The McKinsey Quarterly

2009

• April 2009 

  Managing innovation: Pages from Alessi’s handbook

  A three-part multimedia feature explores how design firm Alessi manages innovation—from working with collaborators, to how design constraints help shape products, to assessing new innovations’ potential.

  Includes:

• February 2009 

  Cultivating innovation: An interview with the CEO of a leading Italian design firm

  Alberto Alessi, head of his family’s iconic design factory, talks about how to sustain innovation over decades—and why companies should take on more risk.

• February 2009 

  Upgrading R&D in a downturn

  Cutting research costs across the board in a recession isn’t smart. Companies should use R&D as an opportunity to make themselves more competitive.

• February 2009 

  Where innovation creates value

  It doesn’t matter where scientific discoveries and breakthrough technologies originate—for national prosperity, the important thing is who commercializes them. The United States is not behind in that race.

• January 2009 

  Hal Varian on how the Web challenges managers

  Google’s chief economist says executives in wired organizations need a sharper understanding of how technology empowers innovation.

  Includes:

• January 2009 

  How to fix the innovation gap: A conversation with Judy Estrin

  The author and tech executive says we are living off the fruits of previous research and need to seed new ideas.

  Includes:

• January 2009 

  Market rebels and radical innovation

  In this adaptation from Hayagreeva Rao’s book, he explains the role of activists in making or breaking new markets, products, and services.

  Includes:

2008

• December 2008 

  Innovation lessons from the 1930s

  History suggests that even the deepest downturns can create huge opportunities for companies with money and ideas.

• November 2008 

  Assessing innovation metrics: McKinsey Global Survey Results

  A recent McKinsey Global Survey shows that companies are satisfied, overall, with their use of metrics to assess innovation portfolios—though many findings suggest that they shouldn’t be. The companies that get the highest returns from innovation do use metrics well; these organizations tend to assess innovation more comprehensively than the others.

• November 2008 

  Lessons from innovation’s front lines: An interview with IDEO’s CEO

  Tim Brown, whose company specializes in innovation, distills the lessons of his career.

• October 2008 

  Helping ‘green’ products grow

  When customers reach the cash register, they often forget their eco-friendly attitudes. Businesses can do a lot more to help would-be “green” consumers walk their talk.

• September 2008 

  Google’s view on the future of business: An interview with CEO Eric Schmidt

  How the Internet will change the nature of competition, innovation, and company operations.

  Includes:

• September 2008 

  The ergonomics of innovation

  A successful campaign to save 100,000 lives shows that efforts to make it easier for organizations to innovate can yield remarkable results.

• July 2008 

  From internal service provider to strategic partner: An interview with the head of Global Business Services at P&G

  Filippo Passerini is bringing the back office into the boardroom.

• June 2008 

  The next step in open innovation

  The creation of knowledge, products, and services by online communities of companies and consumers is still in its earliest stages. Who knows where it will lead?

• May 2008 

  What are the design flaws in your organization?

  Gary Hamel and The Management Lab explore improving performance by rethinking organizational structure.

  Includes:

• April 2008 

  A fine-grained view of the sources of growth

  The authors of The Granularity of Growth explain why the best strategies begin with a precise understanding of market and product opportunities.

  Includes:

• April 2008 

  Innovation lessons from Pixar: An interview with Oscar-winning director Brad Bird

  What does stimulating the creativity of animators have in common with developing new product ideas or technology breakthroughs? A lot.

  Includes:

• January 2008 

  Leadership and innovation

  McKinsey research reveals a wide gap between the aspirations of executives to innovate and their ability to execute. Organizational structures and processes are not the solution.

• January 2008 

  Succeeding at open-source innovation: An interview with Mozilla’s Mitchell Baker

  The company’s chairman and former CEO explains the power of the participatory, open-source model of collaboration.

2007

• November 2007 

  Innovative management: A conversation with Gary Hamel and Lowell Bryan

  Forward-looking executives must respond to the growing need for a new managerial model.

• November 2007 

  Strategy’s strategist: An interview with Richard Rumelt

  A giant in the field of strategy ruminates on strategic planning, diversification and focus, and the role of the CEO.

• November 2007 

  What's next in innovation

  Management guru C.K. Prahalad examines the technique of tapping individual consumers to help develop products and create appealing experiences.

