RGM

The Atlantic Wire writes: Even if nerds kvetch and refuse to buy an iPad, the device may still sell with some big demographics -- casual tech users, the disabled, the elderly and women. Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath makes the case. "The iPad, she argues, "will be explosive less for tech-elites than for 'non users' -- people who might never have been able to take advantage of computers before." She gives a personal example: "An older member of my family was given a computer, took lessons, and worked on a few projects. She would love to be a proficient user -- to exchange news and photos with her family, and to be able to look up newspaper reports. You would think her computer has all the ingredients necessary to be a successful, world-opening device for someone who can't get out as much as she used to -- it's wired and wireless, with high speed Internet. So what's the problem? The mouse! The movements needed to manipulate a mouse have proven impossible for her to master." To read the entire article, click here.

• Posted: Tuesday, February 09, 2010

The Nasscom Emerge blog cites "Ian MacMillan and Rita McGrath (both taught at a Spring 08 Columbia Business School program I attended) in an HBR article say 'Most profitable strategies are built on differentiation: offering customers something they value that competitors don't have.' And Harsh Mariwala, Chairman & MD, Marico Ltd says, ' innovation is the fountainhead for differentiation.' The importance of innovation in business is clear. However, to most companies and managers, it is not clear where such innovation might come from. If you turn to management guru Tom Peters, his answer is 'The #1 source of innovation is pissed-off people.' These are people that are annoyed with the status quo. They want something different and much better. How would you identify such people? How would you encourage and retain such people in your organization? How would you actually get them to innovate? Here's how: start by creating a senior leadership position in innovation. These innovation leaders will stimulate, sponsor, steer, and sustain innovation in your organization. To read the entire post by Pradeep Henry, click here.

• Posted: Wednesday, February 03, 2010

At the Total Executive blog, the author cites the 2006 Sloan Management Review article Extracting Value from Corporate Venturing authored by Rita Gunther McGrath, Thomas Keil and Taina Tukiainen: "Executives wax and wane in their enthusiasm for launching new ventures outside an organization's core business. In their more enthusiastic moments, leaders often see corporate venturing initiatives as sources of organic growth and vitally important engines of renewal. However, in their more disenchanted periods executives may see new ventures as high-risk, foolhardy distractions from effectively running the core business. What's more, such pessimism isn't wrong. Corporate ventures are risky and they usually do not produce hoped-for results." To read the entire blog, click here.

• Posted: Tuesday, February 02, 2010

At The Accidental Product Manager blog, Dr. Jim Anderson views discovery-driven growth to be "product flop insurance."

"Dr. McGrath proposes that we start to use what she calls discovery driven growth. This approach is basically a plan for learning more as the launch process moves forward. The part that I like about this way of doing things is that it doesn't require the product manager to have a lot of analytical information at the start of the launch process. In my opinion that's a good idea simply because there generally isn't a lot of information available!"

To read the entire post, click here.

• Posted: Monday, February 01, 2010

Learning and Technology Specialist Erin Murphy at her Wharton School blog: "Once again, I found the 'quizzing for context' aspect of the Entrepreneruial Mindset by Ian MacMillan and Rita Gunther-McGrath to be an incredibly useful exercise for reducing the amount of uncertainty in a venture. The venture I have undertaken isn't necessarily a business venture, but more of a venture into the world of Student (Technology) Experience. I tried to use some of the questions posited in Entrepreneurial Mindset to try to understand the experience of a student at a university (particularly a business university). Here are some of the questions I was asking myself..."

• Posted: Monday, February 01, 2010

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