Overview of some best innovation organizations
Salkin Makhametov 3e-12(TIBS)
Overview of some best innovation organizations
We know that innovation management is an integral part of any innovative organization, and in this work I tried to write about some large innovative companies and made main focus on their strategies, structures, management tools, corporate cultures and compare them with each other. 3M
3M is very huge worldwide and diversified technology company, which was founded in 1902 by five businessmen in Two Harbors, Minnesota, USA, as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. In the company employs over 67,000 workers in more than 60 countries, and they have worldwide sales over 20 billion dollars.
| Strategy | Structure | Management tools | Corporate culture |
| Developing a core technology and then developing products based on the technology in many different industries | Mainly hierarchical at the corporate level. | Teams of technical and business managers visit each of the major research labs and appraise the projects being developed. They analyze each projects strengths, weaknesses and probability of success, both technical and commercial. The audit team then makes non-binding recommendations to management. In addition to providing management with recommendations on which projects are in need of further funding, technology audits keep management informed of developments and inspire project groups that receive less than desirable ratings to work harder and push the limits of their developments, or aid in the decision to cut a project gone astray. | Flexible work schedules and allowing individual eccentricities. There are two separate career paths, a managerial track and a technical track. Creating a culture of trust. Employees are encouraged to voice their ideas and ideas are given equal value, without regard to position or title. |
Clariant GmbH
Clariant is a speciality chemicals company, formed in 1995 as a spin-off from Sandoz. The company is focused on four business areas: care chemicals (consumer and industrial); catalysis; natural resources (oil & mining, minerals); and plastics & coatings. Headquartered near Basel, Switzerland, the public company encompasses 110 operating companies in 53 countries. Major manufacturing sites are located in Europe, North America, South America, China and India. In 2015, sales from continuing operations were 5.8 billion CHF.
| Strategy | Structure | Management tools | Corporate culture |
| Expand into new markets for its existing products, develop new formulations, applications and processes for existing markets, and develop new markets for the new formulations, applications and processes. | Clariant is composed of five divisions: textile, leather and paper chemicals; pigments and additives; functional chemicals; life science chemicals; and master batches. Research and development are decentralized, and carried out within the different businesses, which prioritize projects based on local market requirements and chances of success. | The company is notable for its high use of cross-functional teams, made up of experts with varied backgrounds from many fields. | The cross functional teams are given great degrees of freedom to perform their work. Additionally, researchers at Clariant are allowed to use as much as 20% of their work time on projects and research of their own interest. |
CoreMedia
CoreMedia is a global provider of digital experience solutions with corporate headquarters in Hamburg, Germany and US headquarters San Francisco, California. The company was founded in 1996 and has additional offices in Washington DC, Singapore and London. The company has about 120 employees, and annual sales exceeding ?10 million.
| Strategy | Structure | Management tools | Corporate culture |
| To bring ideas quickly and effectively to market as high quality, innovative products. | There are two career tracks available to employees. The management track and the expert track. The expert track allows talented developers to continue working with the actual development of products and software rather than supervising others and offers the same opportunities for advancement and equal pay and prestige like the management track. | The company valued employees with a high level of innovative thinking and all ideas that are submitted by employees are evaluated using concrete decision criteria in a clearly laid out process. | Employees are encouraged to be creative and a high value is placed on the development of new ideas. |
W.L. Gore & Associates
W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. is an American multinational manufacturing company specializing in products derived from fluoropolymers. It is a privately held corporation headquartered in Newark, Delaware. It is best known as the developer of waterproof, breathable Gore-Tex fabrics.
| Strategy | Structure | Management tools | Corporate culture |
| Continually finding new uses and ways to adapt the substance and technology to fit the needs of potential customers and pursue innovations that are new. | The company has a lattice structure, with a CEO and designated leaders for each of the four major divisions and certain companywide support functions. | Gore is organized like small task forces with small, cross functional teams and the main criteria for the company's employees are their skills, knowledge and experience as their understanding of opportunities and the team objectives grows. | No codified ranks or positions, or set career paths in the company. The terms “employee” and “manager” are not used. Any associate at Gore can, and is encouraged to, speak directly to anyone in the organization. Research and development technologists and salespeople work in the same buildings and are encouraged to share ideas and work together. |
Conclusion
I would like to conclude by comparing the main criteria for these companies such as strategy, structure, management tools and corporate culture. In short we can say that all of these companies have a common goal, and the existence of a strategy, and it is creating innovations and opening new markets. But implementing these objectives are happening in various ways. If someone prefers a hierarchical management system, others on the contrary trying to as little as possible to use this style of governance. The culture of these companies also have variances but we can find common features such as providing greater freedom for innovative workers.
In the end I want to say also that the chosen strategy and the variety of their implementation of these companies have been very successful, because many of them today are the largest companies in their respective industries.