COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION: How to Avoid the Four Traps
MOST LEADERS RECOGNIZE that they need to take proactive steps to break down the silos within their organizations, so that people can work together more easily and innovate across departments. They also know that in today’s innovation-starved environment, they need to collaborate externally with their customers and others in their ecosystem to create new products and solutions.
This sort of collaboration has been well-documented in the business-to-consumer (B2C) context, but less so in the businessto-business (B2B) space. In our work with clients, we have seen first-hand that, when done right, B2B collaborations can generate benefits in four distinct areas:
• DEEPER KNOWLEDGE. Collaborations allow a business to closely explore the ‘context of use’, giving it a more in-depth knowledge of end-user needs;
• LOWER MARKETING COSTS. Market research costs can be lowered dramatically via collaborations, as businesses can develop a concept jointly and share the costs of testing it out;
• DECREASED RISK. As a business innovates directly with target customers, risk goes down and the end result is more likely to fit the needs of the marketplace.
• INCREASED TRUST. Close ties with collaborators can lead to improved relationships and trust within an industry ecosystem.
Consider the case of Italcementi, a US$4 billion Italy-based cement company. Italcementi decided to target ‘Archistars’ — architects so famous that their projects inspire the works of countless other architects and real estate developers — as their collaborative innovation partners. Their initial project was with contemporary architect Richard Meier, who designed the Dives in Misericordia church in
