Jingchen Hou Comment Piece on Supplying Innovation

Extract:

"In order to stay innovative, many leading companies run internal programmes, covering a wide range of subjects from technology innovation to business model innovation. But these programmes, in many cases, fail to generate significant value.

Some companies consider collaboration with others in the supply chain. One obvious benefit of doing so would be the integration of capabilities and skills. But it’s almost impossible to integrate different strategies at a large scale, since many companies would be unwilling to share all of their data and information.

Apart from limited innovation, the consequences of locking innovation inside companies are obvious. Knowledge and information are not integrated between companies in the supply chain, so the services and solutions delivered to end customers may not be the best ones. Additionally, supply chains are usually output-focused instead of outcome-focused. Suppliers seldom focus on the value delivered to end customers. On the other hand, if innovation can’t be unlocked in the supply chain, the supply chain is not efficient.

Suppliers, contractors and clients have to discuss back and forth several times before final decisions are made. - See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/unlocking-innovation-in-the-supply-chain#sthash.OvQFPZIv.dpuf

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