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Executive Interviews: Interview with Geoffrey Moore on Innovation
January 2008 - By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
Geoffrey Moore Managing Director,
TCG Advisors, Venture Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures. 
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In the light of emergence of
business giants from emerging
economies, how do you see the
diffusion of innovation? Is it the end
of corporate imperialism?
Innovation diffuses from early
adopters to the mainstream, always.
The only issue is, where are the early
adopters to be found these days. I
think corporate imperialism will
continue, but again I think we may see
the arrows pointing in new directions.
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What is the relationship between
product category's life cycle and
innovation?
Innovation is required at every point
in a category's life cycle. Early on,
product leadership is king. Later in
the market,
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innovations in
operational excellence and customer
intimacy create higher returns. Once
markets begin to contract,
innovations in company structuring
and restructuring are the key.
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What is the role of leadership in
fostering innovation?
Leadership is better at suppressing
innovation than fostering it. The
truth is, innovation is such a natural
activity it does not need to be
fostered. The tricky part is
integrating an innovation into an
established system. There is a period
of "grafting" where it is critical to
manage the fledging enterprise
under a special set of rules. This does
require active, intelligent leadership. -
How to foster innovation in familyrun
businesses? Are there any
examples that are worth emulating?
Have children, raise them well, then
get out of their way. Ford, Motorola,
Coors have all had long periods in
which they thrived. How they did so
I am not privy to. -
Can Napster's and Skype's
mercurial ability to fundamentally
alter two different industries'
business models be termed
disruptive innovation?
You bet. Any time you give away
something that an industry sells, you
will be disruptive. So add Open
Source plus any ad-supported
service from a Google or Yahoo. -
How should pragmatists be
nurtured? Or should they be found
outside the companies? Are
pragmatists becoming a rarity?
Pragmatists are the most common
form of customer. They are easily
recognized because they are thinking
about themselves and their issues,
not about you. They also
characteristically worry about risks
before they worry about rewards.
Nurturing pragmatists is key. You do
so by respecting their interests and
addressing them in the order of
priority they establish. -
In the light of recent high profile
exits of leaders at major global
corporations (Bob Nordelli from
Home Depot and Charles Prince from
Citi, etc), how according to you
should the new leaders be? Have
expectations from the leaders have
undergone any change? What should
be the priorities of new leaders in the
new corporate consensus, if at all
there is one?
Leaders should be in service to all
the constituencies that make up the
enterprise. Working through the
conflicts this inevitably entails their
highest calling. Leaders get into
trouble when they over-prioritize
one constituency at the expense of
another. In the US, we tend to outweigh
the investor, in Europe, the
social interest: that is how CEOs are
likely to get fired. -
What are the three important
trends that you have noticed in the
last decade that have altered the way
business is carried out, the way
organizations are managed?
The Internet, outsourcing, and the
capitalization of risk. Work and risk
are being redistributed to achieve
unprecedented returns.
1.
ICMR Innovation Case Studies
2. ICMR
Case Collection
3.
Case Study Volumes
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