by: Yann Gourvennec
The answer to that last question is in previous studies carried out by PIMS (see PIMS history in the following
transcript) –
target=”_blank” title=”Lecture innovation Paris University”>included in my lecture on innovation at
the Paris university. What this PIMS study is showing is that even in times of crisis, innovation is not an
option. On the contrary, it is during these periods that innovation is the real driver for success. However, the
return on investment is not immediate and therefore patience is required. Success for innovators who won’t give up
during the current credit crunch will show – according to PIMS – in the years following the crisis through the
acquisition of a few extra-points in terms of market dominance. Results will in no way happen in the short term
though and this is why the real difficulty is to show managers that innovation budgets have to be maintained, let
alone increased.
It is certain that the main inhibitor in that process is that
managers are also driven by short-term issues in those difficult times, sometimes fighting for their own survival
and therefore focussing not on innovation but on the bottom line. Hence
target=”_blank” title=”Sir Stelios in the Guardian”>Sir Stelios’ – the much reverred Easy group
innovation – response to an interview I saw on the Beeb a
few weeks ago. When asked about the current credit crunch, Sir Stelios responded (quoted from memory) “I’m afraid
that business is bound to be boring again; one will have to be a lot more cautious; at the same time” he added “when
the going was good, it was easy to confuse luck for skills, but from now on it will be a lot more difficult”.
(note:
target=”_blank” title=”Stelios leeps his feet on the ground”>similar feedback from Stelios in a Times
article available online at this url).
TRANSCRIPT FROM THE NOTES OF MY SLIDE
Brief history of PIMS
The PIMS project was started by Sidney Schoeffler working at General Electric in the
1960s, then picked up by Harvard’s Management Science Institute in the early 1970s, and has been administered by
the American Strategic Planning Institute since 1975.
It was initiated by senior managers at GE who wanted to
know why some of their business units were more profitable than others. With the help of Sidney Schoeffler they
set up a research project in which each of their strategic business units reported their performance on dozens
of variables. This was then expanded to outside companies in the early 1970s.
The survey, between 1970 and
1983, involved 3,000 strategic business units (SBU), from 200 companies. Each SBU gave information on the market
within which they operated, the products they had brought to market and the efficacy of the strategies they had
implemented.
The PIMS project analysed the data they had gathered to identify the options, problems,
resources and opportunities faced by each SBU. Based on the spread of each business across different industries,
it was hoped that the data could be drawn upon to provide other business, in the same industry, with empirical
evidence of which strategies lead to increased profitability. The database continues to be updated and drawn
upon by academics and companies today.
What Pims have shown is that the impact of innovation is not
immediate. mostly takes place 2 years after investment. This is why really successful companies never stop
innovating (look at cisco) and don’t handle innovation as a 6-year cycle which only lasts for 2 years. It must
be a continuous effort or it mustn’t be.ROCE: Return on Capital employed: ROCE is a measure of how productively a company manages its refining,
marketing and transportation assets. ROCE is the ratio of operating profits generated to the amount of operating
capital invested.www.marathon.com/News_Center/Marathon_News/Glossary/http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/tips/archives/2009/01/why_its_time_…
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