Strategic Innovation is a key way businesses can stay ahead and do really well. It's like a puzzle with five main pieces. This article talks about each of these five pieces and how they work together to make a business successful. Let’s explore each of these.

1. Create Value

Growth and profit come from creating value. I’ve yet to meet an executive who doesn’t say, “We’re a value-added provider.” That’s code language for we want to do profitable business. To grow profits a company must continue to develop and deploy new ways to create value.

2. For Ideal Clients

Value is in the eye of the beholder. The job of every company is to obsessively understand the outcomes their clients want to achieve and then work to deliver these. Strategic Innovation begins with an intimate understanding of desired outcomes.

3. With Breakthrough Ideas

Most companies that run with operational excellence using business operating systems are good at Sustaining Innovation, where you refine your offering over time, making incremental improvements. Disruptive Innovations offer something totally new, creating new areas of value. 

4. Using A Process

Strategic Innovation doesn’t happen by accident. Sadly, many companies lack the structure and process to drive strategic innovation. As a result, it simply doesn’t get done. 

5. To Build Competitive Advantage

The number two questions to be answered daily are:  “Why should we buy?” and “Why should we buy from you?” Every day you have existing and startup competitors working to provide a better answer to that question. You may have competitive advantage now, but without a process for strategic innovation, you are at risk of losing your advantage. That means you are at risk of losing everything. 

Got Strategic Innovation?

Do you have a process for Strategic Innovation? If not, why not? As Stephen Covey taught us, the most important things are usually not the most urgent. Make sure the tyranny of the urgent does not distract you from the critical task of innovating.

To discover how other midsize companies drive innovation visit https://strategicinnovationengine.com/discovery.