Road to Success in Tough Economic Times
There is little doubt that we are looking at some tough times economically. No matter what the two candidates for the American Presidency will or can do, we will be in the midst of an economic downturn. The chief reason for this is that consumers can't buy a lot of goods. Credit is tight, jobs are being shed, and most importantly, people are frightened about the future. This doesn't mean that consumers won't buy any goods. It does mean they will be much more selective about what they will spend limited amounts of money on.
A typical business reaction to a downturn is to cut, cut, cut. While cutting the fat away is good, cutting into innovation is the beginning of the death spiral. Businesses are no longer competing amongst similar businesses to sell similar products to consumers. They are competing against all other purchases. This is the time to actually invest in innovation, to invest in creating compelling goods that people will buy instead of something else.
"Compelling" is the key word here. If consumers don't feel drawn to new products they will make buying decisions based on price or someone else's compelling product. This is why innovation management is more important now than ever. Coming up with good ideas is hard enough. Knowing that they exist, where they exist, and making decisions about them is even harder. Companies abound with good ideas. Most are just buried somewhere so that product and brand managers can't find them.
This is one of the key reasons that InnovationQ exists. By helping scientists and engineers to collect, organize, and share ideas, InnovationQ allows for greater creative output. Even better, by allowing others to find these ideas and make decisions about them, good ideas percolate up to the where they can become useful product features.
At any point in time, product innovation is important. In a down economic climate, where differentiation and value become the guiding lights for consumers, it is even more essential. InnovationQ can help drive innovation and better products.
Great advice-
It can be risky to "play it safe" in todays market by cutting costs for innovation and employee development purposes. Too many companies have fallen into that trap and are beginning the downward spiral into stagnancy.
Many employers who have invested in their project managers by endorsing their Professional Project Management Certification have been rewarded with employees who are able to efficiently manage innovative projects.
I know many individuals who have used Cheetah Learning to get PMP certified, and they say that it has helped them get jobs and the other courses they took through cheetah to maintain their PMP helped them keep their jobs.
Even if you can't take one of their courses right now (due to innovation and employee development cut backs), Cheetah has some great free downloads at http://tinyurl.com/freepmtools.
Thanks for blogging about the the importance of innovation, recessions are not a time to stick your head in the sand, but a time to innovate and grow!
Thanks,
Kristen