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    Making

    Systematic Innovation

    available to business and organisations everywhere

    You can also connect with us at:
    www.mbaglobalinstitute.com

  • MBA Global Consulting

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    Focus on Competitiveness

    ​Transformation through Innovation

    We work with you to help transform your challenges into opportunities that create competitive advantage.

    Our innovation led approach helps to keep you ahead in this increasingly competitive post-pandemic world.

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    Focus on Solutions

    Our unique approach helps

    Focus on Profitability

    Structured Planning For Growth

    Improving Market Share

    Innovation Thinking

    Business Sustainablilty

    and Enduring Success.

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    Measurable Results

    Targeted improvement

    Competitive Positioning

    Business Health Check

    Improving Business Efficiency

    Market Scenario Planning

    Business Strategy and Implementation

  • Systematic Innovation

    Beta Programme

    One Minute Introduction

    Invitation To Participate

     

    We are currently accepting applications to participate in our Systematic Innovation Beta Programme.

    Participation is completely Free of charge (or any future obligation) and confidentiality agreements are provided.

     

    Over just 6 weeks you can address up to 4 challenges of your choice with a team of up to five staff members. They will use 4% or less of their time to deliver useful and value-creating results. The Beta can even be completed online.

     

    The program is organized and delivered by us. It culminates in an insightful ‘end of beta report’ and its outcomes demonstrate how to achieve groundbreaking innovation-led value creation, which can be built upon and expanded by your own team in-house.

     

    Five Minute Explainer

  • Introducing

    The Business Model Actualization Platform

    The BMAP three-step testing and validation process to enduring success
    1

    Situation Analysis

    INQUIRY

    What are we offering that customers value and that they will want?

    2

    Challenge Analysis

    UNDERSTANDING

    What are the challenges that face us now and in the future?

    3

    Solutions Proposed

    ACTION

    How will we rise to these challenges and achieve sustainable success?

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    Welcome to the online resource for

    COUNTDOWN TO LAUNCH

    You're business could be just starting out or it may be long established...You could be...launching a product or service or simply reviewing your existing business efficiency...
     
    This is an invaluable resource with a new and practical approach to understanding your challenges and planning and implementing solutions!

     

    Supporting Downloads

    Available Now:

    (see buttons below)

    Trigger Sheets
    Sample Questionnaires,

    Financial Planning Spreadsheets,

    Checklists and Roadmap Templates.

     

    You'll soon be on your way to creating your own

    Roadmap to Success!

    Available From:

    Amazon, Waterstones, SuccessStore

    and leading book stores!

  • The BMAP in Action

    C R Y O T E C H

    A Case Study

    CRYOTECH is an environmentally friendly, unique single-step Pure Cold Press production method for vegetable oil that can be extracted from a variety of oil seeds.

     

    CRYOTECH increases oil yield by up to 33%, and it reduces costs by improving production efficiencies.

     

    As CryoTech’s performance is significantly above industry standards worldwide, Cold Pressing can now compete favorably as an environmentally friendly alternative to both Hot Press and Solvent Extraction processes.

     

    CRYOTECH

    • Yields up to 33% more oil than industry standards worldwide.
    • Doesn't need more land
    • Uses substantially less energy
    • Eliminates several production processes
    • CRYOTECH’s single press virgin oil quality is higher as it has less phospholipids.
    • CRYOTECH "Press Cake", (the secondary product), has superior quality proteins.

  • The BMAP 

    Reviews

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    ...an excellent combination of theory and practice that helps people step into the challenging context of entrepreneurship with the right approach. Strongly recommended to those who teach and/or practice entrepreneurship.

    Dr. Gabriella Cacciotti

    Warwick Business School

    Ranked: Europe No3. Worldwide N018

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    “There is nothing so practical as a great idea. This is something the authors of Countdown to Launch fully appreciate and put to work in this accessible and highly practical book.”​

    Stuart Crainer

    Co-Founder, Thinkers 50

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    “Launching a business, or in the first phase of a Start Up - I highly recommend this book.​..I can only describe as“The Manual for a Start Up​”

    Gavin Duffy

    Dragon's Den Investor

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    “Transformational, from start to finish”

    Martin Kelleher

    Partner 

    Mason Hayes and Curran

    Dublin. London. New York. SanFrancisco

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    "The BMAP/Countdown to Launch is a uniquely practical guide through the key steps of starting a business. Crucial reading for entrepreneurs”

    Michael Culligan

    Chief Eexecutive 

    Dublin Business Innovation Centre

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    “Really gets under the hood of a business”

    Carl Kane

    Bank of Ireland

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    “A really comprehensive ‘how-to guide’ and a must-read for anyone interested in starting or accelerating their business”

    Sarah-Jane Larkin

    Director General,

    Irish Venture Capital Association

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    “A superb step-by-step guide to

    make your business a roaring success”

    Patrick McNamee

    Professor Emeritus Business Strategy,

    Ulster University

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    “Builds strong pillars under a business”

    Keith Murphy

    Bank of Ireland

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    “A very accessible and highly practical framework for testing a business concept”

    Frank Dillon

    Editor

    Decision Ireland

  •  

    THE IRISH TIMES

    irishtimes.com

    By Frank Dillon

    Reproduced courtesy of The Irish Times

    Determining whether a business has

    what it takes to be successful

     

    Countdown to Launch by Irish authors Greg Devlin and Liam Fennelly offers a rigorous six-week boot camp process for start-ups

     

    Insufficient cash, poor research, the absence of a mentor and overestimating the size and accessibility of the market are amongst the key reasons business start-ups failure rates are so high. These are among the conclusions of Greg Devlin and Liam Fennelly, the Irish authors of a new book that aims to help entrepreneurs successfully navigate the start-up phase.

     

    Countdown to Launch offers a rigorous six-week bootcamp process to determine whether a business has what it takes to be successful. According to Liam Fennelly, “the six-week time constraint is designed to give entrepreneurs a sense of the commitment and workload required to get a new venture off the ground. It asks hard questions now in order to avoid tough lessons later.”

     

    Devlin and Fennelly, both former presidents of the MBA Association of Ireland, bring their own extensive business founder and mentor experience to the process.

     

    With about 15,000 business failures annually in Ireland and a one in three chance of companies making it past 10 years in business, failure rates are exceptionally high, but this need not be the case, they maintain.

