Volume 19, Number 1 Article by S S Pal March, 2007
INsourcing Innovation: How to Transform Business as Usual into Business as Exceptional : By David Silverstein, Neil DeCarlo and Michael Slocum, 2005, Longmont, CO: Breakthrough Performanc :
Innovation competency has since long been considered the core differentiator among organisations. Developing expertise in this regard within the organisation (insourcing) and putting in place enabling infrastructure will help overcome the syndrome of what Silverstein, DeCarlo and Slocum define as ‘Corporate Brownian Motion’ or a direction-less bunch of barren activities. But is innovatibility a skill, or a trait of the genius mind? Rather than leaving innovation to be always brought in by a handful of extremely gifted, innately inventive people, is it possible to provide certain tools for learning its process techniques, teaching them to others, and ensuring thereby the gainful application of this knowledge by many people inside their organisations? The book under review, Insourcing Innovation, proposes the use of the TRIZ (Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch: The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) methodology to help in genetically re-scripting the innovation DNA of the organisation. The TRIZ process has been long in use, mainly in the world of technology development, to solve problems in invention scenarios, and speaks the language of the specialists engaged therein. This book is the first to use the language of the generalists to showcase the use of the TRIZ methodology in tackling concerns transcending the ‘business of innovation’ through the ‘innovation of business’.
The authors’ case is that innovation ought to be pervasive and happen in a steady stream in order to reinforce the unique advantage proposition of the organisation. Just as organisations insourced quality, making it everybody’s business, innovation too must become everybody’s business. However, as the authors point out, current innovation constructs lack the scientific rigour of existing quality and productivity methodologies and there is a wide gap between strategy and tactics. This is where the TRIZ process steps in, bringing in the discipline of ‘structured innovation’, which can make all the difference between success and failure. Besides addressing innovation problems classically at the tactical level, the book also shows how the TRIZ route of controlled convergence can skilfully address the innovation imperative at the strategic level, how the tasks of innovation can be laden with affirmative prospects, and can also be extensively broad-based for achieving simultaneous organisation-wide multiplier advantage in the process. The innovation imperative has of late come to occupy centre-stage in organisations in the quest for a sustainable competitive advantage. According to the authors, the message is loud and clear – transform ‘business as usual’ into ‘business as exceptional’. When considering TRIZ as a methodology of structured innovation, it must be borne in mind that, like the Six Sigma of performance improvement, quality improvement or productivity improvement paradigms, it needs to be adopted at all levels of the organisation.
However, the TRIZ methodology is no substitute for brilliance, but rather an aid to the existing brilliance-pool of the organisation, or a talent-sharpener tool. Non-innovators too can work routinely with these tools, as much as the innovators, by generating TRIZ-guided converging questions and seeking precise solutions arising out of the myriad innovatistic inquiries. For innovation success to be realised anywhere, practice is essential. This book takes up the aspects of practising innovation across the board in an easily understood fashion. It is an attractive book, well worth the read, for practising managers as well as the student-teacher community and consultants.
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