Archives: May 2007

MIT's Green City Cars Could Help Congestion and Pollution.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 31

IN5 has a great story by Adam Aston on a new generation of very advanced, stackable electric cars/carts that could help alleviate the problems of urban transportation--too much traffic and...

IN5 Goes Beyond Second Life to Other Virtual Worlds.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 31

While Second Life gets all the hype, a growing number of companies are bypassing it--and some are even leaving--for other virtual worlds that may be better. Reena Jana and Aili...

3M's Battle Between Efficiency and Creativity--Inside Innovation Issue #5.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 31

You see it again and again: Six Sigma versus Innovation. The latest issue of IN tackles that issue with an indepth look by Brian Hindo at how 3M lost much...

Will Apple's iPhone do Email?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 30

The iPhone is only a few weeks from being introduced and I was lucky enough to play with it some time ago. It was a dazzling, paradigm-busting product/service/experience. The new...

Blog Design--A Great Outcome For NEXT, Our New Blog.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 30

Check out the latest iteration of NEXT. We've had a fascinating conversation about how to design blogs and the outcome is terrific. The current design of NEXT allows the audience...

Delta's CEO Sends Me A Personal Letter Apologizing For Bad Service--That's Actually Pretty Good Service.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 30

Back on May 22, I posted about Delta's failure with me to live up to its new upbeat marketing campaign. On the day Delta emerged from bankruptcy to start anew,...

Arianna Huffington's New Blog Redesign.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 29

Check out the redesign of the Huffington site, a liberal blog by the well-connected, really smart Arianna Huffington. It's been transformed from "blog" to "site" by adding channels for media,...

The First Cyber War Battle--Estonia.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 29

Sometimes an event happens at the far corner of your vision that has huge implications but you're too busy to really focus on its importance. The recent cyber attack on...

Individual Genius--We Should Never Forgot How Important It Is.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 29

In era of process, where we do nearly all our innovation and design in teams, it is important to remember that genius can still play a critical role in creativity....

Why Are CEOs Bipolar When It Comes To Innovation?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 29

The next issue of Inside Innovation--IN5--will go online Wednesday night and the key theme is the tension between efficiency and innovation within corporate culture. To me, this is emerging as...

GE Proves Sustainability Can Drive Innovation And Profits.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 26

GE recently said that it has doubled the sales of its "green" products and services to $12 billion over the past two years. This is a very important number, showing...

Dell's Confusing Decision To Sell Through Wal-Mart.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 25

I get that Dell wants to move away from its online sales model and expand its direct sales to consumers. The old model is broken. But selling through Wal-Mart is...

More Insight On Blog Design.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 24

Here is some interesting thought on the blog design discussion, from David Armano, who is into conversation architecture at Logic + Emotion. If you haven't plugged in, we have launched...

How Do You Design A Great Blog? Inside A Business Week Debate.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 24

For any individual or corporation interested in the how's and why's of blogs and blogging, the discussion taking place here about the new Business Week blogs is insightful, instructive and...

Trying To Clean Up Your Virtual House?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 23

For those of you who have grown up on Friendster, MySpace and social sites online and left some, mmmm, indiscrete digital images and thoughts you'd rather have disappear, check out...

Lenovo Bets on Innovation And Wins.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 23

It's great to see Lenovo's profits jumping for the most recent fiscal year because it is one of China's--and the world's--most innovative companies. Absorbing IBM's ThinkPad unit proved problematic for...

Delta's New Branding Won't Work.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 22

Have you noticed all that nice, clean, cool advertising coming out of post-Chapter 11 Delta? It's all part of a marketing campaign to announce Delta's “new era, introduce an updated,...

New Innovation Blog--Check it Out.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 22

We have a new blog on the Innovation & Design site called NEXT--Innovation Tools & Trends. Jessi Hempel and Helen Walters are writing it and it's really good. There's a...

Sustainability is The New Driver of Innovation.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 22

I've been talking to the Nike folks lately and learning a lot about viewing sustainability as an energizer of innovation and a growth engine for corporations. This is important because...

Quote of The Day.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 20

"The one-size-fits-all model never fits the individual right. We are now on the verge of the one-size-fits-one world." — Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine Anderson was speaking at Patrick...

David Armano Goes To Critical Mass to do Consumer Experience Design.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 18

One of the best bloggers--and thinkers--I know, David Armano, is moving to Critical Mass, a consumer experience consultancy out of Calgary. David is staying in Chicago and will be VP...

Microsoft Buys Avenue A/Razorfish: West Coast Meets East Coast.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 18

We are seeing a big integration of tech and media, West Coast and East Coast, search and advertising. Microsoft's buy of aQuantive inc. (which owns New York-based Avenue A/Razorfish) for...

Why Global Execs Think HP is Innovative.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 17

HP is out with great second quarter financial results. Much of the coverage has been about cost-cutting. Global managers believe that innovation and design play key roles in HP's success....

Vultures Over The Hamptons.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 17

I am used to seeing vultures out at the Hamptons. It is full of hedge fund managers and other Wall Street types. But this weekend I was having fish and...

HP Soars--Thanks To The Power Of Design.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 17

HP is on a roll--with great second quarter results. Much of this gain is due to HP's strategic use of design. Behind the comeback for HP is a name you...

Designers Vs. Business People: Who Takes On More Risk?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 17

Comments are flowing in on the risk post. Here is a thoughtful one by Chris Conley of Gravity Tank: "Well, the semester is out and I just finished the Gravity...

