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Arne Stjernholm  Danish Initiative for Creativity & Innovation 

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Most activities grow following a "S"-shaped curve.
The point is to react creatively before it is too late...
COPYRIGHT Arne Stjernholm Madsen 2001

"Strategic Innovation" as a leadership discipline is an approach to strengthen creativity and innovation concerning future business opportunities. In this connection it is a point, that Future does not exist! We always live so to speak in the final moment, on the edge of time. - "Future" is a concept or a pair of glasses, we use to look deep in the Present and to point out the things in the present, that we find progressive. This understanding makes it meaningless to try to predict the future - "future" is a conceptual tool, "future" is what we create!

The field of strategic innovation can be divided into 3 main areas (as suggested by IdeaScope Associates, Inc.):

• Industry foresight: Which changes happen in the Industry, are the value chains being reorganized (vertical or horizontal), should we redefine our business concept...
• Customer Insight: Which values, feelings and attitudes amongst our end users are important? Which unarticulated needs or wishes can we identify? - Remember, in most industries you can't just ask the end user - it requires psychological understanding and ability to interpret... - Here, user-centered methods are needed.
• Strategic Alignment: How can we most effectively build consensus in the organization concerning a range of strategic issues? Strategies without alignment are not even worth the paper, on which they are written - they are wastes of resources. But alignment cannot simply be planned or implemented by campaigns. It requires eager change agents and good habits that spread out like circles in water... - Here, visualization can serve as a communication tool.

Strategic Innovation can be said to walk on a stair of innovation levels in the organization (based upon the article "When worlds collide..." by Robert Krinsky and Anthony C. Jenkins, Strategy & Leadership July/August 1997):

The first two steps are areas for individuals or teams, and on these levels it has always been appropriate to utilize creative methods. But the two upper steps, concerning the business unit, the corporation or even the whole industry, have up till now been very rational, dominated by "left-brain" thinking, statistical analysis etc. However, creative methods show to be very effective also on these levels; for instance it can result in a much deeper understanding to be in direct contact with end users and hear their personal motives and values than to read statistic analysis of market segments. - One the questions, you often are exposed to, is: "Are these individuals then representative?" - On a strategic level it takes Courage to trust your intuition, as you normally can only argue based on statistics. But reports don't make business, just as recipes don't cook your food...

The focus on strategic innovation can be seen as a result of a development of innovation management through three phases or paradigms, from the entrepreneurial focus of the first periods of industrialism, over the technology focused times of research & development regimes to a more market oriented paradigm of today. Currently, all three paradigms are represented in society, and (for large corporations) even within the same company. However, the three paradigms have different implications for innovation strategy and resource allocation. Therefore, management ought to be conscious about their corporate balance between the three approaches. See the figure below, inspired by the Danish professor Jon Sundbo.

Please also read: Innovation Management and Organizational Consciousness.