     

    “Risk-taking is often viewed as a prerequisite in start-ups but this is not a casino and failure can be personally devastating. An essential element of entrepreneurship is risk analysis and reduction where possible, then making informed decision about how to proceed,” says Devlin.

     

    “You need to mitigate your risks by finding out what they are, specifying them, quantifying them and then devising solutions to either eliminate them or manage them,” he adds.

     

    The authors have adapted a number of existing international models – including Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas and Eric Reis’s Lean Canvas Model – and added their own insights to present what they call The Business Model Actualisation Platform or BMAP. This consists of more than 60 trigger sheets, checklists and questionnaires to determine the viability of a business idea.

     

    Challenge analysis

    The BMAP has a three-stage process. It starts with a situation analysis looking at the market and competitive environment, assessing present and potential capabilities. The second stage, challenge analysis, assesses the obstacles as well as the opportunities and how they can be tackled while the third phase called solution proposed, aims to identify a range of monthly scheduled, realistic and achievable actions that will robustly navigate the business to a profitable and sustainable position.

     

    The authors favour field-work with customers over desk research where possible and suggest interviewing at least 25 potential customers for a consumer proposition or 10 in the case of a business-to-business one.

     

    When setting targets, achieving Minimum Viable Proposition is seen as a much more realistic aim than shooting for the stars.

    “Stretch targets are lauded as drivers of innovation and achievement for both individuals and organisations. However, failure to meet targets can have the opposite effect,” says Devlin.

    “There can be good arguments for setting them in large organisations and teams where there is a different dynamic of a shared mission and the load is spread. However, in the start-up setting they may represent unnecessary risk to performance. Start-up entrepreneurs and small teams have enough coming at them in the initial establishment period without becoming overburdened by unrealistic ambition,” he says.

     

    Moreover, if the business proposition doesn’t add up, promoters should be thankful that rigorous analysis prevented them for making a costly mistake. While each situation is unique, the authors suggest that a typical start-up that fails after one year could easily burn about €100,000, comprised of €25,000 of a bank loan, €25,000 of own and friends and family funds and €50,000 in lost salary from quitting a paid position.

     

    Red lights that should trigger pulling back from a launch include bad feedback from potential customers, the realisation that financial projections are overly-ambitious, no clear line of sight to customers and too high a risk-reward ratio.

     

    “Common examples of where businesses go wrong include situations where there is inadequate research into the size of the market and what way it is trending with regard to your offer. Fundamentally, purchasers buy value and perceptions around this can change. You need to ask yourself what your value proposition is and what does its future look like,” Devlin says.

     

    “Other problems include inadequate finance during the establishment phase and little or no contingent budget to cope with the unforeseen. Poor visibility is a further problem – in other words, inadequate research and understanding of the competitive and developing environment and what that means for you or your product or service offering.”

     

    Failure rate

    The authors caution against “tick box” exercises in planning and say that what is commonly referred to as a business plan is often no more than a set of aspirational financial projections.

     

    “In this setting all too often potential customers’ needs, operational requirements and marketing discipline get to play only a cameo role against the imperative of gaining funding to get the show on the road,” Devlin notes.

     

    Part of the motivation for developing the BMAP methodology and book, Devlin maintains, is a desire to reduce the business failure rate – a level of attrition that is accepted as a norm across most economies.

    “A high failure rate is assumed as a given, yet there is common evidence of damaging social stigma attached to failures that is not attached to other endeavours. Social stigma has a very significant psychological impact for founders as well as the wider social impact for all involved in a business. People who might otherwise go on to create very successful second or third attempt businesses that could provide employment for many others, become discouraged and give up,” he says.

     

    Attention to detail is important including gaining a thorough understanding of how specific markets and industry sectors work. Among the more specific pieces of advice Devlin and Fennelly have is to be aware of the type of supply chain management systems used in particular industries.

     

    In construction, the Achilles system is often used, for example. In industrial applications, you should also expect to interview the engineer/technician who would be using your product or service as they would most likely be the ones to sign off on you getting approved vendor status.

     

    Fennelly and Devlin also strongly advise prospective entrepreneurs to find a mentor. Fennelly acknowledges that it is often difficult to source one but suggest it is much more likely to happen if promoters are more specific in their request.

     

    “It can be viewed as an open-ended request in terms of time and context and few will commit to this. The methodology in our book allows you to approach a potential mentor and ask if they can mentor you through this process and it requires just three meetings over six weeks. After that you can go two ways – either a clean break or you can develop a future relationship,” he says.

     

    The BMAP Value Proposition

    • What is our proposed offering?
    • What problems is it solving?
    • Are we competitive on costs or features?
    • How would we be perceived by customers?
    • Do we bring increased customer satisfaction?
    • Do we reduce stress levels?
    • Are we bundling products or services?
    • Would we be perceived as a risky purchase?
    • Are there new or substitute products on the market?

    Countdown to Launch by Greg Devlin and Liam Fennelly is published this month by Oak Tree Press. (€29.95 paperback/€15.45 eBook) and is available from SuccessStore.com and selected bookshops.

     

    Available From:

    Amazon, Waterstones, Successstore.com

    and leading book stores - Now!

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    How engineers can lead Ireland's

    post-pandemic recovery through innovation

     

    October 2020

     

    By Liam Fennelly

    Reproduced courtesy of Engineers Journal

     

    Engineers are problem solvers and as such are a great source of new ideas. Now more than ever, engineers can help lead Ireland’s recovery by being the idea generators and innovators across the board of industry – small, medium or large – making our products and services more competitive, efficient, of a higher quality and faster, writes Liam Fennelly.

     

    The late Clay Christensen from Harvard University defined innovation as “introducing simplicity, convenience, accessibility and affordability where complication and high cost are the status quo”. In other words, no part of a business is immune from innovation.

    Cost reduction and process methods

    Innovation can equally be applied to cost reduction and process methods and efficiencies just as much as it can be applied to new products and services. The perception that innovation relates solely to R&D still persists, though, to the detriment of a myriad of opportunities in other areas of a business.

    Innovation isn’t about waiting for that one big idea that is going to change the world. It’s about generating hundreds of ideas, methodically validating them, and then funding the most probable successes in a competitive way. And, occasionally that big idea might just emerge from the pack.

