The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster and Smarter in a Networked World Review

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(More customer reviews)With regard to the term Global Brain, Satish Nambisan and Mohanbir Sawhney refer to "the diverse set of external players that constitute the innovation network for the companies" discussed in this book such as P&G, IBM, Boeing, and Apple]; and Network-centric innovation to describe "the underlying principles of collaborative innovation in such a context." They add that a common theme n their research was their interest in the concept of distributed innovation. That is, "innovation initiatives that are spread across a diverse network of partners." Their vehicle for exploration was the Kellogg Innovation Network (KIN) -- "a forum for senior innovation managers of large companies - affiliated with the Center for Research in Information and Technology that [Sawhney] directs at the Kellogg School of Management. The KIN is an excellent example of the power of the Global Brain in action."
Nambisan and Sawhney carefully organize and present their material within five Parts. During the course of their narrative, they respond to questions such as these:
Why should companies seek innovation externally during a transition from being firm-centric and network-centric?
What are the core principles of network-centric innovation?
What are the four basic models and key elements of network-centric innovation?
How to develop a contingent framework that maps the context for innovation?
Which guidelines can help managers to evaluate the different types of opportunities that are most appropriate to their organization's resources, capabilities, and strategies?
What are the implications of network-centric innovation for the emerging economies?
What are the common trends in various countries' emerging economies?
How to analyze the potential for companies in these countries to "plug into the global brain"?
I especially appreciate Nambisan and Sawhney's provision of dozens of real-world examples that illustrate their key points. For example, in Chapter 5 they examine what they characterize as "the orchestra model" that can take two quite different forms: The Orchestra-Integrator model and the Orchestra-Platform model. With regard to the former, they examine Boeing's 787 Dreamliner project and include Table 5.1 (Pages 96-97) that portrays the project's specific elements of network-centric innovation. With regard to the Orchestra-Platform Model, they examine Salesforce.com and the AppExchange Forum. Figure 5.3 (Pages 110-111) illustrates the elements of its network-centric innovation.
"In both the Integrator and Platform model, the innovation architecture defined by the dominant firm becomes the context for the network partners to innovate...In both cases, the tricky part is to bring together a diverse set of capable partners who are sufficiently committed to the innovation architecture and to orchestrate their activities in a manner that leads to outcomes that are beneficial to all the network members."
After completing their exploration of the Global Brain and "painting a picture of the landscape of network-centric innovation," Nambisan and Sawhney urge their reader to chart her or his own organization's "journey" to position it as a player in the same rich and diverse landscape. "We have a simple mantra for [achieving] this: Think BIG, Start SMALL, Scale FAST."
Bon voyage!

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All the talk about "open innovation" and externally-focused innovation assumes that "one size fits all" in terms of what network-centric innovation is and how companies should harness external creativity. But the reality is that there is no one right way to master this tool. For instance, loosely governed community-based innovation projects are a very different animal from tightly-orchestrated development projects driven by a large firm. As the landscape of network-centric innovation becomes more diverse and more confusing, there is a desperate need to structure the landscape to better understand different models for network-centric innovation. This book brings clarity to the confusion. Further, it argues that managers cannot rely on anecdotal success stories they read about in the press to implement a network-centric innovation strategy. They need rigorous and analytical advice on what role their company should play in an innovation network, what capabilities they need to create, and how they need to prepare their organization for this significant shift in the innovation approach. This book offers a practical and detailed roadmap for planning and implementing an externally-focused innovation strategy.

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Preventing Strategic Gridlock: Leading Over, Under & Around Organizational Jams to Achieve High Performance Results Review

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(More customer reviews)Obviously, it is highly advisable to identify and then eliminate potential problems before they occur. That is as true in business as it is in healthcare, athletic competition, and international travel. What we have here is a solid, well-organized, and well-written guide to preventing strategic gridlock. First, Harper carefully examines seven of the usual suspects which can cause it. Next, she introduces what she calls U.N.L.O.C.K., a system based on six principles by which to avoid or eliminate them. Finally, she shifts her reader's attention to countless real-world examples.
Obviously, an inappropriate strategy almost invariably results in conflict, confusion, acrimony, perhaps operational gridlock, and worse yet, chaos. Moreover, Harper fully understands that even a fundamentally sound strategy can fail because of internal resistance by those whom Jim O'Toole describes as being captive to "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Or that strategy can become less effective or even ineffective because of market forces over which the organization has little (if any) conrol. Harper has absolutely no illusions about the complexity of these and other issues. She could easily have identified 14 or even 21 "roadblocks." Her U.N.L.O.C.K. system could have been based on 10 or even 15 principles. That's not the point. Rather, when crafting a strategy, decision-makers in any organization (regardless of size or nature) should identify and then prepare for what they perceive to be the potentially most formidable roadblocks to that strategy's success. (FYI, my personal preference is to view strategies as "hammers" and tactics as "nails.") Everyone must understand and support the strategy. What amounts to an "early warning system" is needed and everyone at least directly involved with the strategy and its tactics must be especially alert during the strategy's initial implementation.
Although I encountered no "cutting edge thinking" in Harper's book, I hold it in high regard because it fully serves the needs of decision-makers who need (perhaps urgently) a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective system by which to avoid or extricate their organizations from strategic gridlock. Another major benefit of having an "early warning system" is that if the strategy is a dud, that will soon be obvious and Harper's book can assist with whatever adjustments may be necessary.
Those who share my interest in how and why even major corporations such as Ford, Coca-Cola, and McDonald's make bad strategic decisions, I urge them to check out Matt Haig's recently published Bad Brands.

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Advancing Businesses Despite the Economic Terrain Find out why strategies and initiatives that looked good during planning end up mysteriously snarled in a tangled web of persistent organizational problems ("strategic gridlock") during execution. Preventing Strategic Gridlock shows the reader how to: · Gain insights into the common but mistaken assumptions leaders often make about their organizations; · Apply the six principles and guidelines of organizational reality to U.N.L.O.C.K.® their company from the Strategic Gridlock cycle; · Learn how to achieve the high-performance results that todayÂ's high-pressure environment demands.

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