Six Levers for Solving the Corporate Innovation Problem – Part 1

Innovation is at the top of many companies' management agenda, but despite investments, results remain disappointing. The corporate innovation problem has two root causes, and this three-part article series focuses on the system problem, specifically the fuzzy front-end (FFE) of innovation. The FFE involves discovering valuable insight into unmet customer needs and developing promising ideas into strong concepts and rapid prototypes. FFE excellence requires tailoring to a company's specific industry clock speed, disruptive risk, innovation strategy, and culture. Companies invest in open innovation approaches, innovation centers, corporate venture capital, and innovation management systems to improve their FFE. However, results remain unsatisfactory, and the next article in the series will explore this corporate innovation problem further and offer solutions through six levers of improvement.