Introducing the Six Dimensions

Better Innovation – what do companies need to get right?

Anyone with practical “feet on the ground” experience of innovating in the Food and Beverage industry will tell you that creating profitable, sustainable growth through innovation is not easy – indeed, studies have shown that somewhere between 45% and 95% of new product launches are failures.  OK, not all innovation results in new products but I’m fairly certain that the same statistics will apply any time a company tries to create real, durable value from “something new”.  Why would this be?

Not only about inherent risk

If innovation broadly concerns “doing new things” then yes, there is a certain risk that it may not work.  But not all innovations are “breakthrough” in nature, requiring large leaps in technology, consumer acceptance, manufacturing & supply chains or regulatory and legal frameworks.  Of course, there are always the risks associated with competitor action which may make your latest innovation less attractive, but many of the factors that stop companies getting the most out of innovation are under their direct control.  Let me explain.

Innovation is people-driven

Innovation does not happen spontaneously, it needs people who have the ability, means and motivation to deliver it.  If any one of these three factors are weak or missing, the ability of the company to deliver innovation is reduced.  On the other hand, making sure that all innovation contributors have these three elements firmly in place will boost you chance of successful innovation.

Innovation requires transversal team-work

Innovation is a transversal activity involving several, maybe most of the functions in a company.   Imagine developing and launching a new product.  The R&D team may carry a lot of the technical development work, but Sales and Marketing teams need to understand customer and consumer needs and to manage the commercialisation process.  Regulatory and maybe Legal input will be needed, the Procurement team may need to find new raw materials and the Manufacturing & Quality teams  will play a key role in ensuring the product is industrialised correctly.  The project may need special Financial treatment and management, specific support may be required from the HR and IT teams and senior management should be monitoring progress as part of the strategic plan.  These are just the people inside the company – the list of potential participants increases when innovation involves external partners.

For most people, innovation is just part of their day job

Most Food and Beverage companies do more than just “innovate”.  They need to keep the existing business healthy and growing on a daily basis as more longer term actions across all the company.  For many people in a company, innovation is a small part of their job.  Even functions that do spend more time on innovation (typically R&D and Marketing) generally have some kind of “support” role for existing manufacturing and business activities too.  This means that innovation is competing for the time and attention of everyone in the company vs all the other – usually urgent – ongoing business activities they need to deal with. 

Innovating is difficult because it is a complex human activity

Successful innovation requires the effective interaction of engaged and capable people across the company (and beyond it).  These people need to have a shared appreciation of the importance of innovation compared to everything else they need to do.  For this to work, everyone must be a connected to a clear company position on the role of innovation in the company’s strategic plan and what it should deliver to the business, this supported by the right organisation and business processes.  No wonder getting it right can be difficult.  If any one of these elements is weak it limits the ability of the company to innovate well.

Towards the Six Dimensions Framework

It’s the thinking above, based on my personal experience and further reading that led me to building the Six Dimensions Framework.  The framework provides a structure for the key factors that a company needs to get right in order to boost their ability to innovate and in further articles I will explore each dimension in detail.  In the meantime, you can read more about it here.