This international technology company, historically known for its innovative offerings, found itself stagnating in its core markets. Endowed with substantial corporate funding each year, their Labs (R&D) organization invented numerous new products, only to have them languish internally without being embraced by their business units (some of which were very similar to those successfully introduced by competitors – years later).
SOLUTION:
We worked with their R&D group to:
- Develop a portfolio structure to focus their innovation efforts on the specific areas that aligned the organization’s capabilities with the company’s strategic goals and specific business unit priorities
- Establish the process by which new R&D efforts are funded, prioritized and initiated — to better reflect the needs and interests of the business units
- Restructure the R&D organization — aligned with the new portfolio approach — and re-formulate the teams with the necessary skill-sets
RESULT:
Reframing the “who pays for what” to ensure that the business units “sponsored” projects in particular portfolios raised the adoption rate from 7% to 75%. This model has been replicated throughout the company’s business units for their BU-specific innovation efforts, and the company has resumed its place as a leader in their market.