Procter & Gambles CEO Alan G. Lafley is often quoted as
saying "half
the company's ideas must come from the outside." Indeed,
P&G is a leader in external technology and innovation scouting, and
it is paying off handsomely. In one respect Lafley was restating an
important insight voiced by Thomas Edison about a century ago: Your
idea has to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you're
working on.
Why? Going outside can both speed up and improve technical development, free up scarce
internal resources for other high-impact activities, and lead to greater innovation.
The key is being open (versus threatened) and knowing where to look, how to qualify,
and how to apply new externally-developed technologies for rapid commercialization –
at a profit to your firm.
Rather than relying on ad hoc and sometimes haphazard approaches to technology
sourcing, many firms are adopting formal Technology Scouting programs to provide a
structured, focused approach to identifying and acquiring new technology.
If your company is seeking to accelerate or improve its technical development, take
advantage of this session in which Dr. Jay Paap –will draw on his 30 plus years of
work experience to provide real world examples of both effective – and less effective
– sourcing initiatives.
