好创意不是想买就能买

    成功企业的最佳新创意来源总是惊人地一致，尽管每家公司使用的工具和程序不同。以卡特彼勒（Caterpillar Inc.）为例。这家公司的创新策略不在于率先向市场推出最新、最好的技术，而在于充分利用客户反馈等工具来了解市场需求。卡特彼勒首席技术官塔纳•尤特利强调了这一点：“如果不能缓解某个客户痛点，就没有令人信服的理由把它投入生产。”

    卓越的执行就是确定哪个创意能变成适销产品，但同时，时机也很重要。工具制造商安捷伦科技公司（Agilent Technologies Inc.）之所以成功，就是因为他们保证在适当的时间向市场推出适当的技术。为此，该公司在确定哪个项目应该开发、哪个项目应该否决的问题上下了大工夫。

    这个过程必须缜密，安捷伦科技公司首席技术官达琳•所罗门说：“ ‘我们对这项技术的吸引力比六个月前更大了，还是更小了’我们不断地问自己，我们对这个问题有何了解？我们对市场有何了解？……这个世界上有哪些东西可以帮助我们确定这项技术现在是更有价值还是变成了模仿他人的技术？’”

    我们在调查中发现，研发支出最多的100家公司在这个阶段取得成效的可能性只有研发支出较少者的一半，因为他们常常缺乏把产品迅速投入研发的能力。

    我们的调查显示，使创新策略与自身能力相匹配的公司比那些没有这么做的公司表现更加出色。成功的创新并不需要社交网络等华丽的新技术，只需要知道什么能奏效，什么不能奏效，同时拥有坚持这些原则的决心。

    巴瑞•雅鲁泽尔斯基是博斯管理咨询公司的高级合伙人，John Loehr和Richard Holman是该公司的合伙人。

    编者按：惠普和卡特彼勒都是博斯管理咨询公司的客户。

    译者：千牛絮

    Where the best new ideas come from is surprisingly consistent among successful companies, although the tools and processes each company uses varies. Consider Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), whose innovation strategy depends not on being first to market with the latest, greatest technology, but rather on understanding what the market wants by making good use of tools like customer feedback. Tana Utley, Caterpillar's chief technology officer, underscores this point: "If it doesn't relieve a particular customer pain point, then there's no compelling case to pull it through all the gates into production."

    Excellent execution are just as choosing which ideas to develop into marketable products, but timing is essential as well. The success of instrument maker Agilent Technologies Inc. (A) depends on making sure that the right technology gets into the marketplace at the right time, so the company works hard at deciding which projects to develop and which to kill.

    The process has to be rigorous, says Darlene Solomon, Agilent's chief technology officer. "We constantly ask ourselves, 'What have we learned about the technology that makes it more or less attractive than [it was] six months ago? What have we learned about the market, … and what's going on in the world that might help us decide whether the technology is now even more valuable or perhaps becoming a "me-too" technology?' "

    In our study, we found that the 100 biggest R&D spenders are just half as likely as smaller ones to be effective at this stage, because they often lack the ability to move products into development quickly.

    Our study shows that companies with enough discipline to match their innovation strategy with what they are capable of pulling off perform considerably better than those companies who do not do this. Successful innovation doesn't require flashy new techniques like social networking, just the knowledge of what works and what doesn't, and the determination to stick to these principles.

    Barry Jaruzelski is a senior partner and John Loehr and Richard Holman are partners at Booz & Company.

    Editor's note: Hewlett-Packard and Caterpillar are clients of Booz & Company.