Tag Archives | Agility

Future-proof Companies: Combining Agility with Ambidexterity

By on July 16, 2020

From frequent discussions and readings I have come to realize the following: Agility and Ambidexterity can be considered two distinct organizational capabilities and design aspects for future-proof companies (-to-be) that often get mixed up or even confused: Agility: Organizational capability of dealing with uncertainty and adapting a company’s core business to (rapid) changes in the […]

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Centralizing vs. Decentralizing Innovation

By on March 14, 2019

In the light of increasing demand for self-organization and organizational agility, there is a lot of discussion around centralizing vs. decentralizing ownership and decision-making – in particular when it comes to corporate innovation. Therefore, it might be useful to get back to ‘basics’, which have been well outlined by Hermann Vantrappen and Frederic Wirtz in […]

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Digital Innovation Units: Recommendations, Trends and Conclusions

By on September 7, 2018

The business magazine Capital and Infront Consulting recently published their second joint annual study (in German only) on the Digital Innovation Unit landscape in Germany.  The study analyzed the units in terms of set objectives and their achievements, as well as of the following success criteria: Steering Themes / direction of impact Involvement of the company Methods / program […]

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Agile Innovation in a Nutshell

By on June 23, 2017

The notion of Agile seems to be on everybody’s lips these days. Studies have proven agile companies to generate above-average margins and revenues up to five times more often boost average innovation success rates to 39% from 11%, in complex projects even up to six times that of conventional approaches But what actually is Agile Innovation? Bain captures the essence in a […]

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Modern Dual Corporate Innovation Balances Defense with Offense

By on April 4, 2017

This is an excerpt of a post of mine, recently published at Haydn Shaugnessy’s journal “Hack & Craft”.     Modern Dual Corporate Innovation Management approaches encompass two complementary directions of impact: Transforming the Core (by largely changing or even disrupting the existing operating model) Creating the New (by largely changing or even disrupting the existing business model) With […]

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Aligning Organizations for Digital Transformation

By on February 3, 2017

To understand the challenges and opportunities associated with digitalization, MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte surveyed more than 3,700 business executives, managers, and analysts from organizations around the world. They have recently published their findings in a report, titled “Aligning the Organization for Its Digital Future“. Some key outcomes (quoted and depicted in an infographic) as well […]

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The Firm of the Future Will Manage Two Types of Businesses

By on January 20, 2017

Bain and Company has just published a worthwile article, debating on the question: What will the firm of the future look like? Among several characteristics, the authors also particularly anticipate future-proof companies to be required to manage two types of businesses by deploying distinct “engines”: Companies have always pursued innovation in their core business. Clayton Christensen has called […]

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The Trinity of Dual Innovation and Transformation

By on November 25, 2016

Here is a chart, shown by Scott Anthony from Innosight during a worthwile talk on ‘Dual Transformation’ in July this year. It puts in a nutshell what he refers to as the “hardest challenge in business today”: Simultaneously strengthening today’s business while creating tomorrow’s. The chart greatly captures the fact that dual transformation involves three distinct playing fields: Transformation A: Strengthen Today […]

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Organizational Agility Entails Complementary Innovation

By on August 2, 2016

Recently, I’ve come across a couple of posts and articles debating on the question: In order to increase agility, should organizations aim to become more nimble across their existing structures or should they capitalize on separated units/ventures – such as innovation or digital labs – being dedicated to initiate and develop explorative ideas and opportunities? Let’s define agility as […]

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A Model for Integrative Innovation Management

By on March 21, 2016

In previous posts, I have shared my view on important cornerstones for successful innovation management systems. As pointed out several times, balanced and up-to-date innovation management requires organizational ambidexterity, i.e. the capability to explore novel offerings and capabilities while simultaneously exploiting existing ones. In the following, I would like to summarize and complement these thoughts by suggesting an innovation management model that may help organizations to innovate more […]

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