Innovate or Perish: Managing the Enduring Technology Company in the Global Market

7. Maximizing Innovation Teams: The Internal and External Connection Network

Carsten Wittrup

EVERY CORPORATE LEADER understands that the greatest company asset is the people that form the company and populate its structure. Most business leaders are in pursuit of a formula for unlocking and realizing the full value of the people they lead, mentor, or hire into their organization.

The combination of diverse competencies, skill sets, interests, and personal networks that people bring to the business form the greatest potential for growth, success, and continued innovation.

The source of innovation is changing. Previously, innovation was primarily a deliverable through internal corporate research and development (R&D) departments comprised of subject matter experts with few external links or networks. Such teams were in many cases working on specialized projects or topics with little or no awareness of other internal team activities. This isolation was even more pronounced when teams resided in different departments, sister companies, or business units within the corporation.

How to effectively connect projects and efficiently leverage utilization of expert resources into an efficient network of free-flowing information has been a central topic within R&D management and innovation for the last 25 to 30 years. Innovation and R&D networks have been gaining focus within the discussion, and the concept of the networked organization has been at the center of research papers and management ...