Two weeks ago, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported the findings of its most recent ranking of The 50 Most Innovative Companies. The surprise finding: for the first time, the majority of companies in the Top 25 are not U.S. based, and 15 of the Top 50 are Asian. A Boston Consulting Group consultant asked to comment effused, “We’re starting to see the beginning of a new world order ... the developed world’s hammerlock on innovation leadership is starting to break a little bit.” Though a nice sound byte, the statement would earn little more than a yawn from regulars in Beijing, Singapore, Taiwan or Mumbai.
Identifying which companies are innovation leaders sells magazines, of course. But as consultants and educators, we’re more interested in what the most creative companies do differently, and the factors that best support prodigious innovation. Along with our colleagues at The RBL Group, we’ve had the frequent privilege of teaching business leaders in China, Singapore, India and Malaysia. From what we have observed, there are clear trends that help explain what Asian - and non-Asian innovators are doing to produce these results:
