lunes, 29 de octubre de 2012

El DNA de los Innovadores (6): "Look for people on the extremes"

Aquí su página en Amazon

The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators
Jeff Dyer (Author)
Hal Gregersen (Author)
Clayton M. Christensen (Author)


***

Más ejemplos :-)

¿Quién y por qué se lee dos libros a la semana?

¿Quién y por qué va tres veces a la tienda en el día?

¿Quién y por qué necesita cinco baterías (y tres cargadores) para su "cel"?


viernes, 26 de octubre de 2012

El DNA de los Innovadores (5)

Aquí su página en Amazon

The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators
Jeff Dyer (Author)
Hal Gregersen (Author)
Clayton M. Christensen (Author)


***

1. "Faster, cheaper, better" ha sido desde siempre el "mantra" del desarrollo de productos.

2. Clayton Christensen precisó qué era eso de "better", descubriendo que los compradores lo que hacen es contratar los productos para que estos hagan por ellos los "jobs" que no desean (o no pueden) ellos mismos hacer.

3. Así, la cantidad de Jobs-To-Be-Done bien resueltos que provee un producto, determina en últimas su VALOR para el comprador.

jueves, 25 de octubre de 2012

"Chilecon Valley"

Aquí el reportaje desde The Economist

Extracto introductorio:

"ONE by one they came to the stage and pitched their ideas to the crowd. There was the founder of Kwelia.com, which makes software that helps landlords mint more money from their properties. There was the co-founder of Chef Surfing, an online service for people looking to hire chefs, and for culinary wizards keen to tout their skills. And the creator of Kedzoh, which has an app that lets firms send short training videos to workers via their mobile phones or tablet computers.

These and other start-ups, some sporting fashionably weird names such as Chu Shu, Wallwisher and IguanaBee, won rapturous applause from the entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in the audience. To your correspondent, who is based in Silicon Valley, it all felt very familiar. Yet this scene took place in Chile, a nation better known for copper-mining and cheap wine than for innovation."

***

Otra cara de la globalización sin duda.
Una muy amable por cierto.
Y que señala el camino de las nuevas migraciones: ya no por el hambre (la carencia física de alimentos), sino por el hambre de un espacio propicio para la creación :-)

martes, 23 de octubre de 2012

Halloween (another) big business (muy innovador por cierto)

Aquí el reportaje original: Consumers can't keep paws off pet Halloween costumes, expected to spend $370 million

By Stacy Jones/The Star-Ledger
on October 23, 2012 at 6:00 AM, updated October 23, 2012 at 6:08 AM

Extracto inicial:

"The amount of money shoppers spend on Halloween costumes for pets has been a treat for retailers and it keeps getting sweeter.

Consumers will spend an estimated $370 million dressing their dogs and cats for ghoulish festivities this year, according to the National Retail Federation."

Extracto anécdota:

"Kathy Garland of Morris Township said she’s been buying costumes for Harry, her three-year-old English cocker spaniel, since he was just three months old.

“The first year he was Harry Potter the boy wizard. For that he had a hat, cape and the glasses, which didn’t really stay on too well,” she said. “Last year he was a New York City firefighter and for that he had a costume with a cape, hat and a fake axe.”

This year Garland spent $40 ordering a dog-sized New England Patriots sweater online and picking up a miniature football to attach to his collar.

“My husband’s a fan,” she said."

***

Sin comentarios :-/ (por ahora). Paso a la imágenes :-)






viernes, 19 de octubre de 2012

¿Mega-Innovación a la vista?: el "auto-automóvil", esto es, sin conductor

El artículo es de The Economist

Extracto introductorio:

"THE arrival of the mass-produced car, just over a century ago, caused an explosion of business creation. First came the makers of cars and all the parts that go into them. Then came the garages, filling stations and showrooms. Then all sorts of other car-dependent businesses: car parks, motels, out-of-town shopping centres. Commuting by car allowed suburbs to spread, making fortunes for prescient housebuilders and landowners. Roadbuilding became a far bigger business, whereas blacksmiths, farriers and buggy-whip makers faded away as America’s horse and mule population fell from 26m in 1915 to 3m in 1960."

Extracto interesante 1:

"Just imagine. It could, for a start, save the motor industry from stagnation. Carmakers are fretting at signs that smartphone-obsessed teenagers these days do not rush to get a driving licence and buy their first car, as their parents did. Their fear is that the long love affair with the car is fading. But once they are spared the trouble and expense of taking lessons and passing a test, young adults might rediscover the joys of the open road. Another worry for the motor industry is that car use seems to be peaking in the most congested cities. Yet automated cars would drive nose-to-tail, increasing the capacity of existing roads; and since they would be able to drop off their passengers and drive away, the lack of parking spaces in town might not matter so much."