  Includes:

• October 2007 

  How companies approach innovation: A McKinsey Global Survey

  Executives say innovation is very important, but their companies’ approach to it is often informal, and leaders lack confidence in their innovation decisions. Top managers and other professionals agree that the biggest challenge is talent but disagree on why. Nonetheless, executives agree on some steps to improve innovation.

• February 2007 

  Coaching innovation: An interview with Intuit's Bill Campbell

  A veteran Silicon Valley CEO and mentor of CEOs talks about his years in high tech.

2006

• November 2006 

  Reinventing innovation at consumer goods companies

  A range of orthodoxies is making it harder to develop breakthrough products in the consumer goods industry. It urgently needs a reformation.

• May 2006 

  Creation nets: Getting the most from open innovation

  A typical large company can no longer rely solely on its own resources. Creation networks are a promising way to move beyond them.

• May 2006 

  The adaptable corporation

  To survive, organizations must execute in the present and adapt to the future. Few of them manage to do both well.

2005

• August 2005 

  Protecting intellectual property in China

  Litigation is no substitute for strategy.

• May 2005 

  What global executives think about growth and risk

  As the quickening pace of globalization creates both new markets and new competitors, hopes contend with fears.

• February 2005 

  Innovation blowback: Disruptive management practices from Asia

  Western companies think too narrowly about the emerging world. If they aren’t careful, they may end up as defenders, not attackers.

• February 2005 

  Innovation from Asia

  The capabilities that companies gain serving cost-conscious consumers in emerging markets can become competitive advantages in developed ones.

2004

• December 2004 

  New strategies for consumer goods

  The industry has already extracted much of the benefit to be had from improving productivity and concentrating on core brands. Meanwhile, its dynamics are changing. What comes next?

• November 2004 

  Getting more from intellectual property

  Companies that license IP from other organizations not only develop better products but also gain a better understanding of IP markets.

• February 2004 

  When your competitor delivers more for less

  Value players will probably challenge your company. How will you respond?

2003

• November 2003 

  Flexible IT, better strategy

  IT’s critics say that it lacks strategic importance. So why does technology keep getting in the way of good strategy?

2002

• December 2002 

  Intellectual property: Partnering for profit

  Companies could earn up to 10 percent of their operating income from the sale of patents and proprietary processes. But how?

2001

• August 2001 

  Creative destruction

  How can corporations make themselves more like the market? An excerpt from the best-selling book.

• May 2001 

  The innovative organization: Why new ventures need more than a room of their own

  Companies can grow quickly without sacrificing performance discipline. The trick is to balance partitioning and integration.

2000

• June 2000 

  What is the market telling you about your strategy?

  Market expectations are hard for managers to understand and even harder for them to change. But there are ways of doing both that are much more science than black magic.

• June 2000 

  The German road to innovation

  Germany has an entrepreneurship gap. A new culture is emerging to close it.

• May 2000 

  Best practice does not equal best strategy

  Benchmarking is an important way to improve operational efficiency, but it is not a tool for strategic decision making. When competitors all try to play exactly the same game, declining margins are bound to follow.

1999

• November 1999 

  Unlocking the value of intellectual assets

  Lucasfilm collects billions from apparel, books, recordings, comarketing deals, and videocassettes based on its Star Wars movies. The top ten pharmaceutical companies got 34 percent of their 1997 revenues by selling products licensed from other companies. For sellers and buyers alike, intellectual assets are very big business.

1996

• May 1996 

  Can Germany still innovate?

  A survey of electronics companies shows a once-great industrial innovator has fallen behind. However, its problems can be solved by management actions. Five strategies for change.

1995

• November 1995 

  Going slow to go fast

  Want to get new products to the market fast? Don’t troubleshoot. A common mistake: setting aggressive commercialization targets. Development is not a process. It’s a system with subtle feedback loops. The lure and danger of “best practice.”

• August 1995 

  Innovation’s uncertain terrain

  Why Marconi needed Sarnoff. Our remarkable inability to see the future. Even pioneers lack vision. Railroads were developed to feed canals. Understanding uncertainty may help us place better bets on new technologies.

• February 1995 

  Developing technologies: The Eastman Kodak story

  The evolution of photography provides clear examples of how understanding the dynamics of innovation is essential to a company’s survival and success.