Top Reasons for companies NOT to innovate

Reason 1: The decision maker says “Oh!! My company is committed to innovation but don’t know where to start”

Reality: This is by far the easiest reason to use. Agreed we don’t have too many tools or platforms dedicated to help companies to innovate. But that is not a good enough reason to put off this activity altogether. All it takes is to identify few focus areas within the company and get started. Of course, having started this initiative, the decision maker should encourage and nurture this area or you will find that your employees are quick to shun this and return to their more familiar territories.

Reason 2: The decision maker says “Oh!! But it is so expensive to invest in R&D labs and do innovation. Especially in these troubled times of recession.”

Reality: Innovation need not necessarily mean investing in huge R&D labs and making huge investments. In a simplistic form, innovation is looking at some of the current pain area or practices followed and trying to identify better ways of doing it. So we can always start small and get ideas. Just remember to get it from all the people involved – not just your R&D team. You will be surprised by what you get if you try honestly. You can then decide what is worth pursuing. You can take the simplest ones first if cash flow is a big concern for you at the moment.

Reason 3: The decision maker says “We have tried it in the past but have been rather unsuccessful. It is very difficult to keep pumping money into initiatives where there are no immediate returns. I need to face the shareholders every quarter”

Reality: This is a genuine concern. However this should be viewed like you would consider constructing a new building for your future growth. Even though these will be construed as expenses in the first few quarters, the benefit will be there for all to see in the future. Also there is an even bigger cost to bear if this initiative is not done at all especially considering that your competitors will not stand still watching you succeed. So the earlier you start, the better your chances of getting a big competitive advantage.

Reason 4: The decision maker says “My resources are all busy with other business as usual activities and so I really struggle to assign my top resources to this initiative”

Reality: Again a genuine reason especially in recessionary times like today. But in every crisis situation, there is an opportunity. If used well, this is a genuine opportunity to look at all your processes critically and identify areas for improvement. This will ensure that you are well positioned for growth when the market starts opening up. Also this is an opportunity to engage employees in slightly different activities from their regular job and they should enjoy this. A small incentive will also help in ensuring that it is done at the earliest given that it is going to be done along with the other normal activities.

Reason 5: The decision maker says “We have been thinking of entering into this new area to take our product to the next level but we are not sure how to start and we can’t hire new staff since there is a global freeze on hiring”

Reality: This sounds like a genuine opportunity to use Open Innovation concepts that you have been reading about but have not found the time to explore. It is now possible through Open Innovation to get ideas on your selected new area from experts without hiring them and at a fraction of the cost involved. These experts could be either within your partner organisation or elsewhere. It is up to you to decide your level of openness. Once you get these ideas, you can take this forward with your internal team who are best placed to appreciate the internal dynamics of your company. Try it and you will be surprised at the results!!!

In this blog, I have tried to highlight what I believe are the main reasons why companies don’t go all out for innovation. As you can see, it is a mix of some genuine concerns which makes them ignore innovation for now and some misconceptions which makes them believe that innovation is difficult to pursue unless they have huge resources at their disposal.

Hopefully this should help challenge some of their beliefs and help them re-evaluate their positions on this.

What are your thoughts on this topic? What are the other big reasons you have heard? How have you worked your way around them? Do share your experiences.