    An analogy I use is hiring staff. A company may require 10 new programmers for example. Initial advertising brings in 100 CVs. Some basic criteria are applied to whittle these down to a ‘possibles’ list of, say, 30.

    First interviews result in a ‘probables’ list of 15 and final interviews result in initial contracts being offered. Probationary periods add that competitive element in that if certain criteria or milestones are not met then full contracts are not awarded. It’s almost an identical process for innovation ideas – all the way through to the funding of experiments.

    Innovation is hard. As the saying goes: if it were easy, everybody would be doing it. And, originality is overrated – most innovations are variations of themes that already exist.

    While about 70% of impactful innovations come from within existing companies, the concept of the career intrapreneur has never really taken off. The right culture needs to exist so that ideas are not routinely killed off through internal rivalries and jealousies.

    A recent Harvard Business Review survey of 10,000 managers showed that 76% of new ideas generated within their organisations were treated with scepticism or outright hostility!

    So, how do we generate all those ideas?

     

    Three keys to successful innovation brainstorming

    Brainstorming has been around for years. Unstructured or poorly managed, it can be a huge waste of time. Successful innovation brainstorming requires three crucial things:

    • A mindset that recognises both the range of new technologies enabling innovation and the range of changing environments that demand change;
    • The right composition of participants: A facilitator and a diversity of thinkers;
    • A source of trigger points for interrogating every aspect of the business.

    New and emerging technologies include: artificial intelligence, augmented reality, big data, cloud computing, quantum computing, robotics, automation and blockchain – all within the domain of engineering.

    Changing environments include: climate change, the new middle class, polarising politics, global giants, ecosystems, remote working (WFH), and, of course, pandemics. The greater the awareness of these trends the greater the number of innovative ideas that will emerge.

    Having a leader/facilitator who maintains team focus is crucial to innovation idea generation. He/she ensures all ideas are recorded and assigned for further action and analysis.

    They also encourage diversity within the team. And diversity is not just about gender, race or religion. It is about different thinking formed from different experiences (age, culture, perspectives, skills and so on).

    Innovation’s broader definition covers the introduction of new ideas, methods, products and services, or even new markets. This broader definition forms the basis of our Innovation Source Map – a 28-point grid of innovation trigger points – the starting point of an innovation process.

     

  • The Innovation Source Map

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  • For each cell in the Innovation Source Map we ask two key questions:

    1. Bearing in mind a world of changing environments, 'Why are we doing things this way?'
    2. In light of emerging new technologies, 'Can we do it better?'

    Regular brainstorming sessions with the innovation source map as its focus should generate the hundreds of ideas necessary for impactful innovations to emerge.

    The map takes the focus of innovation away from pure research and development. For example, redesigning or automating a process or procedure may introduce new efficiencies that create greater capacity or profit margins.

    Similarly, rebranding your product for a new market can be a new source of growth. My favourite (and long-established) example of this is Lucozade – its owner rebranded an aging product and targeted the new sports drinks market with Lucozade Sport to enormous success.

     

    The hard part

    Generating ideas is just the beginning of the innovation process. The hard part is turning a good idea into an impactful reality.

    Some ideas/projects may be ‘no-brainers’ – low cost, high impact, easy rollout – that require very little analysis and validation. The majority, however, will require more detailed analysis due to their cost, riskiness, or strain on the company’s existing capabilities.

    Here we enter the realm of entrepreneurship and a world not dissimilar to that of a startup. We need to carry out functions such as discovery, development, cost analysis, validation, rollout and scaling.

    This is the job of the career intrapreneur within a company. At MBA Global this process has been consolidated into the Business Model Actualisation Platform (BMAP).

    This is a rigorous process of situation analysis, challenge analysis and solution proposal that takes an in-depth look at the risk, opportunity, and probability of success of an innovation. All the skills required are well within the capabilities of a typical engineer.

    A business that continuously innovates is better prepared for shocks such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. Engineers can be the leaders – time to step up to the plate!

     

    Author: © Liam Fennelly, director of MBA Global Consulting. In a career spanning more than 30 years, he has more recently been a mentor and business consultant and is co-author of Countdown To Launch, the widely-recommended handbook for new venture start-ups based on the BMAP© process. He can be reached at liamfennelly@mbaglobalconsulting.com

     

    For information on MBA Global Consulting’s CPD-accredited innovation workshops (online, in-house) see Engineers Ireland CPD Training.

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    SYSTEMATIC INNOVATION

     
    By Liam Fennelly
    Reproduced courtesy of Decision Ireland
     
    Some businesses are paying the price now for a lack of innovation before the pandemic. Liam Fennelly explains the importance of being  systematic about innovation, for greater resilience, sustained growth and increased efficiency  
     

    No part of a business is immune from innovation. Innovation can equally be applied to cost reduction and process methods and efficiencies just as much as it can be applied to new products and services. The perception that innovation relates solely to R&D still persists, though, to the detriment of a myriad of opportunities in other areas of a business.

    For innovation to be successful, it must be supported from top to bottom by systems and structures. The radical swooping in to solve all a company’s problems with a great innovation is a myth. No one individual can take a great idea all the way to market. And it’s not about betting the company on one big experiment.

     

    A structured system of innovation

    Innovation consist in generating hundreds of ideas, methodically validating them, and then funding the most probable successes in a competitive way.

    Innovation is hard. As the saying goes: if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. And, originality is overrated – most innovations are variations of themes that already exist. While around 70% of impactful innovations come from within existing companies, the concept of the career intrapreneur has never really taken off.

    The right culture needs to exist so that ideas are not routinely killed off through internal rivalries and jealousies. A recent Harvard Business Review survey of 10,000 managers showed that 76% of new ideas generated within their organisations were treated with scepticism or outright hostility. So, how do we generate all those ideas?

     

    Idea generation through structured brainstorming and the Innovation Source Map

    Brainstorming has been around for years. Unstructured or poorly managed, it can be a huge waste of time. Successful innovation brainstorming requires three crucial things:

    1. A mindset that recognises both the range of new technologies enabling innovation and the range of changing environments that demand change.
    2. The right composition of participants: A facilitator and a diversity of thinkers.
    3. A source of trigger points for every aspect of the business.

