Importance of Innovation in Emerging Economies:The Republic of Georgia

The Republic of Georgia is a small country just east of the black sea. Bordered to the north by Russia and to the south by Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. It is known for its rich heritage of wine making and has started developing a tourist industry that revolves around its expertise in wine making.

Innovation Management Aimed at Sustainability

This is a more personal post for me due to the fact that it relates to how my specialization has changed me. When I was younger I had a tendency to be quite idealistic. As I aged, like many people I migrated from being idealistic to being significantly more cynical. This conversion is not hard to explain due to the burdens put on us by life in general.

In reflecting on the process I just went through for my specialization,  I realized that it had awakened a piece of me long thought lost. That is the concept that by understanding innovation and innovation management  people do have a means of changing the world. Now this doesn't mean that I have completely given up cynicism, it means that by understanding the innovation process we can work towards sustainability. It also encompasses the concept that doing so is not necessarily mis-aligned with the needs of business.

The Embedded Innovation Paradigm

The Embedded Innovation Paradigm

The embedded innovation paradigm takes a new approach to how an organization develops geared at creating sustainability. This new approach focuses on the concept mentioned in my last post regarding business intimacy. The whole purpose of this model is to integrate the organization within the community being targeted.

By integrating into the community the organization adds a significant competitive advantage in the sense that it builds consumer trust and a long term relationship.

What is Business Intimacy?

For this post we will be examining the concept of the business intimacy.

So what is business intimacy? At its heart business intimacy is a relationship in which the identity of the community at large is fused with that of the organization. The organization not only defines itself by the bottom line but includes factors structured around providing a better life for the community it serves.

The Importance of Incremental Innovation

When people think of innovation they think of the concept of the breakthrough. Everybody loves a breakthrough. Just look at what digital imaging did to film. A breakthrough technology that completely disrupted an entire industry in a relatively short period of time. When breakthroughs take place the fact of the matter is that people take notice and it can have a significant impact on the world at large. This is why breakthroughs are important and recognized.

Needless to say people generally don't recognize incremental innovation as a part of innovation. After all if you create a new technology that only improves upon existing technology what is there to take notice of. A great example of this would be making minor improvements to the reception of a cellphone antenna.