Kenneth Husted
Professor of Innovation
“
The absolute starting point for any
Chief Executive who wishes to pursue
and improve innovation is to build
appropriate competencies in the
workforce so that innovation
can occur.”
Hugh Whittaker
Professor of management, Director
of the New Zealand Asia Institute
“
Investing in innovation can mean
sacrificing short-term profitability.
A 2011 study of 1,762 small and medium
firms showed that fast-growing
businesses are less profitable than slow
growers, in the short term. Their leaders
make the choice to sacrifice short-term
returns for tomorrow’s business.
Growth requires a willingness to
make such sacrifices.”
Thomas Bohne
Lecturer of Innovation
“
We read about innovation, we hear that
it is important, that almost every firm
should innovate. Yet very few people who
speak of innovation actually think about
it. Innovation has become an increasingly
meaningless quest for the new: new
products, new services, new processes or
new markets. Instead of obsessing about
newness, more energy should be spent
on finding solutions to serious problems.
We need to reflect more on what we
seek to improve and what constitutes
an improvement.”
Sheana Wheeldon
Partner, IP Law
“
Valuable new ideas, products and
processes need to be protected. It is
important that you have an awareness
of what intellectual property is and why
it is valuable, and the importance of
ensuring that it is protected. If you are
not properly identifying and protecting
your intellectual property, you face the
possibility of losing the advantage that
your own innovation can give you.”
Greg Cain
Partner, Employment Law
“
Encouraging innovation from your
workforce is key. You need to be able to
motivate, recognise and reward your
most innovative people, but you also
need to protect your organisation against
leakage and departures. To that end,
it is important that your employment
agreements and remuneration policies
ensure that you have adequate scope
to reward, incentivise and retain key
staff, protect your interests against the
sudden departure of key employees to
competitors, and guard against the risk
of misuse or disclosure of confidential
information and trade secrets.”
key findings //
7:
innovation cont. . .
42
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