Category Archives: Innovation

Innovation: for and against

Posted on April 28, 2018 by

I like Jeff Bezos’ line: “Good intentions don’t work, mechanisms do.” To me, it sounds like a full support of my conviction that endless talks about establishing a “culture of innovation” is a distraction, rather than an enabler, in fostering … Continue reading →

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Innovation “quid pro quo”: firms that treat workers better are more innovative

Posted on March 22, 2018 by

In my previous post, I described studies showing that giving stock option grants to both executive and non-executive employees fosters innovation, which points to the important role compensation plays in defining corporate innovation performance. However, compensation is only one factor … Continue reading →

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Innovate today, get paid tomorrow

Posted on March 7, 2018 by

Theoretical analysis conducted by Gustavo Manso in 2011 suggests that the optimal incentives motivating employees to innovate must include a combination of tolerance for failures in the short term and reward for success in the long. Tolerance for early failures allows … Continue reading →

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Are you innovating? We won’t be paying you today!

Posted on February 12, 2018 by

A solid body of evidence, from both controlled laboratory experiments and field studies, shows that compensation based on the pay-for-performance (P-f-P) principle—when individuals receive a fixed percentage of the profits resulted from their activities–is effective in inducing higher levels of … Continue reading →

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One more time about “innovation terminology”

Posted on February 6, 2018 by

In a recent HBR article, Scott Kirsner suggests ditching the term “corporate entrepreneur.” Kirsner names a number of reasons why corporate innovation, especially in large firms, is different from true entrepreneurship. One is bureaucratic shackles that restrict the development of … Continue reading →

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Freedom to fail, freedom to innovate

Posted on January 24, 2018 by

(This post originally appeared on InnovationManagement.se) Everyone seems to agree that innovation is a risky business: it involves a lot of experimentation, which often ends up in failure. High tolerance for failure, therefore, can be considered as a major prerequisite for … Continue reading →

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Innovation and VC investors

Posted on January 3, 2018 by

Academic research provides abundant empirical evidence suggesting that corporate and socio-economic policies tolerating failure, both at individual and firm levels, foster innovation. For example, labor laws limiting firms’ ability to discharge employees at will were shown to stimulate corporate innovation. … Continue reading →

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