40
t h e n ew no rma l
| 2 01 2
innovation
Compared with other issues,
innovation was rarely among
Chief Executives’ top three to five
challenges. However, over 50%
of Chief Executives in each sector
said that they found innovation
at least ‘very challenging’.
The lighter-coloured bars in
the graph show the percentage
of Chief Executives who rated
innovation as among their top
three to five, and the darker bars
show those who did not put it
in their top three to five, but still
rated it ‘very challenging’.
Business academics and government
concur that innovation – the
implementation of valuable new ideas,
products and processes – is critical to
individual organisational success, and to
a nation’s economy. Research shows that
innovative organisations are more likely
to grow and be competitive in the
long term. So organisations need to truly
understand what innovation means for
their organisations as a whole, and that
understanding needs to be disseminated
to their staff.
According to Kenneth Husted, Professor
of Innovation, many countries do
‘
innovation’ better than New Zealand.
This opinion is supported by our finding
that over 50% of Chief Executives believe
innovation to be ‘very challenging’.
Earlier sections of this report have shown
that the government’s desire to get more
from less in the Public sector means
that Not-For-Profit and Public sector
Chief Executives are trying to sustain
performance with less funds. Some of
these Chief Executives felt that long-
term development and innovation are
simply out of the question. On the Private
sector front, Chief Executives noted
difficulties in accessing finance and the
unwillingness of shareholders to invest,
leading to a waiting game in some cases.
The word innovation was rarely used
by any Chief Executives in our sample,
possibly because other issues are
more pressing.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation
and Employment promotes the view
that the knowledge economy is
where the potential for growth lies,
arguing that New Zealand needs to be
raising its research and development
skills, innovation and managerial
professionalism.
Government funding
uncertainty affects the ability
to plan ahead for innovation
and development.
CEO
| Education and Training
Organisation
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
PUBLIC SECTOR
NOT-FOR-PROFIT SECTOR
[ 8
th most highly ranked item ]
0%
5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
PRIVATE SECTOR
PUBLIC SECTOR
NOT-FOR-PROFIT SECTOR
[ 3
rd most highly ranked item ]
[ 7
th most highly ranked item ]
[ 6
th most highly ranked item ]
4)
Access
to nance
5)
Cost escalation
6
a) Partnership -
esired outputs
from ops.
6
b) Partnership -
alliances and joint
ventures
7)
Innovation
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
PRIVATE SECTOR
PUBLIC SECTOR
NOT-FOR-PROFIT SECTOR
[
Outside the 10 most highly
ranked items ]
[ 5
th most highly ranked item ]
[ 3
rd most highly ranked item ]
[
Outside the 10
most highly
ranked items ]
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
PRIVATE SECTOR
PUBLIC SECTOR
NOT-FOR-PROFIT SECTOR
[ 8
th most highly ranked item ]
[
Outside the 10 most highly
ranked items ]
[ 7
th most highly ranked item ]
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
PRIVATE SECTOR
PUBLIC SECTOR
NOT-FOR-PROFIT SECTOR
[
Outside the 10 most highly
ranked items ]
[ 4
th most highly ranked item ]
[
Outside the 10 most highly ranked items ]
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
PRIVATE SECTOR
PUBLIC SECTOR
NOT-FOR-PROFIT SECTOR
[ * ]
[ * ]
[ * ]
11)
social
responsibility
12)
dialogue with
shareholders
i nnovat ion
[ *
Outside the top 10 issues for all sectors ]
key findings //
7:
innovation