Extracto interesante 2:

"All these trends will affect the car business. But when mass-produced cars appeared, they had an impact on the whole of society. What might be the equivalent social implications of driverless cars? And who might go the same way as the buggy-whip makers? Electronics and software firms will be among the winners: besides providing all the sensors and computing power that self-driving cars will need, they will enjoy strong demand for in-car entertainment systems, since cars’ occupants will no longer need to keep their eyes on the road. Bus companies might run convoys of self-piloting coaches down the motorways, providing competition for intercity railways. Travelling salesmen might prefer to journey from city to city overnight in driverless Winnebagos packed with creature comforts. So, indeed, might some tourists. If so, they will need fewer hotel rooms."


Extracto interesante 3:


"When people are no longer in control of their cars they will not need driver insurance—so goodbye to motor insurers and brokers. Traffic accidents now cause about 2m hospital visits a year in America alone, so autonomous vehicles will mean much less work for emergency rooms and orthopaedic wards. Roads will need fewer signs, signals, guard rails and other features designed for the human driver; their makers will lose business too. When commuters can work, rest or play while the car steers itself, longer commutes will become more bearable, the suburbs will spread even farther and house prices in the sticks will rise. When self-driving cars can ferry children to and from school, more mothers may be freed to re-enter the workforce. The popularity of the country pub, which has been undermined by strict drink-driving laws, may be revived. And so on."

***

La prueba de fuego (obvia) es el viaje en avión NO piloteado: si un ser humano puede con esto, puede entonces con el auto-automóvil :-) ¿De acuerdo?

PS: en la divertida película El Quinto Elemento, ésta no fue ciertamente la prospectiva escogida :-)

jueves, 18 de octubre de 2012

Innovacioncita (bueno, no tan pequeña :-)

Estoy mamado de las encuestas que pretenden medir mi satisfacción con el servicio recibido: en restaurantes por ejemplo (pero la "mamada" aplica a muchos otros escenarios de negocio-o no negocio-servicio)

No me gusta (entre otras):

1. Que siempre preguntan lo mismo.
2. Que nunca sé qué diantres pasó al cabo.
3. Que ocupan mi tiempo y atención, y no veo claro qué recibo a cambio.

Consecuencia: cada vez las respondo menos y con menos ganas :-/

Lo cual no es buena cosa para los escenarios de negocio-o no negocio-servicio :-)

***

Sugiero (quisiera verlo por ahí)

1. Que la "encuesta" fuera una "app" en "la tablet" o en "el phone"; que llegado al sitio-escenario se activara (mejor, que pidiera permiso de hacerlo) automáticamente, invitándome a "participar".

2. Que por supuesto la "app" tuviera memoria de todas mis visitas y calificaciones anteriores, y "actuara" en consecuencia.

3. Que "participar" fuera algo que sucediera, ¡jugando!. Por ejemplo un juego que me permita "jugar" con el mesero un juego (valen todas las redundancias :-) cuyo resultado sería que sube o baja la propina que se va a ganar; cool! (esta relación inmediata entre nivel de satisfacción, recompensa y actuación del vendedor es clave para todos los "juegos"). Por ejemplo un juego que me permita "jugar" con los demás comensales un juego (valen todas las redundancias :-) cuyo resultado fuera un agregado de buen o mal ambiente right now en el restaurante que despertara right now de su siesta al administrador local y/o al dueño de la franquicia 6.000 kilómetros más al norte (del planeta),

y

s
u
c
e
d
i
e
r
a
n

cosas :-)

En fin, esa es la idea.

miércoles, 17 de octubre de 2012

El DNA de los Innovadores (4)

Aquí su página en Amazon

The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators
Jeff Dyer (Author)
Hal Gregersen (Author)
Clayton M. Christensen (Author)


***

En estos días observé (y lo había observado antes muchas veces, sin "caer en cuenta") una pareja que lidiaba con exprimir un "octavo" de limón sobre la empanada en ciernes de ser degustada.