    New and emerging technologies include: artificial intelligence, augmented reality, big data, cloud computing, quantum computing, robotics and blockchain.

    Changing environments include: climate change, the new middle class, polarising politics, global giants, ecosystems, remote working (WFH), and, of course, pandemics.

    The greater the awareness of these trends the greater the number of innovative ideas that will emerge.

    Having a leader/facilitator who maintains team focus is crucial to innovation idea generation. He/she ensures all ideas are recorded and assigned for further action and analysis. They also encourage diversity within the team. And diversity is not just about gender, race or religion. It’s about different thinking formed from different experiences.

    Innovation’s broader definition covers the introduction of new ideas, methods, products and services, or even new markets. This broader definition forms the basis of our Innovation Source Map – a 28-point grid of innovation trigger points – the starting point of an innovation process.

  • The Innovation Source Map

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  • How to use the Innovation Source Map

    For each cell in the Innovation Source Map we ask two key questions:

    1. Bearing in mind a world of changing environments, “Why are we doing things this way?”
    2. In light of the emergence of new technologies, “Can we do it better?”

    Regular brainstorming sessions with the innovation source map as its focus should generate the hundreds of ideas necessary for impactful innovations to emerge.

    The map takes the focus of innovation away from pure Research and Development. For example, redesigning or automating a process or procedure may introduce new efficiencies that create greater capacity or profit margins. Similarly, rebranding your product for a new market can be a new source of growth.

    The Hard Part

    Generating ideas is just the beginning of the innovation process. The hard part is turning a good idea into an impactful reality. Companies committed to continuous innovation will adopt an Innovation Management System (IMS).

    Whether this is formal (following ISO 56002 standards) or informal, it means that you have dedicated individuals who will generate, analyse and validate innovation ideas and draw up business cases or business plans with full cost-benefit analyses for the most promising ideas. It will then be up to a funding committee to fund these ideas in a competitive manner – the projects compete for funding on the basis of achieving milestones or traction.

    Some ideas/projects may be ‘no-brainers’ – low cost, high impact, easy rollout – that require very little analysis and validation. The majority, however, will require more detailed analysis due to their cost, riskiness, or strain on the company’s existing capabilities. Here we enter the realm of entrepreneurship and a world not dissimilar to that of a startup.

    We need to carry out functions such as discovery, development, cost analysis, validation, rollout and scaling. This is the job of the career entrepreneur within a company. At MBA Global we have consolidated this process into the Business Model Actualisation Platform (BMAP). This is a rigorous process of situation analysis, challenge analysis and solution proposal that takes an in-depth look at the risk, opportunity, and probability of success of an innovation.

    Continuous Innovation, Disruptive Innovation and Open Innovation.

    A business that continuously innovates is better prepared for shocks such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. Direct sales channels, print and TV advertising, high barriers to entry and slow, steady growth are all features of the last century. In the 21st century businesses can build products anywhere in the world, outsource back-room functions, employ a huge range of digital marketing platforms and sales distribution channels.

    Those companies not keeping up with the times are destined to fall victim to unforeseen shocks that will inevitably arise. Such shocks may range from global pandemics to disruptive innovations that change existing markets forever (where a new value proposition completely exceeds that which currently exists).

    Where a company considers it does not have the in-house capabilities to exploit innovative ideas it should look to developing partnerships with, or offering licences to, other companies, universities or even start-ups to bring ideas to fruition. This is known as Open Innovation.

    Besides creating new products, services, efficiencies, markets etc, being recognised as an innovative company has many advantages. Research by Compustat Financial Data indicates that companies with a reputation for innovation have a valuation multiplier of up to three times the book value of assets.

    This probably explains why Amazon is valued at three times that of Walmart despite both having similar assets, and Walmart having almost double the turnover of Amazon in 2019.

     

    To quote Jeff Immelt, former CEO of General Electric:

    “Nobody wants to work for an old-fashioned company. Nobody wants to buy products from an old-fashioned company. And nobody wants to invest in an old-fashioned company”.

  • Innovation and
    Intrapreneurship

    By Liam Fennelly

    Reproduced Courtesy of Engineers Journal

    Part 1

    In this two-part series, Liam Fennelly looks at how companies can create a culture of innovation and implement a system for fostering it within the organisation

    Almost everybody recognises that innovation is crucial to the long-term survival of businesses in the 21st century.

    This new century has been characterised by technology-inspired disruption and rapid growth, products conceived and built anywhere, services transferable at an instant worldwide, the outsourcing of backroom functions and many more innovations.

     

    Innovation

    There is a widespread misconception that innovation relates only to research and development. But innovation’s broader definition covers the introduction of new ideas, methods, products and services, or even new markets.

     

    This broader definition forms the basis of our Innovation Source Map (see Part 2) – a 28-point grid of innovation trigger points – the starting point of an innovation process. Redesigning a process or procedure may introduce new efficiencies that create greater capacity or profit margins.

     

    Similarly, rebranding your product for a new market can be a new source of growth. My favourite example of this is Lucozade – they rebranded an aging product and targeted the new sports drinks market with Lucozade Sport to enormous success.

     

    Besides creating new products, services, efficiencies, markets etc, being recognised as an innovative company has many advantages.

    To quote Jeff Immelt, former CEO of General Electric: “Nobody wants to work for an old-fashioned company. Nobody wants to buy products from an old-fashioned company. And nobody wants to invest in an old-fashioned company.”

    Research by Compustat Financial Data indicates that companies with a reputation for innovation have a valuation multiplier of up to three times the book value of assets.

     

    In his book, Innovation Capital, Curtis Lefrandt outlines how leaders can develop a reputation for innovation or innovation capital, that affords them scope and latitude to change the organisation, change the products or change whatever needs to be changed.

     

    High-profile leaders with huge innovation capital include Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Marc Benioff. This innovation capital gains them the respect of both employees and outside investors.

     

    What is culture?

    The Oxford Dictionary of English defines culture as “the ideas, customs and social behaviour” of a particular group. In business this can only be set by top management.

    It is common in many companies that reach a certain size that they become more conservative, the leaders become less entrepreneurial and decisions are managed by consensus.

    Employees, as a consequence, become less willing to take risks with new and innovative ideas. Companies can become complacent, resting on their laurels, just before they find themselves going out of business.

