innovation and your business

Innovation & Your Business

Mississauga Board of Trade

September, 2012

Bradley Munro

President, RS4 Marketing Group

www.rs4.ca

A little About Me

20+ years of corporate experience

Telecom & CPG industries

Extensive new product development

Principal, RS4 Marketing Group

SMB strategic planning & product development

Course Instructor

Marketing & Brand Management

McMaster, York U, Seneca

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Innovation

“Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two – and only these two - basic functions :marketing and innovation”

Peter Drucker, Management, 2008

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Why Innovate?

Innovation = Growth

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Growth = Survival

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Failure to Innovate

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OR

Who would you rather be?

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What is Innovation?

The constant pursuit of change

Surprising your customers

A disciplined and committed process

Embraced at the CEO level

Everyone’s responsibility

Takes a lot of effort

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Big Innovation

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Tim Horton’s

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Tim Horton’s

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Innovation vs Product Development?

= RISK

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Innovation Product Development

• High risk • Moderate/low risk

• Uses new technology/capability • Uses existing capabilities

• Lower success rate • Higher success rate

• Idea • Commercialization

• Change the game • Incremental

• Creative & collaborative • Process oriented

• Corporate • Functional

• More with less • More with the same

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Innovation vs Product Development

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Minimizing Innovation Risk

Adopt a portfolio approach

Asset/investment allocation

Don’t bet the farm

Mix of small/medium & large projects

Be disciplined in how you allocate resources

Set clear objectives/goals

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Successful Innovation

Four key success factors:

Strategy

Structure

Skills

Process

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Innovation Strategy

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CEO has a clear vision

Establish some objectives

Set some parameters/scope

Not too narrow

Performance criteria

Failure is expected & supported

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Innovation Structure

Integrated teams

Avoid isolation

Encourage dialogue

Loosen formal controls

Get creative in your thinking

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Innovation Skills

Strong leadership

Good communicator

Relationship building

Team approach

Look for partners

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Innovation Process

Idea Generation

Screening/

Conversion Development

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Innovation Killers

Rigorous financial hurdles

DCF/ROI/NPV criteria

Unreliable projections/forecasts

Expectations are too high

Home Run syndrome

Mismanaged stage gate process

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Summary

• Successful innovation is a disciplined process

• Establish objectives & parameters

• Focus on the customer not profits

• Start small.....test & learn

• Manage the risk – use a portfolio approach

• Expect failure

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Thank You

Questions?

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