El proceso suele ser bastante molesto:

1.- El "octavo" de limón resbala entre los dedos
2.- Salpica, a los ojos, o a la ropa
3.- Las manos quedan untadas y oliendo por un rato
4.- Y lo peor, pocas gotas finalmente "caen" dentro de la empanada :-)

Quienes venden estas (deliciosas) empanaditas colombianas, de cara a una mayor satisfacción y consumo del producto, tendrían que proveer a sus comensales, por ejemplo, de un exprimidor desechable: una versión de bajo costo del diseño clásico o un diseño mejorado del mismo (ver abajo). Puede no ser desechable, pero esta solución implicaría el proceso-logístico de recogida de la mesa y lavado. En fin, identificado el Job To Be Done, la tarea es ahora de ingenieros y diseñadores :-)



martes, 16 de octubre de 2012

Google "FibreDroid"?

Aquí el texto completo desde TelecomTV, by I. D. Scales.

Extracto clave 1:

"Is Google aiming to launch a FibreDroid?

Just what is Google doing building out a fibre network across the Kansas Cities? If companies were people then Google is an adolescent software wizard not a gnarly old telco guy. It just doesn't fit - unless there's a cunning plan? By I. D. Scales.

Perhaps Google is bored with the ephemerality of the search business and yearns instead to undertake some manly trench digging and fibre-stringing and that's why it went to Kansas City to build its own network? Perhaps.

But the consensus view within the industry is that the search giant is looking to cock a snook at the incumbent network operators who tend to claim that regulation - including net neutrality - makes it uneconomic for then to invest in fibre access.

The incumbent telcos tend to argue that they must be free of regulation to give them enough commercial control over the access network to derive a reasonable return. This is hotly contested by Google and others who claim abundant bandwidth and an open Internet will drive huge value for users and they'll be prepared to pay a reasonable amount to get it.

So Google has set out with its Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City Missouri (they are twin cities) builds to show that a viable, fibre-based broadband access network offering gigabit plus connections can be built and deployed profitably - if you do it right and attach the 'correct' business model (see NEWS TIMELINE below).

And of course Google can afford to splash the cash in the interests of advancing its world view. It's a sort of "put your money where your mouth is" exercise."


Extracto clave 2:

"Is there more to it than this? Well, I think Google does have an obvious option in reserve should the build prove to be a stonking success (so far it looks promising but there's a way to go). And for want of a better term I'm calling it FiberDroid.

I think Google may well be looking to do an 'Android' and license its fibre network concept and the services it has attached to it to enable other companies to deploy similar networks and services (including Google services as a default) in other cities both in the US and globally.

Think of Android as the open mobile 'platform' and FibreDroid as its fixed network 'platform' equivalent. Of course Google doesn't want to do hundreds of network builds itself (just as it didn't want to build its own handsets) but it doesn't have to."

***

¡Guau! :-)

Coincido al 100% con las dos especulaciones de este inteligente (sin duda, y lo digo en serio) columnista de TelecomTV

Y añado,

1. Google (sus fundadores, su administración, el talento que ha atraído) ha probado una y otra vez durante más de una década ser capaz de situarse, y desde ahí proyectarse, en la punta-punta del esfuerzo innovador de su "industria".

2. A su comprensión de la "industria" (y consecuente posterior actuación) se le debe "sumar" (puesto que a Google le suma) la lentitud (por decirlo de alguna manera) de pensamiento y acción, que los tele-incumbentes han mostrado también durante más de una década, para adaptarse a los cambios que la tecnología ha propiciado.

3. Tal vez (tal vez) Google sea una de esas compañías de nuevo cuño, que no resienten lo que JA Schumpeter llamaba la destrucción-creativa, que así mismo ES creación-destructiva, como acertadamente lo señala su biografo (ver entradas anteriores en este mismo blog), y por el contrario se hacen a sí mismas más fuertes adoptando esta
magna
regla
del
juego
capitalista.

May be. Ojalá (que significa Dios quiera :-)

viernes, 12 de octubre de 2012

Innovation and Big Data

Según parece, todo comenzó aquí:

Deep Blue

"On May 11, 1997, an IBM computer called IBM ® Deep Blue ® beat the world chess champion after a six-game match: two wins for IBM, one for the champion and three draws. The match lasted several days and received massive media coverage around the world. It was the classic plot line of man vs. machine. Behind the contest, however, was important computer science, pushing forward the ability of computers to handle the kinds of complex calculations needed to help discover new medical drugs; do the broad financial modeling needed to identify trends and do risk analysis; handle large database searches; and perform massive calculations needed in many fields of science."

En otras palabras: BIG DATA

***

Por cuenta de las facilidades varias de registro, almacenamiento y procesamiento de interacciones, provistas por el avance en las TICs, muchas empresas (comercio al por menor, telecomunicaciones, servicios financieros, otras) están hoy en la misma posición que IBM y su Deep Blue por allá en 1997: listas para vencer al campeón más experto que haya, a punta de DATA (BIG) y cálculo.