    To avoid this scenario, leaders must set a vision, strategy and objectives for innovation within their organisations complemented by a culture that supports intrapreneurial activities.

    Creating a culture starts at the top. Management must create an environment where employees feel psychologically safe in suggesting and testing new ideas, methods or products and services.

    Employees should know that it is okay to spend part of their day experimenting with new ideas. They should know that failure is part of the learning process and that it is all right to make mistakes so long as something is learned and adds to the overall wisdom within the organisation.

    In creating this culture, innovative leaders must be both ‘forward thinkers’ and ‘multipliers’. Forward thinkers ask themselves two questions:

    1. What will people/customers want next.

    2. What will new emerging technologies enable us to do? These are key questions for the innovative company.

     

    A multiplier attracts talented people, creates an environment that requires their best thinking and work, defines opportunities that stretch, gives them ownership of results and invests in their success.

    Once you understand your corporate culture and where it is going you can decide whether your organisation needs a formal (such as ISO 56002) innovation management system (IMS) or an informal IMS. We look at this in more detail in part 2.

     

    Innovation as a career – the intrapreneur

    Innovation should be recognised as a permanent function of a successful company. Therefore, companies need to create innovation careers rather than just innovation jobs.

    The concept of an intrapreneur (in-company entrepreneur) as a genius who swoops in to save the day is a myth. Companies need to institutionalise innovation rather than expect it to simply flow from intrapreneurs operating within existing structures.

    Innovation professionals need clearly defined roles, responsibilities and career paths that stretch beyond traditional R&D or new product development.

    They need to carry out functions such as discovery, development, validation, roll out and scaling. All this works best within the context of an innovation management system.

     

    Why are engineers ideally suited for intrapreneurship?

    Engineers are by nature curious people. They love understanding how things work and solving problems. Through their training they are highly analytical, and many adopt a project-management approach to planning – crucial to innovation management.

    They are adept at turning analysis into actions. These are key skills for intrapreneurs, particularly in the areas of process efficiencies and product/service features.

     

    Identifying the intrapreneurs in your organisation

    The ideal intrapreneur has some or all of these traits:


    1. A leader – prepared to carry the burden of a new product, idea, method etc. and lead a team in pursuit of success.


    2. An innovator – always looking for innovations and innovative ideas.
     

    3. Visionary – can see the end result and how to get there.
     

    4. An optimist – they not only motivate their team but also use this optimism to learn from mistakes.
     

    5. Passionate self-starters – they set goals for themselves and are not afraid to take calculated risks or promote

    themselves. They may have side hustles or passion projects they are working on at home.
     

    6. Not strictly money-motivated – they value having the ability to implement their ideas with full management support.
     

    7. Thirst for knowledge – always learning new skills. The more employees learn the greater use they can put that knowledge to in your business.
     

    8. The ability to nurture and develop innovative ideas – able to back up their ideas with research and solid plans.
     

    9. Ready to pivot – not discouraged by failure and prepared to change course when circumstances dictate.

     

    In Part 2 we will look at a systematic approach to innovation and Innovation Management Systems;why being creative alone is not enough, you need a system of delivery of new products or services to market; why Edison was more successful than Tesla; and the use of business management tools in assessing viability and mitigating risk.

    Innovation and Intrapreneurship

    Reproduced Courtesy of Engineers Journal

    Part 2

    In the second of this two-part series we look at how companies can imbed innovation through implementing a system for fostering innovation within the organisation​

    Almost everybody recognises that innovation is crucial to the long-term survival of businesses in the 21st century.

    This new century has been characterised by technology-inspired disruption and rapid growth, products conceived and built anywhere, services transferable at an instant worldwide, the outsourcing of backroom functions and many more innovations.

     

    Innovation Management System (IMS)

    In Part 1 we looked at Innovation and creating a culture of innovation in an organisation. Once you understand your corporate culture and where it is going you can decide whether your organisation needs a formal (such as ISO 56002) innovation management system (IMS) or that an informal IMS works best in your culture.

     

    Anybody who has implemented a quality management system such as ISO 9001 or an environmental management system such as ISO 14001 will have experienced the difficulty of getting buy-in from management and staff for all the documentation and paperwork requirements and the nuisance factor of internal and external audits.

    Many see them as box-ticking exercises and carry on as normal until the next external audit. An IMS has the advantage in that it lends itself readily to a reward and recognition policy which further reinforces the adoption of the system.

    While ISO 56002 has many of the features of 9001/14001 in terms of policy, roles and responsibilities, risk analysis, internal audit and management review etc, it is a guidance document only.

     

    Key elements of an Innovation Management System

    An IMS has two essential sides – the intrapreneurial side and the venture side. The intrapreneurial side is responsible for the discovery, validation and development of new innovations and the venture side is responsible for managing a portfolio of these innovations using investment metrics and metered funding. For an effective IMS, both sides must operate in tandem.

     

    Before we explore these two sides in detail let’s visit the story of two of the most famous innovation engineers of the 20th century – Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.

     

    While Tesla was by far the greater intellect and innovator (even Einstein said, when asked what it was like to be the smartest man alive – “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Nikola Tesla”), Edison’s ability to win backers, collaborators and attention for his ideas was much greater.

    When Edison developed a commercially viable lightbulb, he was able to convince JP Morgan to advance him $30,000 to set up the Edison Electric Light Company.

    He had built up enough innovation capital (discussed in Part 1) that he had no problem getting backers for his ideas. He was ruthless to the point of publicly electrocuting an elephant in order to rebuff Tesla’s AC distribution system.

    Tesla had hundreds of patents and in particular, his AC distribution system proved far superior to Edison’s DC system. However, he was very much an altruistic innovator and lacked the commercial capabilities of Edison. He ended up being cheated out of many of the spoils of his inventions and died penniless.

    Though he never profited from it, the entire mass communication systems we use today are based on Tesla’s ground-breaking system of wireless communication.

    I use the story of Edison and Tesla to illustrate the importance of the two sides of an IMS. Both are crucial elements in innovation success.

     

    Key elements of their intrapreneurial side

    The intrapreneurial side may comprise a dedicated team of intrapreneurs, a section of a project department or a loose combination of permanent and seconded staff as circumstances dictate.

