Organizational Obstacles to Innovation: A Formulation of the Problem

A large corporation is a complex social system that seems to take on a life of its own quite apart from the purpose for which it is intended. When one of the purposes of the organization is innovation, the social system can produce obstacles that are not easy to overcome. In this article, Professor Volney Stefflre provides a refreshing look at the problems of keeping an organization innovative enough so that it can survive and thrive in a changing environment. Professor Stefflre's view is an unusual and creative one. It comes partly from his many years of working with a variety of manufacturers as they attempted to adapt to their changing environments through innovation. It also comes from his background in psycho-linguistics—the area, he says, where psychology and anthropology meet. It may not be surprising then that his article includes a brief look at empires and civilizations as part of the support for his thesis. This article is adapted from one of the chapters of Professor Stefflre's new book: Developing and Implementing Marketing Strategies . New York: Praeger Publishers Inc., 1985.     

From Experience: The Corporate Black Hole

There is a lot of creative potential lying dormant in corporations because too many managers fail to see innovation as a process to be deliberately managed. C. Joshua Abend sees innovation connected to virtually everything that happens—or doesn't happen—in an organization. He offers in this article ideas that managers can use to remove the impediments to increased innovation and productivity.     

Key managerial factors in new venture departments

Two clusters of factors —the “corporate strategic posture” and the New Venture Department (NVD) “political posture” — appear to determine the direction of an NVD's evolution. The “corporate strategic posture” refers to the cycles of diversification and consolidation that typically characterize corporate growth. A corporation's “strategic posture” at any given point in time can be positioned on a continuum, one end of which is a “diversifying” posture, while the other end is a “consolidating” posture.     

Evaluate the sales force as a business

High interest rates are posing serious problems for all business organizations and impact more heavily on those in the industrial sector. Cash flow difficulties result directly from high interest rates, which in turn produce pressure on the sales force: credit terms are tightened; customers are pushed to pay their bills more promptly; and, shipments are delayed because of reduced inventories. This set of difficult circumstances, however, provides an opportunity for management to achieve a long desired objective—making the efforts of the sales force more congruent with the profit and ROI goals of the enterprise.This article outlines the structure of a training program, consisting of seven sessions, that introduces business performance criteria to sales territory management.     

Do a value analysis of your customer base

A company's customer base can yield valuable data on customers' sales volume, profits, growth trends, and technical strengths. The Customer Value Analysis process provides a means to apply that data to developing a better sales/marketing program.     

Effective advertising in industrial supplier directories

This article discusses the relative effectiveness of various advertisement characteristics in industrial supplier directories. Correlations and regressions on ad characteristics and response data indicate that ad space (size and/or number) and logos have a positive impact while the impact of pictures can be negative.     

Rethink Strategy or Perish

Not long ago, the telecommunications industry was a dusty strategic backwater of little interest, primarily concerned with proprietary technologies and enjoying a protected status. Not any more; the application of silicon and software to telecom has obliterated entry barriers, forced open the market, and, according to Mariann Jelinek, created a whole new strategic situation. Telecom is now a highly competitive, innovative, high-technology industry, with a worldwide market. Professor Jelinek suggests that the key to understanding the shift lies in comprehending the new technologies being applied and understanding their impact on the traditional markets and missions of the firms that use them. The lessons of these changes are important for all managers, especially those in mature industries, since microelectronics and software applications seem to know no industry boundaries. They are invading our lives on all sides.     

Estimating potential for aftermarket requirements

This article will focus mainly on utility electric plant maintenance with particular emphasis on steam (nonnuclear) turbine-generator maintenance. Our objective has been to identify and examine relationships between the target market and other recorded key operating parameters that would be useful for future forecasting of trends in the target market.     

Competitor analysis: Some practical approaches

Analysis of the intentions and capabilities of key competitors is an essential component of effective business strategy. This article places major emphasis on the often neglected area of competitive cost analysis. An overview of secondary and primary sources, including competitors themselves, is provided. Case examples illustrate the use of these sources in analyzing key strategic cost differentials between a company and its competitors. New approaches to competitor cost analysis are reviewed: 1) statistical techniques estimate fixed and variable components of cost; and 2) an analytical “force-out” technique estimates categorical costs (materials, wages, selling costs, etc.).     

Wizards and Champions: The Kingdom of New Venture Management

We have learned recently that the stories of King Arthur and his Round Table may be more fact than fable. There is certainly more fact than fable in the story told here by Irving Calish and Donald Gamache. They deal with the realities of managing new ventures.     

Industrial salespeople's views on motivation

Much has been written on the subject of motivation but, until now, no one has conducted a survey of industrial salespeople to ask them what motivates them. This article reports the results of such a survey and offers recommendations.     

Innovation in the Systems Business: Dynamics of Autonomy and Cooperation

Even though the many hardware and software components that comprise a useful computer system are developed and offered as individual products, the required technical integration of these provides unique challenges for R&D management. New function, especially that provided by software, usually results from prototypes that are not well integrated with the existing product line. This article examines the problems of managing the conflicting demands of market-based autonomy and systems requirements for integration. The idea about software innovation is an interesting complement to the two articles that follow.     

Direct mail response factors for an industrial service

This article addresses the lack of quantitative research on industrial services marketing communications by providing a quantitative study of a direct mail promotion for an industrial service. Prenotification, the structure of the letter, the ethnic background of the signatory, personalization, and prequalifying the respondent were tested as factors influencing the response rate in the direct mail promotion. The results are useful as baseline information for current practitioners and to provide insights for the future development of theories of marketing communications for industrial services.