Liisa Välikangas and Quintus Jett
The authors argue that the “freedom to explore” factor is essential to innovation. And innovation is essential to sustained competitiveness. Today's leadership challenge is…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors argue that the “freedom to explore” factor is essential to innovation. And innovation is essential to sustained competitiveness. Today's leadership challenge is learning to manage the independent thinkers who refuse the constraints of professionalism and instead innovate on their own terms – in other words, as amateurs.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors believe that only amateurs can move from field to field, finding creativity in the convergence of technology and the combinatorial possibilities found when crossing different industries and professional specialties.
Findings
At a leading nationwide retailer, a group of people has formed an initiative to create a market place of ideas and talent. Anyone can pitch a project and invite others to join it. The hypothesis is that such an avenue for ideas and commitment will increase productivity and address an endemic scarcity of resources. This freedom is facilitated by communications technologies that enable individuals to participate increasingly on their own terms.
Practical implications
Companies need to unleash their human talent and raise their level of innovation so that they can compete globally. To accomplish this, managers must respect their employees' independence – the very source of innovation.
Originality/value
The authors argue that the case for innovation is the case for the labor of love, that is, the work of passionate amateurs.
Details
Keywords
Quintus R. Jett and Jennifer M. George
Using an Internet-based business simulation, we examine emergent strategy processes and their consequences in a competitive environment. We find that the emergent decision…
Abstract
Using an Internet-based business simulation, we examine emergent strategy processes and their consequences in a competitive environment. We find that the emergent decision processes of management teams vary in the extent to which they entail forward looking, anticipatory thinking and experimentation, and the attention the teams pay to their organizations’ capabilities. In dynamic and uncertain environments, information search activities and decision processes are key determinants of organizational performance. Our results suggest that effective emergent decision processes necessarily include elements of deliberate strategy.
Gabriel Szulanski, Joseph Porac and Yves Doz
Enduring scholarly interest in the process of strategy-making stems from an abiding assumption that some ways of strategizing are more efficacious than others, and thus lead to…
Abstract
Enduring scholarly interest in the process of strategy-making stems from an abiding assumption that some ways of strategizing are more efficacious than others, and thus lead to higher firm performance in the long run; higher than luck alone would bring. Expressions of interest in and endorsements of the strategy process are abundant in the academic literature. As Pettigrew (1992) points out, Hofer and Schendel's pioneering definition of strategic management is processual in character emphasizing the development and utilization of strategy. Rumelt, Schendel, and Teece (1994) list the policy process question – how does policy process matter? – as a fundamental question of the strategic management field. Porter (1996) expresses preoccupation with the leadership and organizational challenges of managing the process. And, Hamel (1988) exhorts the field to devote as much attention to the conduct of strategy, i.e., the task of strategy making, as they have to its content. For senior managers and leaders, the question of how to make effective strategies stands usually at the top of their agenda. Not surprisingly then, the quest to uncover stable principles of good strategy making has attracted much support and interest over the years.