Management Innovation is the best way to achieve competitve advantage

I wanted to point out an important post from the consistently excellent Business Innovation Insider, in which Dominic interviews Gary Hamel, the renowned management researcher, on innovation. Hamel makes a provocative statement in the interview: "If one looks back over the last 100 years of industrial competition, it is management innovation, more than any other sort, that has produced big and enduring shifts in industry leadership."

By management innovation he means new ways of organizing, measuring and structuring businesses--for example, the Toyota Production System.

I have to say that Hamel's statements really struck me. We get lazy in thinking of innovation merely in terms of new products--when, in fact, new ways of working can yield more long-term success.

In other words, the Toyota Production System has made and will make far more profits for Toyota than the Prius ever will.

Think about that.

(Pictures courtesy of South West MAS and hybrid-vehicle.org)

innovation, strategy, management