Modul 11: Insights

Question 1

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Answer 1

• Only few companies achieve the status of a serial innovator. Their innovation competencies become core competencies: It is difficult for competition to imitate them.

Question 2

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Answer 2

• There are two main ways of strengthening a company’s innovation competencies: developing them internally or acquiring them externally.
• To be of real practical value, explicit knowledge must be converted into tacit knowledge, i.e. skills. Tacit knowledge can only be built up through learning by doing or learning by using.
• There are at least five competencies that a serial innovator should have: technology competence, market competence, process competence, personal / social competence and leadership competence. For all five competencies, the innovation champion must have both the required explicit knowledge and the required skills, i.e. the implicit knowledge.
• Knowledge and skills are not enough for an innovation leader. He must also have good judgment as an additional leadership skill.
• None of these innovation competencies are sufficient if the corporate culture does not support and encourage their use. The innovation competencies therefore must also include the exemplary behavior (“walk the talk”) that the leaders must display in order to promote the development of innovation competencies.
• Companies have to find the right balance between the established core business and innovation activities. A new type of ambidextrous leader is required who can balance both parts of the business. As a conventional leader, he must be able to direct, but at the same time be able to inspire the innovation teams as a lateral leader
• The leadership competencies of the new ambidextrous leader should be developed using various methods that convey explicit and implicit knowledge and train judgment. In particular, job rotation between established core businesses and innovation units is recommended.

Question 3

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Answer 3

• The faster a company has to fill gaps in competence and the more unfamiliar the field of innovation is, the greater the need to access external resources and competencies. Know-how has to be bought or licensed, people with the necessary skills have to be recruited.
• If the field of innovation is very unfamiliar, even the acquisition of entire companies may be indicated in order to hire the entire team (aqui-hire).
• In general, tacit knowledge is more in demand than explicit knowledge