Page 75 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

62 grow from within

Critical constructs like culture and marketing are not explic-
itly represented on the Radar. Culture is not a component of a
company’s business system or activities, but rather underlies
everything a business does. While a company’s culture exerts
a pivotal influence on the company’s innovation effectiveness,
service and product quality, and so on, it is not in itself an
“activity.” Management disciplines like marketing, sales, and
finance are reflected in multiple Radar dimensions, such as
brand and presence, customer experience, and value capture,
respectively. Simply, the Innovation Radar presents the range
of activities related to providing value to the marketplace.

The 12 Vectors of the Innovation Radar
The Innovation Radar captures 12 key dimensions or “vectors”
along which corporate entrepreneurship can be pursued:

1. Offerings. Offerings represent a firm’s products and
services. Offering innovation involves creating new
products and services that are valued by customers. This
is the common understanding of innovation. Consider
P&G’s Crest SpinBrush. Introduced in 2001, SpinBrush
became the world’s bestselling electric toothbrush by
2002. Simple design and the use of disposable AA
batteries translated into ease of use, portability, and
affordability. No-frills design allowed P&G to price the
SpinBrush at around $5, an order of magnitude cheaper
than its competitors.
2. Platform. A platform is a set of common components,
assembly methods, or technologies that serve as building
blocks for a portfolio of products or services. Platform
innovation involves exploiting the “power of
commonality”—using modular designs to create a