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Thursday, October 13, 2005

Innovation: A Key To Sustainable Growth

Every company needs to grow, and innovation is one of the keys to sustainable and profitable growth.

What decisions can we take to increase the probability of successfully building innovation-driven growth businesses?

Many are convinced that it is impossible to predict with confidence whether an innovation will succeed, so they feel they need to place a number of bets -- with the hope that some will be winners.

Professor Clayton M. Christensen of the Harvard Business School has another way: He suggests using theory.

Wait....before you nod off thinking this is one of those ivory tower academic discussions, let me offer this definition of "Theory": A theory is a statement of what causes what and why. Whether team leaders know it or not, they are voracious consumers = and executers - of theory. Every action a team leader takes, every plan a team leader makes, is based on some belief of cause and effect.

Listen to Professor Christensen's podcast here where he explains how to use theory in addressing the innovation challenge.

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