We are currently talking about a globalized scheme, which involves the interaction of economic and cultural activities, goods and services generated by a system with many players and actors. But the really important thing in this globalized game is, how fast the pieces move.
In these moments where there is a bias towards hypercompetition in the market, the great game of the world is called speed; the world is splitting into two: fast-changing countries and slow-changing countries. And who will survive?…
We are facing a reality that reflects that the polarization of wealth is becoming more and more entrenched. The competition is very aggressive and we have to enter the world of change at a very high speed, we cannot wait.
Faced with a reality that requires us to act, an environment that bombards us with competition and changes rapidly, it is decisive that we react to all these signals. In general this reaction process involves a change. Then comes the question:
Do we join the change? How do we manage to create competitive advantages over other players? We enter the game to win? How do we play?
All the paths indicate that the only path is to Innovate, this should be our flag. But everything does not stop there, many fall on this path, it is not only, walking in it, in the meantime, we can not only fall, but be out of the game. We must play at a safe pace… then the other question arises: How to innovate and not die trying?
The way to compete and do business is another. The gaming arena is a bombardment of continuous periods of change, where we are being subjected to a series of forces of change such as: Globalization. Resizing of companies: mergers, strategic alliances, competition, Information Technology. More and more demanding customers, which translates into the need for New Products and Processes: updating and Innovation.
In conclusion, the reaction to these forces is to Innovate; but how to do it successfully? Innovating does not necessarily mean success, or what is worse, the one who innovates does not necessarily survive, many attempts at innovation result in failures. Yes, it's a key move in this speed game, but it doesn't mean winning. It is then when we realize that the change is not only making the decision to make the play but to think about it, plan it strategically so that it finally crystallizes in Winning and staying in the game. Everything indicates to us that this change must be managed. Currently, the most powerful economies are those that have managed to strengthen and manage their capacity for innovation, that is, their ability to generate knowledge and successfully bring it to market.
.. »innovation can increase competitiveness, but requires a different set of knowledge and skills than those used in day-to-day business management«. (Tidd, Bessant & Pavitt. 1997).
Innovating is not only doing something new, it is managing to materialize and commercialize it successfully, which involves not only technological innovation, but also organizational, managerial and commercial changes.
We must then see innovation as a managerial process. A continuous process, in which we find the following stages (Source: Horacio Viana Chair of Innovation Management. IESA. Year 2000):
- Signal Processing: Monitoring and Searching the Rapidly Changing Environment, Detecting Potential Innovations, and Producing Survival Change. Process these signals maturely, that is, develop a capacity for change to improve. The idea is to process these signals, digest them, assimilate them and make the most of them, visualize them and extract the most significant ones for change, and then concatenate those ideas into a Strategic Plan. Strategy: Where are we now? Where do we want to go? How do we get there? Our innovation strategy must fundamentally establish how to use knowledge to develop new or better products and / or processes to create value and competitive advantages. Endowment of Resources: Assign them and Make effective use of them. Our master plan also indicates what resources will have to be allocated in this change process. The important thing is that there is commitment and support from senior management towards this change, and therefore resources are allocated. It is important, _ and hence the differentiation of successful companies_ to make the most efficient and correct use of these resources to develop new or better competitive advantages. Implementation: Develop schemes and structures. Involves project management and planning activities, and configuration of technology and organization. This is where the real heavy lifting of change is done. This is where we must manage the critical aspects of change. Monitoring and follow-up must be done on the fly, and for this, indicators must be managed that allow us to evaluate performance and know where we are with respect to change initiatives. Learning and re-innovation: After what we did, what will be the next play? Here we must evaluate whether we have been successful or not. Are we achieving the future state that we plan? Are we doing as well or better than expected? Here we must learn from our experience: from both successes and failures. It is time to learn, but also to unlearn from those things that we have done in the wrong way, to relearn new horizons, new visions in order to understand where we are going, what the change is.
Faced with the high speed of change, we must develop a highly competitive innovation capacity that adds value, acquiring, accumulating, improving and using market technologies. Skills and abilities must be developed to manage the change process.
We must see innovation as a managerial process, that is, associate strategic managerial thinking with innovation.
… How to innovate and not die trying? We have to plan change, set strategy. It is not only seeing success as a destination, but also as a path in which we are going to encounter endless obstacles.
