are your favorite journal articles, working papers, or books on corporate innovation? Who is doing good research on this topic?