Article 7.8 Technology

Our people must value this competitive edge.

Technological superiority has always been a high value for FSG. The lighting industry is made up of a wide range of technological based applications. The effective development and application of technology is and has been central to the success of our company.

The effective use requires sound research efforts and quality training programs. Our people must value this competitive edge.

We will strive to achieve and maintain a competitive technological position across our diverse industry.

ACTION POINT: Look for and embrace technologies that will sustain a competitive advantage.

Promoting Ideas for Change

you need to put together a compelling business case to convince others that your idea has practical potential.

Unless you are a top manager in your organization, chances are that you will need to "sell" your ideas for change at some point. Maybe you are an entrepreneur pitching an idea to a promotional investor, or you have a great idea about how to make things work more efficiently in your organization. In either case, you will need support if your idea is to become a reality.

Whatever the starting point, the destination will be the same: you need to convince someone else that your idea is great and that it will work and that they will get their investment (of time and money) back. And they need to believe in you and your capacity to deliver all of this. The problem is that you believing in your idea is unlikely to be enough -- you need to put together a compelling business case to convince others that your idea has practical potential.

ACTION POINT: Practice selling your idea to others, inviting critical comments and suggestions for how to improve it. Anticipating the big questions before you make the pitch to decision-makers will help ensure your message gets across.

Gaining an Overview

The more resources a project requires, the larger its corresponding circle on the chart.

It is useful to develop an overview of your portfolio not just in terms of the risks and rewards, but also in terms of how much you are allocating to each project. This can be done by using a bubble chart, which is generated by plotting your projects as circles on a graph against potential risk and potential reward.

The more resources a project requires, the larger its corresponding circle on the chart. This chart gives you an instant view of what resources are allocated to what levels of risk and reward. It can show you immediately if you have too many resources tied up in risky projects that are unlikely to succeed in the end. Equally, you can see if you are putting too much investment in a safe bet that is unlikely to generate significant rewards.

ACTION POINT: Scrutinize all innovation projects equally and fairly. Do not start up a project just because one individual wants it to happen.

Building a Strategic Portfolio

the risk of failure must be balanced with the rewards of success.

All but the smallest organizations are likely to want to include more than one innovation project in their strategy. While a decision matrix helps you compare projects, you also need diversity in your innovation portfolio. Portfolio management helps you to achieve this.

For a balanced portfolio you need a mix of decision criteria: the risk of failure must be balanced with the rewards of success. This requires analysis of potential obstacles against potential benefits In general, as safe innovation will be based on what your company does well.

More risky innovations are radical in nature. While the risks of such innovations are greater, the potential rewards are also significantly more attractive. You may decide to back a couple of high-risk projects if they are small because they could move you to a new game -- and if they fail only a small amount of resources will be wasted -- but it would be foolish to base all your hopes of progress on risky ventures that may never work out.

ACTION POINT: Aim for balance in your strategic portfolio so you have a mixture of probable success and more risky -- but potentially more profitable -- experiments.

Formulating a Decision Matrix

how feasible do you think it would be to implement it?

The decision matrix allows you to give objective scores to each innovation option, to help you make better decisions about which will be most beneficial for your business. The matrix itself can be drawn as a simple table.

List the options that are competing for strategic support (A,B,C) along the X-axis, then list the key checks along the Y-axis. Key checks can include such factors as: Does the idea fit with what you already know (your competence base)? Does it fit your overall business strategy? And how feasible do you think it would be to implement it?

A checklist for a decision matrix would include:

• Have you established a definitive list of the options competing for strategic support?
• Do you have a list of key checks that must be applied to each option, and do the key checks cover all aspects of the innovation's potential benefits?
• Have you considered all potential costs that you might incur as you pursue this innovation?
• Are some factors more important than others? Have you weighted them appropriately?
• What other disruptive factors could your ideas face in the future?

ACTION POINT: Balance risk and reward across several different criteria when making innovation decisions.

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