2009 Archives

• The Economist annual Innovation Award (1of 8) goes to Reckitt Benckiser. Explore some of the reasons why!

  Reckitt Benckiser (RB) was awarded The Economist’s very prestigious annual Innovation Award on October 29th, 2009, for its “innovative and entrepreneurial corporate culture”. We set out to parse RB’s culture and we get about 50% done based on the information which we can access. Perhaps others can help? You can download a copy for free – from this web site – of the ‘Draft work in progress’ and see how far we got. Comments welcome. How would you describe their corporate culture? Is it a culture which will – on an ongoing basis – better RB over its competition? For the free copy go to Innovation Culture Profiles and download the report – which includes a comparison with the better-known competitor, Procter and Gamble.

  Posted on Sunday, December 27th, 2009 at 7:28 am in Cultural Aspects of Innovation, Discussion.

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• GE – the decision to off load its media assets

  It should come as no surprise that GE is off loading its media assets. Why? One major reason is that the culture of GE is dramatically different from the media business and, over the long term, just does not fit. GE thinks long term, its initiatives are based on an understanding of R&D spending, and the company is steeped in technology and,  even more so, in its understanding of the role of science. No surprise here. It is just too bad the acquisition happened in the first place. A lot of investment and management effort would have been spent, wisely, elsewhere.

  Posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 6:39 am in Cultural Aspects of Innovation, News.

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• Nucor Corporation

  A new Profile explores the culture for innovation which, once set in motion by Ken Iverson in the 1960s, contributed to Nucor becoming the largest steel company in the United States and all this without an R&D department per se. The Founder’s legacy carries on!

  Posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 6:46 am in Best Management Practices, Cultural Aspects of Innovation.

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• A Profile of GE’s Culture for Innovation is now available.

  Following the lead of many CEO’s these days Jeff Immelt has, in his latest book – The New GE Way, let us in on a lot of previously closely held information about GE. By carefully examining this book, as well as other recent and older publications about GE, we have been able to construct a picture of the culture within GE from its beginnings (Reference Innovate Like Edison) to the culture under Welch and Immelt. The styles are different and are intended to achieve different results in certain aspects of GE’s business.

  See what you think and provide a comment.

  It is becoming increasingly clear to me, as I examine the ‘culture for innovation’ in many of the most innovative companies, that the culture of the founder(s), even from 100 years plus back, has a profound effect on the company.

  Posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 1:47 pm in Best Management Practices, Cultural Aspects of Innovation.

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• Compare your corporation’s culture for innovation with 3M.

  By taking the time to complete the Check-Up (part of this web site) you can now compare your company’s culture for innovation with one of the most innovative companies in the world; 3M. Based on the Profile of 3M, which outlines for each of 25 Factors, the culture for innovation in 3M, you can now compare your company with 3M. Go ahead. See how your profile matches or is out of line with 3M. Go to http://corporateinnovationonline.com and download 2-page instructions that will, with 6 easy steps, provide insight into the culture for innovativeness in your company.

  Posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 6:28 pm in Cultural Aspects of Innovation.

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