Ideo: the Organization and Management Innovation in a Design Firm and the Role of Alliances and Collaboration
Introduction
Schumpeter (1949) wrote of the individual and collective embodiment of the “entrepreneurial spirit” – the “Unternehmergeist”. One company that channels this “geist” is the Sillicon Valley,
California-based design and consultancy firm, IDEO. Founded in 1991, this self-styled innovation and design firm balances process and product innovations grounded in a human-centred design philosophy. Through this approach IDEO elided the pitfalls of the technology push versus demand-led innovation dichotomy to produce products and services that feel just as good as they work. In the latest rankings IDEO was listed at no.10 on Fast Company's Top 25 Most Innovative Companies
(2009) and no.15 on Fortune's 100 most-favored employers by MBA students (Universum 2009).
This paper attempts to analyse the principles and practices at IDEO using two frameworks namely: 1. the organisation and management of innovation and research and development (R&D) and
2. strategic alliances and collaboration. The discussion on organisation and management would be focused primarily on innovation since R&D as a portfolio at IDEO is still emergent. As a consequence also, its alliances and collaboration strategies and activities are described in the context of IDEO as a highly sought-after development partner.
Analysis of the responses of senior business managers to what they considered to be the top three challenges of innovation management revealed that creating an innovative culture, attracting and maintaining diverse talents and finding the right balance of the incremental and the radical were uppermost (Tidd and Bessant 2009). Smith (2008) identified nine key factors that impact on an organisation’s ability to manage innovation: management style and leadership, resources, organisational structure, corporate strategy, technology, knowledge management, employees and the innovation process.
The Oslo Manual defines ''Innovation'' as "the implementation of a new or
Schumpeter (1949) wrote of the individual and collective embodiment of the “entrepreneurial spirit” – the “Unternehmergeist”. One company that channels this “geist” is the Sillicon Valley,
California-based design and consultancy firm, IDEO. Founded in 1991, this self-styled innovation and design firm balances process and product innovations grounded in a human-centred design philosophy. Through this approach IDEO elided the pitfalls of the technology push versus demand-led innovation dichotomy to produce products and services that feel just as good as they work. In the latest rankings IDEO was listed at no.10 on Fast Company's Top 25 Most Innovative Companies
(2009) and no.15 on Fortune's 100 most-favored employers by MBA students (Universum 2009).
This paper attempts to analyse the principles and practices at IDEO using two frameworks namely: 1. the organisation and management of innovation and research and development (R&D) and
2. strategic alliances and collaboration. The discussion on organisation and management would be focused primarily on innovation since R&D as a portfolio at IDEO is still emergent. As a consequence also, its alliances and collaboration strategies and activities are described in the context of IDEO as a highly sought-after development partner.
Analysis of the responses of senior business managers to what they considered to be the top three challenges of innovation management revealed that creating an innovative culture, attracting and maintaining diverse talents and finding the right balance of the incremental and the radical were uppermost (Tidd and Bessant 2009). Smith (2008) identified nine key factors that impact on an organisation’s ability to manage innovation: management style and leadership, resources, organisational structure, corporate strategy, technology, knowledge management, employees and the innovation process.
The Oslo Manual defines ''Innovation'' as "the implementation of a new or