Sólo que esta vez sí es Rocket Science :-)

No basta la DATA
No basta el "software"
No basta el poder de cálculo
A todo esto hay que ponerle al frente: e x t r e m a capacidad para elaborar preguntas :-)

Por todo esto, "BIG DATA" es un Servicio Profesional de alto calibre :-) Y la innovación se puede beneficiar en
e x t r e m o
del resultado...
...del resultado de responder vía BIG DATA a las preguntas e x t r e m a s :-)


***

Ver aquí a modo de introducción: Super Crunchers, de Ian Ayres



miércoles, 3 de octubre de 2012

Entrepreneurship: desde el Ludwig von Mises Institute

Aquí, por John Dellape

Extracto 1:

"I am hard-pressed to think of a more fitting time for the book Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment: A New Approach to the Firm by Nicolai Foss and Peter Klein to be read. The book's aim is to integrate the study of entrepreneurship with the theory of the firm under economic analysis. Nationally and globally we are at a pivotal moment in which people need to understand how businesses function arnd the entrepreneurial abilities necessary for continued economic progress. Without further ado, I give you chapter 1 of the book."

Extracto 2:

"Chapter 1. The Need for an Entrepreneurial Theory of the Firm

Foss and Klein (FK) lament from the start the schism that has been erected in economic science between the firm and the entrepreneur. They argue that, for a full understanding of the firm, one must understand the entrepreneurs who make decisions within the firm; while for a full understanding of the entrepreneur, one must understand the environment of the firm in which he acts. Their effort is to make the needed connection where a substantial gap currently exists between the firm and the entrepreneur.
The Theory of the Firm in Economics

FK give evidence to show that "the economic and managerial analysis of the firm is a vibrant area of research and application." At the same time, "the theory of the firm as a contractual or organizational entity … is … a relatively new development" that emerged in the 1970s. The authors argue that it was Ronald Coase who first propelled the theory of the firm.
Entrepreneurship

FK also note that there has been a considerable push in the study of entrepreneurship within the past decade as economists have seen the entrepreneur more worthy of inspection in order to understand technological progress. FK pose the question "What is entrepreneurship?" Typically economists have either defined entrepreneurship in terms of either (1) an outcome or a phenomenon (self-employment, startups) or (2) a way of thinking or acting (creativity, innovation, alertness, etc.)."

Extracto CLAVE:

" [cita desde el propio libro comentado] The firm … is the entrepreneur and the assets he owns, and therefore ultimately controls. The theory of the firm is essentially a theory of how the entrepreneur exercises his judgmental decision-making — what combinations of assets will he seek to acquire, what (proximate) decisions will he delegate to subordinates, how will he provide incentives and employ monitoring to see that his assets are used consistently with his judgments, and so on."

martes, 2 de octubre de 2012

El DNA de los Innovadores (3)

Aquí su página en Amazon

The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators
Jeff Dyer (Author)
Hal Gregersen (Author)
Clayton M. Christensen (Author)




***

"La necesidad (la carencia-NO HAY, la urgencia-NO HAY TIEMPO) es la madre de todas las invenciones"

Las "restricciones" son una puya a la creatividad; en la holgura y la comodidad es más fácil la relajación que nos duerme; ensaye (por ejemplo) a vivir un día de su vida con una sola mano disponible, y apreciará cuántas "estrategias" se le ocurren para compensar :-)

lunes, 1 de octubre de 2012

El DNA de los Innovadores (2)

Aquí su página en Amazon

The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators
Jeff Dyer (Author)
Hal Gregersen (Author)
Clayton M. Christensen (Author)

"Mejor colorado una vez y no pálido para toda la vida..." :-)


***

Una de las características que hace poderosos a los grandes innovadores, afirman los autores-investigadores, es su permanente actitud cuestionante: hacer preguntas una y otra vez, todo el tiempo, en relación a todo. Aquí se ilustra porqué NO todos se comportan "naturalmente" así; y qué cabe hacer al respecto.


Recuerdo que Kenichi Ohmae, en "La Mente del Estratega", relataba cómo los ejecutivos más brillantes (exitosos) de las organizaciones en Japón allá por las décadas 70s y 80s se caracterizaban por lo mismo: preguntar ¿Por qué? y ¿Por qué (otra vez), y otra vez, y así hasta el cansancio, a objeto de llegar "a la raíz" del problema (u oportunidad :-)