    Their function is to generate new ideas, research their validity and present in-depth proposals for consideration by the venture side.

     

    It is important to have a proactive system of generating innovation ideas and this can be in the form of brainstorming sessions, hackathons and so on.

     

    At MBA Global, we have developed an Innovation Source Map, a grid of 28 innovation trigger points across the four major innovation categories – ideas, methods/procedures, products/services and markets. It is designed to be the basis of a monthly brainstorming session.

     

    New ideas then move on to the validation and development stage. Again, it is important to be systematic at this stage so that every innovative idea gets a fair hearing.

    It was recognising this that led us, at MBA Global, to develop the Business Model Actualisation Platform (the BMAP©). This is an innovation-focused three-step commercial validation and development process that involves; situation analysis, challenge analysis and solution proposal.

     

    Using a combination of established and new business tools such as SWOT, PESTEL, Five Forces and the more recent Business Model Canvas, it takes a systematic approach to analysing proposals, testing and validating the market viability, building essential RoadMaps as a detailed guide to actions required for the next 18 months.

    Finally, it involves preparing financial projections and evidence-based business planning.

     

    The BMAP© is supported by the book Countdown to Launch, which demonstrates the principles used in this approach. In this case the context is for a startup venture, however, the BMAP© is applicable to any commercial development environment for businesses of any size.

    The upshot from this stage is a portfolio of project proposals for consideration and implementation by the venture side of the IMS.

     

    Key elements of the venture side

    There are two key teams on the venture side of the IMS – the growth board and the implementation team. A growth board (US terminology) is essentially a steering committee comprising senior managers who meet regularly to review, fund or kill off new innovation projects.

    The board acts like venture capitalists by allocating funding in tranches on a milestone achievement basis (called metered funding). Traditional project finance usually involves full proposals being approved with contingency funds to ensure project completion.

    Innovation projects require a different allocation of capital that benefits rapidly successful ideas and quickly kills off ventures that are failing to gain traction.

    By dealing with a portfolio of ventures, the growth board quickly learns which types of projects and teams are more likely to succeed and how to spot potential failures early.

    At early stages, the board is looking for indications that the team is on the right track while later stage milestones may include hard, quantitative metrics.

    The implementation team may be internal or external to the company. Ideally it is internal and may form part of the project department. However, some may be outsourced due to capability restrictions internally.

    The size of your company determines the team sizes in an IMS. The larger the company the easier it is to justify permanent allocation of intrapreneurial staff to the IMS.

    SMEs have to be more circumspect and creative in structuring their IMS and this may involve a small core team complemented by other staff contributing on an as-needed basis.

    Regardless of size, the important thing is to have an Innovation Management System in some manifestation, whether formal or informal.

     

    Author: Liam Fennelly, is a Chartered Engineer and UCD engineering graduate. He has worked for several multinationals both home and abroad. He holds an MBA from Warwick Business School and has been involved at founder/director level in seven startups.

     

    In a career spanning over 30 years, he has more recently been a mentor and business consultant and is co-author of Countdown To Launch, the widely recommended handbook for new venture start-ups based on the BMAP© process. He can be reached at: liamfennelly@mbaglobalconsulting.com

  • Creating a Culture that Inspires Innovation

    by Liam Fennelly

    Reproduced Courtesy of Decision Ireland

     

    Incompetent leaders can be counterproductive and create a bad atmosphere. Two key traits of a competent leader are humility and integrity.

     

    Culture is defined as “the ideas, customs and social behaviour” of a particular group. In the context of the wider community, culture is built up slowly over decades. Only rarely does it change significantly over a short period – maybe through a mass influx of immigrants into an area or, using a contemporary example, when a viral pandemic forces mass change in behaviours and customs (will the handshake ever return to western cultures?)

    Within the context of a business though, culture is the product of the values and behaviours set by its leaders. Competent leaders inspire high levels of trust, engagement and productivity. Consider the culture nexus illustration below. While leaders and managers set the strategy and goals for the business, their values, behaviours and overall competence have a major effect on the culture.

     

    Competent leaders not only “talk the talk” but also “walk the walk” – that is, they practice what they preach.

    Consider the business where leaders:

    • Turn up routinely late for meetings
    • Take short cuts on health and safety
    • Communicate dishonestly
    • Don’t follow procedures 
    • Humiliate employees in front of their peers
    • Don’t encourage personal growth in employees
    • Create a bad atmosphere by denigrating everything and everyone

    Who would want to work in such an environment? Is such a business likely to be innovative or profitable?

    Competent leadership is the single biggest factor in setting a culture that inspires innovation and supports intrapreneurial activities.

     

    What are the leadership traits that are key to an innovation-inspiring culture?

     

    Competence versus confidence

    Traditionally, people who are confident in their abilities tend to get further up the management ladder. This confidence trait is often cited as the reason more men are in management positions than women. Most people are over-confident and this can lead to arrogance. Confidence (how good you think you are) is only beneficial when it matches competence (how good you really are). Incompetent leaders can be counterproductive and create a bad atmosphere. Two key traits of a competent leader are humility and integrity. These are key to inspiring others to perform at their best.

     

    Forward Thinkers

    Forward-thinking leaders understand their customer needs and desires, the external trends affecting the business and have a passion for executing the company’s vision. Two questions dominate their thinking:

    1. What will people/customers want next, and 
    2. What will new emerging technologies enable us to do?

    These are key questions for the innovative company.

     

    Multipliers

    In her book – Multipliers – Liz Wiseman explains the difference between leaders and managers who are multipliers versus those who are diminishers.

     

    Adaptability to a changing environment

    The current COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need for a new set of leadership skills particularly in relation to remote working. Prior to the pandemic, most businesses operated under one roof (or more, depending on the company size). As more and more staff work from home, leaders and managers must learn how to lead remotely as opposed to centrally. Creating and maintaining a strong culture, excellent communication skills, and new and comprehensive reporting and analysis will be key in this new environment.

     

    Innovation Capital

    In his book, Innovation Capital, Curtis Lefrandt outlines how leaders can develop a reputation for innovation or innovation capital, that affords them scope and latitude to change the organisation, change the products or change whatever needs to be changed. High-profile leaders with huge innovation capital include Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Marc Benioff. This innovation capital gains them the respect of both employees and outside investors.

