Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation

Gary P. Pisano

Book | 2019

Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation

Abstract

Creative Construction tackles the myth that larger enterprises are inherently incapable of transformative innovation and are doomed to be disrupted by nimble start-ups. If larger enterprises seem incapable of transformative innovation, it is due to how we design and manage them, rather than anything inherent in their scale. In fact, Creative Construction argues, if used properly, scale can be an asset, rather than a liability, when it comes to innovation. However, to leverage the advantages of scale for innovation, companies need the right combination of strategy, systems, and culture. Based on more than three decades of the Pisano's research, teaching, and experience, Creative Construction offers a set of principles that will lead readers to rethink many long-held beliefs about innovation.

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Business Growth and Maturation; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Creativity; Leading Change;

Format: Print

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Pisano, Gary P. Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation. New York: PublicAffairs, 2019.

Manufacturing accounts for more than three-quarters of U.S. corporate patents. The competitive shock to this sector emanating from China's economic ascent could in theory either augment or stifle U.S. innovation. Using three decades of U.S. patents matched to corporate owners, we quantify how foreign competition affects domestic innovation. Rising import exposure intensifies competitive pressure, reducing sales, profitability, and R&D expenditure at U.S. firms. Accounting for confounding sectoral patenting trends, we find that U.S. patent production declines in sectors facing greater import competition. This adverse effect is larger among initially less profitable and less capital-intensive firms.

The ultimate solutions to the Covid-19 crisis may be big breakthroughs in building massive test and trace capacity and developing vaccines and drug remedies. But in the meantime, we should not ignore the potential cumulative impact of the many small things we already know how to do or might try that together could make a big dent in the current crisis. Big problems typically get tackled through a series of small solutions, each of which on its own may not seem particularly important but that together can have a huge impact. Creating and implementing a “small steps” strategy, however, will require strong leadership.

For more than two decades, scientific advances have been driving profound changes in drug discovery and the drug industry itself. This case provides an overview and description of these technical and scientific advances. Written for the nonscientific reader, it may be used as companion reading for other case materials that require basic knowledge of the tools, techniques, and approaches used in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

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Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation

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