INNOVATION
RE-INVENTING THE BOTTOM LINE
Introduction
“Innovation” has become a contemporary buzz word. It is often used with great zeal by motivational gurus and business consultants, often in part, to justify exorbitant consulting and appearance fees. The greatest irony, as with many other buzz words, is that the term “innovation” is frequently used without specific or contextualised semantic value – without any real meaning. Despite this, most entrepreneurs know instinctively that innovation is crucial to finding a foothold and surviving in a globally competitive environment.
This paper will attempt to integrate the zeal of the of the gurus and the instincts of the entrepreneur through applying a logical theoretical framework that will assist the reader in understanding how to innovate in order to re-invent the bottom line towards greater profit.
1. What Is Innovation?
In order to understand and analyse a concept it is always useful to ensure that one moves from a point of departure where even the external reader is clear about the operative understanding of the concept employed in the discussion at hand. It is thus important to set the boundaries of the understanding, or definition, of innovation, as it will be understood within this paper.
Modern definitions of innovation abound but it is very useful to frame these modern definitions by one that is older, if only to show that humanity has been pondering the concept for more than just the recent past. Sir Francis Bacon (in Monopoli), who lived from 1561 to 1626, defined innovation thus:
“Innovation is something new and contrary to established customs, manners or rites”
Not that much has changed in the last three and a half centuries!&nb ...