     

    Keys to making your culture an innovative one

    Creating a culture starts at the top. Management must create an environment where employees feel psychologically safe in suggesting and testing new ideas, methods or products and services. Employees should know that it is okay to spend part of their day experimenting with new ideas.

    Continuous learning and nurturing of discovery skills should be encouraged and rewarded. Adopting an Innovation Management System (such as ISO 56002) will really only be successful if the company culture complements it.

     

    Identifying the intrapreneurs

    An intrapreneur is essentially an entrepreneur working within a company environment. The role of the intrapreneur is to find new and disruptive ways of doing business, deliver innovative products and services to market, and foster a culture of innovation that maintains or grows market share.

    How do you identify these key staff?

     

    Below are nine characteristics of real intrapreneurs:

     

    A Leader – prepared to carry the burden of a new product, idea, method etc. and lead a team in pursuit of success.

     

    An Innovator – always looking for innovations and innovative ideas.

     

    A Visionary – can see the end result and how to get there.

     

    An Optimist – they not only motivate their team but also use this optimism to learn from mistakes.

     

    Passionate Self-Starters – they set goals for themselves and are not afraid to take calculated risks or promote themselves. They may have side hustles or passion projects they are working on at home.

     

    Not strictly money-motivated – they value having the ability to implement their ideas with full management support.

     

    Thirst for knowledge – always learning new skills. The more employees learn the greater use they can put that knowledge to in your business.

     

    The ability to nurture and develop innovative ideas – able to back up their ideas with research and solid plans.

     

    Ready to pivot – not discouraged by failure and prepared to change course when circumstances dictate.

    In order to develop these intrapreneurs we need to nurture the discovery skills of: Questioning, Observing, Networking, Experimenting and Associating.

     

    Being smart in an innovation culture

    Avoiding failure is not a sign that we’re smart. Being smart is not about knowing all the answers and performing flawlessly. Being smart is knowing what you don’t know, prioritizing what you need to know, and being very good at finding the best evidence-based answers. Being smart requires you to become comfortable saying, “I don’t know.” It means that you do not identify yourself by your ideas but by whether you are an open-minded, critical and innovative thinker and learner.

     

    How failure is seen in an innovation culture

    There is recognition at all levels that failure is inherent to the process of invention and should be seen as part of the learning curve. Employees should know that it is alright to make mistakes so long as something is learned and adds to the overall wisdom within the organisation.

     

    The Culture Audit

    A culture audit needs to be carried out by an outsider whom both management and staff can trust and treat as a confidant. It needs to be a 360o audit to get a true picture of the company’s culture. It would ideally comprise a series of questions with answers to be filled in on a Likert scale (typically offering a spectrum of answers).

    It should be an honest audit that identifies both competence and incompetence and senior management should be prepared to act on its results and not ignore sources of toxicity within the organisation.

    In our next article we will look at Innovation in a business context. What are the real facts of innovation in business? Why it is not just R&D. We will also look at the Innovation Source Map; Continuous innovation and why it is so important; open innovation and disruptive innovation.We will look at de-risking innovation projects and getting to market using the BMAP process.

  •  

    "Those who cannot remember the past

    are condemned to repeat it"

    George Santayana 1905
    The items below are reproduced from our archive and underscore the question:

    What has changed since they were originally published?

  • Faint Hearts or Fair Play

    From The Archive 2005

    By Greg Devlin

    Reproduced Courtesy of Independent News and Media

    Republished May 2021

     

    ENRON, Martha Stewart, Worldcom, Tyco, Halliburton, Merck. The list just keeps growing. Even Forbes magazine’s Corporate Scandal Sheet admits that chronicling every corporate transgression and allegation in the headlines would be an onerous task. In the years since the Enron scandal sent shockwaves through the corporate world its spectre still pervades business headlines and business practice today.

     

    Ethics, moral leadership, accountability and responsibility are hot currency in the headlines and the boardrooms. And it has spurred a flurry of activity. Legislation has been passed. Sarbanes Oxley can never cover all possible forms of abuse, but it has certainly shed light as well as heat on corporate standards.

     

    Business schools around the world have developed courses on ethics, research studies proliferate, global and national summits and councils have been established. Companies vie for recognition in annual ethics and good governance Top 100 lists. These days, it’s good to be a good corporation.

     

    Some might say it’s a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, but the massive move to claim the moral high ground can only be a good thing.

     

    Companies who have moral courage and ethical practices above reproach have more to gain than mere profit.

    Make no mistake; this is not simply an opportunity for companies to do a bit of organisational soul searching and a bit of spring-cleaning where it’s needed. Consider that many employees now examine the moral reputation of a firm when they are assessing their next career move.

    When considering ethics we look to the standards of a specific moment in time, just as the company balance sheet gives a snapshot of its financial position at a given moment.

     

    In other words, with the passing of time and the requirements and changing conventions of society, standards will also change.

     

    Conduct considered unacceptable at one point may later become accepted through necessity or desire. Albert Einstein, who spent more than half his life trying to discover a single theory of everything, said: Relativity applies to physics not ethics.

     

    The big problem with business ethics is that it is difficult to achieve a global standard. Different cultures have subjective views on conventionally accepted standards. Within our own culture it seems that there are from time to time varying standards applied simultaneously to different situations.

     

    For example, it could be argued that in financial standards it seems possible that a large company may be held to a less rigorous standard with regard to declarations on solvency than perhaps that to which SMEs are held.

     

    Governments may step in to assist companies in distress, particularly if they are economically important industries, in a bid to secure jobs and stabilise regional economies. Such offers would be unlikely in the SME environment.

     

    If individuals must conduct their business in a manner that is conventionally acceptable, it should be remembered that human nature will never be uniform in adhering to set standards.

     

    And so corporations should look to implement structural reviews to ensure that they are not strategically flawed and therefore open to fatal exploitation or risk.

     

    In short, it helps organisations and individuals to stay on the straight and narrow if temptation is kept out of harms way.

    Of course, the market place enjoys much flexibility while still operating within the law. So perhaps we should shift the focus of our attention from ‘is it legal’ to ‘is it fair’.

     

    The problem with this question, just like that of morals, is that it is open to subjective interpretation and could easily lead to contention. The major underlying problem is with an infinite number of variables set against individual as well as corporate goals and objectives.

