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Executive Interviews: Interview with Curtis R Carlson on Innovation
November 2006 - By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary

Dr. Curtis R Carlson
President and CEO of SRI International

Your book is very positive and upbeat about the potential of innovation in a company. What should be the failure tolerance limits ("you are allowed to make the mistake once. If you try something and it fails but you went about it the right way and you learn from it, that's not a bad thing", said Jeffery Immelt, BusinessWeek July 10th 2006, Page 47)
Every iteration of a product must create new opportunities for greater customer value.
Would this disciplined approach change if the customers are also involved as cocreators in product development?

Businesses don't define value customers do. As a result, we believe that customers are extremely valuable to the process.Many people misinterpret or assume what customers want, without asking if their needs are beingmet. Identifying your customers and working to uncover their needs is the first, most important step in maximizing customer value.

Google is a company that has a solid innovation strategy that includes customers in the product development cycle. They do this by offering beta versions of products on the Internet and get feedback from users. This iterative approach is an extension of a concept called "bootstrapping" used by Douglas Engelbart at SRI International at the time his team was developing personal computing functions and the mouse.

1. ICMR Innovation Case Studies
2. ICMR Case Collection
3. Case Study Volumes

Reated Case Studies

The Interview was conducted by Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary, Consulting Editor, Effective Executive and Dean, IBSCDC, Hyderabad.

This Interview was originally published in Effective Executive, IUP, November 2006.

Copyright © November 2006, IBSCDC No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or distributed, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or medium electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the permission of IBSCDC.

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Interview with Curtis R Carlson on Innovation