...Innovation

...read HBR blog about why big companies can't innovate...big corporation's success is measured by its profit and dividend it pays to the shareholders...start-up company's success, on the other hand, is gauged by how well it identifies a problem in the market...venture capitalist will fund the start-ups if they think entrepreneurs have identified a big problem with an interesting solution ...if the solution matches well with the problem, it'll see growth in revenues and ultimately profitability...if fails, it will continue to innovate and search for better solution...or identifies a new problem and its matching solution...however, when corporation reaches maturity, the measure of success is very different...it's profit...and more profit...without acknowledging the limits of the organization...it focuses on different issues...efficiencies, leveraging existing assests and distribution channels, and listen to their (often) best customers...as the structure of big corporations are becoming more complex, more procedures, rules and regulations are established for standardization...with multiple layers of decision making processes...it requires more efforts to achieve efficienc....the types and scale of innovation is given less priority... ...while achieving efficiencies is important but it should not be done not at the expense of innovation… no wonder some entrepreneurs would prefer to let go (sell) of their businesses when they reach a certain level...a level where there is less room for innovation…and then use their innovative thinking to start a new business...and the cycle goes on and on...lessons learned...when companies grow bigger and becoming more complex...centralization may not be the best option...top management needs to recognize the limits of their organization in making profit...to inculcate the innovation culture, top management should allow and empower certain groups to function with different goals and operational metrics...ok that's about company...let's now think how innovation works in an academic institution or business school in particular...let's have a look at the world top 100 b-schools...what make them top b-schools, how do they differ from the average b-schools...what are their characteristics...are they big or small...are they a comprehensive or a very focused school...how some schools get into the list in a short period of time (less than 10 years)...take SP Jain School of Global Management and Indian School of Business as examples...they are small and very focused…then look at Sasin, a model different from SP Jain or ISB…while remains under the umbrella of Chulalongkorn University…it is given a high degree of autonomy which enables it to innovate and do things differently…HBS is the same…while there are no definite answers to the questions...but if getting into the world rank matters most to your institution...then acknowledging various models of successful b-schools is crucial...

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