Page 24 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

•.t11,11... ► ,, organit,itions suggest that LI n tic!•ign

products and concepts, utilize their resourc ,s more

'sill., lively efficiently, market their products more cre-

t iv til y„md manage more effectively than less successful

organizations."

I t is creativity in managing all of the economic functions—
marketing, operations, finance, human resources, research
and development, and information management that sepa-
rates the truly successful companies from the less successful
ones. This can be seen in the discussion of Steelcase con-
tained in The Innovative Edge in Action 1.1. Note that
Steelcase is not a high-tech firm but operates in a basic manu-
facturing industry. An important lesson to learn from this
reading is that innovation is applicable to most jobs in all
kinds of industries.

The Innovative Edge in Action 1.2 describes Banc One, a ser-
vice firm that has found that innovation is necessary for sur-
vival. One lesson to learn from this reading is how innova-
tion can be applied in a service industry.

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