Embracing Risk To Grow--A Must Read For All CEOs.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 16

Diego Rodriguez and Ryan Jacoby have written an insightful piece on risk for one of my favorite magazines, Rotman Magazine, from Roger Martin's Rotman School of Management, and we are...

Motorola's New RAZR2

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 16

Motorola has launched a new slew up updated cell phones and boy, are they snazzy. They hit the market in July, a month after the Apple touch-screen iPhone goes on...

Quote of The Day.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 15

"It's all about managing complexity." Jeneanne Rae, service innovation consultant, Peer Insight. Her thought being that our lives are so complicated today, with our triple tasking everything, that any company...

Lessons From the Chrysler-Daimler Debacle. Organic Growth Trumps Synergy.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 15

It is a verity that few in business believe but most mergers and acquisitions designed to produce "synergy" between two companies fail. It would be better to follow a second...

An Amazing Innovation Conference.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 15

The Institute of Design, Patrick Whitney's remarkable grad school of innovation, is holding its annual stratey meeting this Thursday and Friday. Go. Just go if you can and listen to...

Chrysler Needs to Redesign Its Business Process.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 15

Pete Mortensen at Jump sent in this comment that deserves our attention. He points out that Chrysler has been designing great looking cars. The real problem is designing better supply...

DaimlerChrysler Lost Nearly $30 billion On Chrysler. So Why Do Global Managers Think It Is Innovative?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 14

Daimler Paid $36 billion to buy Chrysler and appears to have sold it to Cerberus, a huge private equity firm, for $7 billion. That's a loss of $29 billion. Yet...

Cerberus Should Use Design To Revive Chrysler, Not Just Cut Costs.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 14

I have some advice for the private equity firm Cerberus that appears likely to buy Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler--don't just cut costs, the way you always do and then flip the...

Does Innovation Actually Reduce Risk, Not Increase It?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 11

I was at the Front End Innovation Conference in Boston put on by the PDMA this week and heard some terrific presentations. One quick conclusion from several of them is...

Why Is IBM One of The World's Most Innovative Companies?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 10

Well, according to the BW/BCG survey of top managers around the world, it is not about servers. It's about patents, R&D, adaptability, and innovation culture. Check out the first 50...

What Brands Are Successful on Second Life? Those Who Build Community.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 08

Greg Verdino has an interesting post on which brands on Second Life are doing well and why. BigPond, Pontiac, IBM and Showtime have great "dwell" or traffic on Second Life,...

Blog Mania--How To Do A Really Great Blog.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 08

Blog conferences are proliferating and I think it's because people are discovering that blogging--blogging with a purpose-- is harder than it appears. This is a lesson that I'm discovering as...

Why Global Managers Think GE Is Innovative.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 08

General Electric moved up two notches in the BW/BCG annual survey of The World's Most Innovative Companies, jumping to No. 4 in '07 from No. 6 in '06. GE is...

Does Motorola Really Do Great Design?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 07

Carl Icahn, who is constantly called "the corporate raider turned shareholder activist" is battling Motorola CEO Ed Zander to get a seat on the board of directors and use the...

Why Global Execs Think Microsoft Is Innovative.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 07

Microsoft was No. 5 in the BW/BCG annual survey of The World's Most Innovative Companies--again. It was fifth in 06 as well. Why? Truth is, nothing irritates most Silicon Valley...

Do You Have "Authority" On Technorati?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 07

Tip of the hat to David Armano over at Logic + Emotion for highlighting the fact that Technorati has changed the way it measures--and describes--links to blogs. David doesn't think...

Why Apple Is No. 1 In Innovation--The BW/BCG Survey.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 07

Here are the first 50 of the 1032 responses on the survey explaining why top managers believe Apple is the most innovative company in the world. It makes for fascinating...

Broken Promise Fatigue Rather Than Innovation Fatigue.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 07

Over at Ethnography.com, Mark makes an interesting point about "innovation fatigue." Maybe it has to do with the broken promises of top managers on innovation.Check out what he has to...

Do CEOs Have Innovation Fatigue?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 04

The latest BW/BCG survey of top execs around the world shows that a distinct "innovation fatigue" is setting in. In 2006, 32% of top execs said innovation was the top...

The Shape of Information Is Changing--Microsoft Chases Yahoo And Thomson Is Chasing Reuter's?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 04

The information landscape is changing very fast. First Murdoch makes a bid for The Wall Street Journal. Now Microsoft appears to be making a bid for Yahoo. And Thomson is...

The Most Innovative Companies in Finance, Tech, Pharma, Consumer--All Major Categories.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 04

To me, the best way to benchmark innovation is within the industry category. That's why this breakdown of the Most Innovative Companies for 2007 within industries works best. So we...

The Most Innovative Companies in the World--2007.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 03

The annual BW/BCG global survey of The World's Most Innovative Companies is out and there are some amazing shifts from last year. There are four new companies in the Top...

Deep Dive Into The Data And Connect The Dots of Global Companies.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 02

I've been playing with a new site for corporate data that Business Week just put up online Wednesday. There are lots of sites for company data but I haven't seen...

The "Clown" Theory of Innovation.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 02

Mark Dawson posted this insightful comment on innovation. He points out that thinking about it in terms of "one-off" innovation (get me another iPod quick!) doesn't make your company innovative....

Who Is Tired Of Innovation?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 02

We are about to come out with our list of The Most Innovative Companies in the world (online this Thursday evening) and it is clear that a split is developing...

Back From Baja To Find Murdoch In Action Again.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 01

Just back from Mexico and the world's a-hopping. Rubert Murdoch's bid for Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal reflects how fast the silos are coming down everywhere, especially media....