You may have seen the 40th annual release of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report in October ranked the United States as the world’s most competitive economy. The report looked at 98 criteria involving social, political and economic factors for 140 different countries and ranked the United States as the #1 country because of […]
Posts Tagged ‘small business planning’
10/31/2018
October 2018 – The Huge Lesson to be Learned from Sears’ Bankruptcy
Most likely you saw the news that the venerable company, Sears filed for bankruptcy in October. What can we learn from its demise? Sears, which eventually changed its name to Sears & Roebuck started in 1886 in Minneapolis, Mn. and moved to Chicago in 1887, was one of the most innovative companies of its time. […]
09/30/2018
September 2018 – With Innovation, You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks
As it turns out with innovation you can teach an old dog new tricks, and Microsoft Word is a great example. Word processing software, which was first developed by IBM has been around since the early 1970’s, so you would think that everything that could have been added to it in the past 45 years would […]
08/31/2018
August 2018 – How to Find and Develop Innovative Ideas Like Google Does
Last year Google completed the first entire restructuring of their corporate organization since it started. This reorganization included creating a parent company, Alphabet, Inc. and then moving various units that were formerly part of Google to separate entities. Part of this effort included repositioning their research and development arm, into a company called Google X. […]
07/31/2018
July 2018 – How to Join the “Big Three” of Outer Space Travel
Just like the rivalry between the “Big Three” US automakers, there is an interesting competition unfolding amongst three multi-billionaires who are jockeying to commercialize travel outside the terrestrial Earth. Jeff Bezos Blue Origin is the company Bezos founded to develop his space travel initiative, through its New Shepard rocket with a luxury passenger capsule mounted […]
06/30/2018
June 2018 – How To Develop a Successful Innovation Strategy
Thomas Edison once said, “I don’t want to invent anything that nobody will buy.” While haphazard innovations may generate revenue, if you really want to make innovation pay off big time, a strategy or game plan for using it within your organization needs to be developed. The most important point about developing a strategy for […]
05/31/2018
May 2018 – The Six Earmarks of a Truly Innovative Culture
You may have seen the recent announcement by Tesla CEO, Elon Musk that promised to totally change the trucking industry with a 500-mile range, electric tractor-trailer. It will include much of the high end technology Tesla cars possess now. It will also include incredible safety features, have autonomous convoy capabilities, and have an 80,000-pound load capacity. […]
04/30/2018
April 2018 – How to Innovate Like Amazon
You may have seen the announcement last month that Amazon received several Drone related patents, including one that enables drones to drop packages into delivery “drop zones” from as high as 25 feet. It uses inflatable airbags to provide the cushioning for drops to a person’s backyard or patio. Upon impact with the ground the […]
03/31/2018
March 2018 – Innovation Does Not Just Happen, It Must Be Led from the Top
You may have seen the surprise announcement on March 15, 2018 by Dietmar Exler, CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA that the German automaker will open a global innovation lab in metro Atlanta to dream up new products and businesses. The stated objective of the lab is to fast track projects and services from design to market. […]
02/28/2018
February 2018 – Using Innovation to Transform Your Company
It is surprising how innovation is impacting our lives every day, and the pace of innovation is increasing. Many of these innovations have the potential to truly change our lives. For instance, researchers are now working on developing materials that actually can mask themselves from light so that the objects become invisible. The fanciful “cloak […]
