Beyond the Idea: How to Execute Innovation in Any Organization
Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble





Format: Hardcover, 192pp.
ISBN: 9781250040176
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pub. Date: September 24, 2013

Average Customer Review:


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Description and Reviews
From The Publisher:

The New York Times bestselling authors of Reverse Innovation and How Stella Saved the Farm distill more than a decade of exclusive research into one short, powerful, action-oriented book.

Companies stumble when they imagine that innovation is mostly about ideas. The reality is that ideas are only beginnings. Indeed, even a company with the world’s best idea still faces a devilish challenge: it must build the business of tomorrow without endangering the business of today.

Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble are the world’s leading authorities on the successful management of innovation. In Beyond the Idea, they distill more than a decade of research and insight into a practical, accessible, read-at-one-sitting handbook that offers invaluable guidance for anyone charged with making innovation happen: executives, managers, consultants, project leaders, and teams.

By offering specific action steps, Beyond the Idea extends the elegant conceptual insights from How Stella Saved the Farm, Govindarajan and Trimble’s parable. Beyond the Idea shows exactly how to:

• Build a team with a very particular structure, one that makes it possible to simultaneously build something new and sustain what exists.
• Manage any innovation initiative as a disciplined experiment.
• Implement three distinct models for moving from ideas to action.

Beyond the Idea is an essential book for any business that recognizes that innovation always has been, and always will be, the key to long term growth and vitality.


Reviews

In this timely book, Tuck School of Business professor Govindarajan and consultant Trimble (coauthors of Reverse Innovation) show how innovation can be used in any business situation. Noting that most companies are built for day-to-day operations rather than for innovation, the authors present strategies for change, deftly detailing three business models that overcome these limitations: model S, for small initiatives; model R, for repeatable initiatives; and model C, for other initiatives. Illustrating their theories with business plans from BMW, Apple, and other companies, the authors point out the potential pitfalls of each approach. Next, they explain how to assemble targeted teams to execute these initiatives: dedicated teams, which are assigned to these ventures full time, or nearly full time; and shared staff, who contribute to these projects while also performing their regular jobs. Govindarajan and Trimble describe how to avoid conflict between the two teams while simultaneously maximizing their output and inspiring their dedication. A final chapter on lessons learned solidifies these action plans. Three appendices deal with strategy, change, and the role of the chief innovation officer (an increasingly popular job title), respectively. Written in an accessible style, this useful book will help companies of any size tackle the task of innovation with relatively little risk.

—Publishers Weekly

About the Authors

Vijay Govindarajan (VG) is the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at Tuck at Dartmouth. In the latest global ranking of management thinkers, VG came in third place. He lives in New Hampshire. Chris Trimble, also on the faculty at Tuck, has been an advisor for dozens of top corporations. With Govindarajan he co-authored The New York Times bestseller Reverse Innovation (2012) and How Stella Saved the Farm (2013). He lives in Vermont.


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