Wonders why the UK has such poor innovative performance, after being the leading GDP country in the 19th century and now standing at 17th place. Looks at an innovation unit, set up by the Department of Trade and Industry, which believes that: successful innovation is culture‐based; innovation...

Discusses the seven basic sources of opportunities to innovate — only one of which is with regard to inventing something new — as discussed in Peter Drucker's ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ (1994). Lists the seven sources as: the unexpected; incongruities; process need; industry and market...

Concentrates on the UK's Crown Agents, founded in the 1830s, to procure goods on behalf of the British Crown Colonies — currently it serves or operates in 150 countries worldwide and now provides a wide range of services abroad. Contends Crown Agents has had to learn to be alert to donor...

Concentrates on 3M, a US company founded in 1902 in which, from the beginning, innovation was necessary. Chronicles that 3M (from the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) employs 86,000 people in more than 60 countries with yearly revenues of US$115 billion on average. Discusses...

Analyses, in depth, two US centres of innovation — in Silicon Valley, California, and Route 128, west of Boston, Massachusetts, stressing the former was successful and the latter not so. Discusses them in full and gives the pluses and minuses for both. Looks at regional culture, among others,...

Describes five segments of adopters differentiated by characteristic responses to a discontinuous innovation: innovators; early adopters; early majority; late majority; and laggards. Determines there is a huge gap between the early market of innovators and visionaries into which may fall many a...

Discusses event pacing (companies reacting to various changes) and time pacing (creating new products/services, etc.) and looks at their differences in detail. Identifies three areas in particular where transition management is crucial. Employs two insets, one on specification trade‐offs, the...