BCG’s 2009 study on innovation
“In 2008, for the fourth consecutive year, innovative companies handily outperformed their industry peers in terms of stock market performance (…) Innovation remains a key focus for the majority of companies. Sixty-four percent of the more than 2,700 executives who responded said they consider innovation a top-three strategic priority, one critical to their company’s long-term competitiveness. Consistent with that, more than half of the respondents said their company would increase innovation spending in 2009.”
Read BCG’s “Innovation 2009: Making Hard Decisions in the Downturn.”
Apple, Google and Toyota continue to be ranked as the top three most innovative companies by BCG’s survey. The briefing also highlights the fact that today’s uncertain economy is negatively impacting innovation spending. Many companies are investing less in new product development than in past years. Interestingly enough:
- The majority of Asia-Pacific companies are committed to boot innovation spending while the North American remain cautious.
- RDE, rapid development economies, keep moving up the value chain to deliver innovation related services, thus going beyond low cost manufacturing. Technology and telecommunications being “the most bullish” sector.”
The report also mentions that executive level sponsorship is believed to be a critical success factor coupled with customer centered innovation. However, time to market remains a concern as well as managing the spread and variability of the outcomes coming from innovation projects. There is also a pressing issue about what performance metrics help executives manage the risk of shortchanging or overblowning spending.
In any case, the bottom line is that innovative corporations are reported to consistently outperform industry peers over the past ten years.
J. de Francisco. Chicago, April 14
