12 Different Ways for Companies to Innovate

Innovation is seen only as synonymous with new product development or traditional research and development. But such myopia can lead to the systematic erosion of competitive advantage, resulting in firms within an industry looking more similar to each other over time. Best practices get copied, encouraged by benchmarking. Consequently, companies within an industry tend to pursue the same customers with similar offerings, using undifferentiated capabilities and processes. And they tend to innovate along the same dimensions. In technology based industries, most firms focus on product R&D. Viewing innovation narrowly binds companies to opportunities and leaves them vulnerable to competitors with broader perspectives.