     

    Any comment on business ethics tends to focus on financial standards in management and reporting. But ethical rigour can apply across all functions of the company.

     

    Let’s take a departmental tour:

     

    * Finance and accounting.

    In some companies, this department may be viewed as a profit centre.

    It could, for example, decide to extend credit in its own favour on outgoing payments policy, raising it to 90 days, thus creating a credit ripple effect.

     

     

    While this results in a better cash position for the larger company, providing surpluses that may gain bank interest or be put to other use, the ripple effect could have stressful consequences for suppliers, especially smaller suppliers.

     

    * Procurement.

    This department is driven to do better deals with suppliers, to enhance margins and improve the bottom line.

    That can lead to serious ethical issues. Is it responsible to pay a supplier at home or in a developing country a price for his goods or services that is not economically viable for him/her? Or to procure goods at lower cost in countries where use of child labour is a persistent problem?

     

    Companies like Gap and Levi’s have found in the past to their cost that taking the eye off supplier work practices can hurt corporate reputation and even sales quite badly.

     

    * Marketing.

    Here there may be questions about ethics in advertising and promotion (a cynic might suggest that these are mutually exclusive concepts). In fact there are a raft of regulations set down by the Advertising Standards Authority that companies are required to live up to in outputting their public messages.

     

    For every business function, the same questions of conscience should apply.

     

    Does the environmental policy of the transport department have a sound ethical foundation?

     

    Are the activities of the human resources department sensitive to the needs of employees as well as those of the company and how will this impact on shareholder value should a conflict of interest arise?

     

    Is there a facility within the company for employees to highlight questionable practice without the fear of reprisal or the stigma attached to whistleblowing?

     

    All of these can have influence to varying degrees on stakeholder interest. Certainly there is in place legislation that provides protection for individuals as well as companies. Additionally there are the requirements of regulation and conventions of the professional bodies, some laid down in legislation, some required as minimal expectations regarding codes of practice.

     

    But still the problem remains that it is easily possible to operate within the law, within the regulations and conventions of the various professional and trade bodies and engage in practices that are considered to be ethically unsound.

    The question of business ethics is not straightforward because it cannot be easily packaged as a finite set of principles legislating for all eventualities.

     

    Its principal focus rests on morals, which in turn rely on the values of the individual.

     

    The underlying theme is that of fair play and the problems with that are borne out every Saturday on sports grounds around the world. Not everyone has the same view of what’s fair.

     

    But it’s easier to be fair and it’s easier to be ethical if you are operating from a position of genuine competitive advantage.

     

    As one US business magazine put it recently, Tiger Woods doesn’t cheat. Because he doesn’t have to, he’s good. Well-run profitable companies are less likely to encounter moral and ethical dilemmas than poor performers who have lost their way.

     

    Having an old-fashioned mission and ethical statement that is stamped across the entire company provides employees, suppliers and customers with a no quibble understanding of how you intend to behave as an organisation.

     

    Investing in the continuous development of key personnel, including courses in corporate responsibility, allows them to develop a decision-making toolkit that circumnavigates ethical dilemmas.

     

    The encouragement of an open, transparent company culture in which employees can raise issues confident of a reasonable and just response is an ongoing challenge for many companies, but a worthwhile challenge for most companies.

     

    Notes:

    Greg Devlin is an MBA graduate with over 30 years’ experience in business, working with companies and non-profits of all sizes from owner managers to multinationals with global brands. He has set up, owned and managed businesses and has a broad base of entrepreneurial experience. He has advised and mentored business owners, managers and decision makers.

     

    He is a former president of The MBA Association, having served 5 terms. For 10 years he taught part-time on the MSc Organisation and Management at Queens University Belfast.

     

    He is co-author of Countdown To Launch, and co-creator of The BMAP©.

     

    Contact: gregdevlin@mbaglobalconsulting.com

  • We stand at the threshold of a new beginning.

    The post-Covid economy appears quite challenging.

    But we've been here before...

    In the immediate aftermath of the 2008 crash the future then, also looked uncertain.

    Perhaps out of crises, comes renewal and opportunity for fresh starts.

    Greg Devlin
  • broken image

    Irish Management 2.0

    From The Archive 2008

    Republished June 2021

     

    Foreword By Greg Devlin

    Reproduced Courtesy of Blackhall Publishing

     

    New Managerial Priorities

    in a Changing Economy

     

    We live in interesting times for Irish business. We are on the cusp of a new era, as our exceptional economic success story of the last decade gives way to a more demanding business environment.

     

    This is a challenging period for Irish business, certainly, but it is one ripe with opportunity. Tough economic conditions have historically provided the genesis of new business thinking and practices. Innovation, creativity and organisational re-engineering have been born out of organizational necessity to do more with less.

    It is an opportune time, then, to examine the nature of Irish business success in the last two decades, and to look to the future and identify the challenges for Irish business, which is the purpose of this fine collection of case studies and management reflections, edited by Dr James A. Cunningham and Dr Denis G. Harrington.

     

    Irish Management 2.0 tells the story of Irish business - accounts not of companies swimming in the slipstream of the Tiger economy, but of indigenous entrepreneurs, energetic and resourceful managers, courageous risk takers and organisational ambition and vision, in private and public sector organisations. Uniquely, the book combines management practitioner and academic contributions that encourage reflection, but that also describes the future universal management challenges that leaders, managers, entrepreneurs and organisations face in the next decade. The book is valuable and timely touchstone for business owners, leaders, managers and students of management alike.

     

    Economic fair winds may no longer be at our back, but Ireland’s new generation of dynamic, professional managers and leaders – Irish Management 2.0 – whose expertise has been honed by their international business experience as much as by our domestic economic boom, are better equipped than any previous generation to rise to the key challenge of international competitiveness; and, in doing so, to lead a fundamental management revolution in the manner in which organisations are managed.

     

    We are proud to have many of the leaders, managers, entrepreneurs in organisations showcased in this collection as members of the MBA Association of Ireland, a body that has been supporting and promoting continuing management education in Ireland for over 50 years.

     

    We look forward with optimism to the next decade of change, and what innovations this exceptional generation of leaders, managers and entrepreneurs can bring to the story of Irish business

     

    Greg Devlin

    President

    MBA Association of Ireland

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