"If we had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." - Henry Ford
 

For the Most Successful Growth Companies, Innovation is an Ongoing Process, not an Event

At The Cambridge Group, innovation is a cornerstone of our approach to driving profitable growth. Our strategy consultants help clients identify and capture new innovation opportunities. Simply put, we define innovation as "finding a better way" to:

  • Increase economic value
  • Create competitive advantage
  • Drive differentiation
  • Deliver meaningful benefits to employees, customers, and shareholders

Innovation must be pervasive throughout the entire organization. Key metrics to consider include prioritization, economic returns, probabilities and competitive impact along with organizational characteristics such as a culture of boldness, passion, discipline, and the ability to learn from failures.

Innovation Guidelines

  • Innovation is a mandatory discipline: If you stand still while your competitors innovate and improve, you will diminish in value.
  • Innovation is possible in any business, category or brand: In fact, some of the most successful innovations we have helped our clients develop have come in seemingly "commoditized" categories that had not changed significantly in decades.
  • Innovation must have insulation to succeed: New innovations must be thoroughly insulated from competitive duplication to achieve success in the long-term.
  • Innovation requires discipline: Companies that drive innovation rely on processes that tap resources inside and outside the company, test the business case and accelerate implementation – innovation is about organizational discipline rather than the work of a few talented individuals.
  • Innovation is a portfolio: The innovation portfolio should have "home runs" but it also needs "base hits" to fund the larger initiatives and to exercise and refine the innovation process. The innovation portfolio should be continuously improved and re-stocked at all levels from "single" to "grand slam".

Selected Case Studies

  • Case Study 1 - A leading Insurance Company restores pricing power in a commoditized market – realizing an estimated 20% increase in incremental car insurance premiums.
  • Case Study 2 - A Home Furnishing Retailer identifies and target its most valuable customers – realizing double digit revenue increases and a 95% increase in net income over a year.
For More Information
To learn more about our services, contact us by phone at 800.250.3810, email us, or download The Cambridge Group overview, "Demand Profitable Growth" [PDF, 2.5mb].