Leading the pace of innovation

Innovation is the driving force behind an enterprise's development. During the financial crisis, it is even more necessary to rely on innovative breakthroughs.

Innovation is the eternal proposition of an enterprise. But what happens when this old topic meets a new problem like the financial crisis?

The Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, known as the master of innovation, once said: Those who can successfully "innovate" can survive the dilemma of diminishing profits, while those who cannot regroup production Those who have the most important factors will be eliminated by the market first. According to Schumpeter, innovation is the rearrangement of the factors of production. He also pointed out that every depression includes the possibility of a technological innovation.

It seems that the economic crisis not only provides space for innovation, but also makes innovation the only way out for companies to deal with the crisis. It is under the impetus of this kind of power that enterprises have started a new round of management innovation. Taking this as an opportunity, "CEConline" magazine and BMW Brilliance held a series of business pioneer forums to answer questions for SMEs in confusion.

The topics discussed in the "CEConlines" forum involve all aspects of innovation, including new markets, new products, new technologies, and all management innovations. The essential content has been recorded and written down for readers. This article focuses on the innovation discussion at the Shenzhen station of the forum, sharing with readers where innovation should start, and what traps are lurking on the road to innovation.

Find the direction of innovation

In the discussion about innovation, Ouyang Xu, sales and marketing director of Greater China of NXP Semiconductors Automotive Electronics Division, believes that innovation must first find the right direction. There are three main trends in social development in the future: First, the requirements for health. Due to the aging population, everyone's requirements for health will become higher and higher. In addition, everyone is generally richer than before, and the expenditure on health will increase. Enterprises should pay attention to this trend.

The second is a requirement for mobility. In modern society, people move more and more frequently and have more and more space for movement. How to meet the information requirements in the middle of the journey? This is something that innovation needs to consider.

The third is environmental requirements. How can the way we live and work continue to evolve? How to save energy?

These trends all drive innovation, and if one catches the eye, companies can enter a big blue ocean.

In the view of Pei Kewei, Chief Operating Officer of Global Sources and publisher of "CEConline", product innovation is only one aspect of innovation. Enterprises can build on innovations other than products, such as services or designs. own advantage. Many well-known companies in the world such as Acer Computer, Samsung and Epson have experienced many economic adjustments and finally found a breakthrough through innovation.

Suggestions on innovation

Lv Zheng, deputy director of the Economics Department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and former director of the Institute of Industrial Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, put forward the following suggestions on the innovation of China's manufacturing industry: First, it needs to be imaginative , which combines image thinking with logical thinking. For example, "Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck" originated in the United States. It has an American sense of humor and imagination, so children love to watch it, and adults also love to watch it. Therefore, creative products must have the courage to imagine, transform image thinking into logical thinking, and finally into physical products.

Second, innovation is now subdividing and specializing, and there must be a unique place in a certain product at a certain point. And this unique place requires incremental innovation. For example, Sony's electronic products continue to seduce you to buy his next-generation new products, and the Windows operating system is also constantly improving, making you inseparable from them. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt specialized division of labor and gradual improvement to stabilize customer and market demand.

Li Mingjun, chief analyst of "International Electronic Business", said that innovation includes many aspects. In the past, the thinking was to pursue performance improvement. The faster the speed and the more powerful the function, the better. However, sometimes consumers do not necessarily pursue this For high-performance and high-speed products, more attention is paid to the innovation of appearance or application mode, such as adding a touch screen. In fact, there is not much performance improvement, but it feels that the experience for people has changed. There is also cost innovation, which can also help companies improve their market competitiveness.

Lai Guoyan, manager of Shenzhen Yadiwei Electronics Co., Ltd., believes that innovation runs through the entire process, from design, procurement, production, and marketing. There are innovations in the entire process and every link. It is also a miracle that the innovation of process reform saves manufacturing costs. At the same time, the development of new products or the improvement of old products is also called innovation.

Bypassing the trap of innovation

What traps lie in the way of innovation? Ouyang Xu believes that many companies innovate only at the moment and do whatever they want to make money. This is not called innovation. What's more important is to see the trend of the whole society leading the future development, and we should formulate our own strategy according to this development.

In addition, innovation has a price, because it involves the introduction of talents, investment in equipment, etc., and there is no guarantee of success. This depends on whether the top management of the company regards innovation as a part of the corporate culture and promotes it as a kind of competitiveness, and whether the company can afford it and whether it is willing to pay this price to innovate.

Innovation also involves the interaction of information. If an enterprise cannot keep up with the best technology in the world, or cannot cooperate with the most leading suppliers, it may be very difficult to innovate.

Ren Yonghong, director and deputy general manager of Shenzhen Absen Industrial Co., Ltd. who participated in the discussion, believes that some enterprises die because of innovation, especially many small enterprises. In his view, selectively innovating is an effective rule for rapid growth of enterprises, rather than locking this market today and that market tomorrow; locking this product today and locking that product tomorrow. Enterprises must lock in their own advantages and focus on small aspects.

Peke advises companies to innovate in all directions.

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