entrepreneurNo matter how downright fabulousand famous your brand, if you get toocomfortable with doing ‘business asusual’ and fail to put aside the time and moneyto innovate, you could be heading for a fall.Consider the demise of Boeing, Kodak, IBMand the no-longer-UK-owned Rolls-Royce andBentley – or Borders bookstores, for that matter.Even Ferrari chief designer Nikolas Tombazisblamed lack of design innovation for the team’slacklustre F1 performance during 2011.In comparison, innovation is part of somebusinesses’ DNA. Think Apple, Procter &Gamble, Lonely Planet and Virgin – outfitsthat continually change and renew their brandidentities to build market share. It’s their‘differentiation through innovation’ that otherbusinesses are keen to emulate.Indeed, many SMEs are open to innovatingas part of their business models but the questionthey struggle with is: ‘How can I find the timeto drive innovation when I’m weighed downwith chasing suppliers, managing customerdemands and overseeing staff?’MEET THE PANELCreel Priceco-founded Sydney marketing business,Blueprint Management Group at the ageof 25 with $5,000 in capital. He sold it adecade later, with more than 1,000 staff,for $100 million-plus. Since then, Price hasbeen innovating in social entrepreneurship,combining commerce and charity. He foundedthe Accelerate Global entrepreneurial trainingprogram (accelerateglobal.com), used by SirRichard Branson’s Centre of Entrepreneurshipin South Africa and Jamaica. He also runs ClubKidpreneur, a school program and websiteencouraging children to start their ownmicro businesses (clubkidpreneur.com).<strong>Paul</strong> <strong>Higgins</strong>is a futurist with a Masters degree inStrategic Foresight from the AustralianForesight Institute at Swinburne University ofTechnology. He is also the founder ofMelbourne-based <strong>Emergent</strong> <strong>Futures</strong>(emergentfutures.com), which helps businesspeople think constructively about the futureso they can take effective action today.<strong>Higgins</strong> works with government, statutoryorganisations, commercial operations andnot-for-profits on foresight and strategy.Dr Hugh Bradlowis Chief Technology Officer at Telstra and aself-confessed technology tragic. He’sresponsible for investigating the futuretechnologies and innovation that will impactTelstra’s business. Prior to joining Telstra in1995, Bradlow was Professor of ComputerEngineering at the University of Wollongongand Professor of Electrical Engineering (DigitalSystems) at the University of Cape Town.Brad Howarthis a technology and marketing journalistand co-author of A Faster Future(afasterfuture.com), a book about the futureof broadband applications and services. Hehas written for The Australian, B&T, BRW,Forbes, The Guardian, AFR BOSS, Rolling StoneAustralia, GQ Australia and BusinessWeek.businessview 5
<strong>Paul</strong> <strong>Higgins</strong>:Top four Australianbusiness innovatorsPAUL HIGGINS FUTURISTwoolworthstook adecliningorganisation...and turned itinto apowerhouse bycontinuallyinnovating.– <strong>Paul</strong> <strong>Higgins</strong>WoolworthsWoolworths took what was a decliningorganisation at the end of the AdelaideSteamship era and turned it into apowerhouse by continually innovating, bothin their supply chain and with customers.A lot of their ideas have been copied fromother countries and other companies, butgood innovators do that. Key to their successhas been a clear vision and strong,consistent execution.Macquarie TelecomBy continually innovating its business modelto stay ahead of the commoditisation cyclefor the technology and communicationsindustry, Macquarie Telecom has maintaineda high-margin business. Starting as a voiceand billing company, it has moved intomobile, data and data-hosting centres andmore recently into cloud computing services.While Macquarie Telecom may not seemto be wildly innovative, it has innovatednon-stop at a level suitable for its businessand industry, preserving high margins andgenerating lots of cash.To innovate successfully as changeand competition become fasterand more intense, businessesneed to look around at a macro levelas well as concentrating on day-to-dayoperations. That’s the paradox, saysfuturist <strong>Paul</strong> <strong>Higgins</strong>, and one that’sresolved by being open to differentperspectives when thinking aboutthe future.“For example, a technology companycan easily become focused on theengineering part of their business andmiss the social changes that are takingplace,” he says. “Most great innovationshave come at the intersections ofdisciplines, rather than from withinthem. This range of perspectives canbe achieved by adding variety in yourorganisation or by bringing outsidepeople into the process, which mayinclude deeply embedding yourcustomers in thinking about the futureand what it may hold – a factor thatgoes well beyond focus groups orcustomer surveys.”Be prepared to take risks and to fail,adds <strong>Higgins</strong>. “Steve Jobs was rightfullylauded for his innovations and his successat Apple but there’s also a litany offailures, large and small, in his historythat people conveniently forget. In aworld where change is happening faster,where innovation in technology andsoftware is reaching business modelsof nearly every industry and where thecost of starting new companies in thetechnology field has fallen dramatically,we need to be tearing apart and riskingour own business models beforesomeone else does it to us.”Finally, <strong>Higgins</strong> talks of bunglesbusinesses make when attempting toimplement innovative ideas. Theseinclude not trying enough ideas and notinteracting sufficiently with customersat the early stages, especially aroundproduct design and user interfaces.Also, if a company only rewardssuccessful ideas and creates a culture of‘safe’ approaches, it could inadvertentlystifle innovation – after all, risk is at theheart of new ideas.<strong>Higgins</strong> warns, too, against focusingon current operational excellence andcustomer needs rather than taking alonger-term view: “it’s a potential deathknell to innovation.”Australian farmersAustralian business has a lot to learnfrom the best Australian farmers, whohave relentlessly innovated and adoptedtechnology in order to stay ahead in a highlycompetitive and sometimes corruptedinternational market. The farmers of todayare unrecognisable compared with farmersof 20 or 30 years ago.The Big IssueIt’s important to go beyond the businessworld to look for examples of innovation.Most Australians know of The Big Issue,thanks to street vendors who sell copiesof the fortnightly magazine in major citiesaround the nation – but The Big IssueAustralia is always exploring new ways todeal with the problems of homelessness atthe base cause level and has built severalnew programs to contend with it over thepast few years. The not-for-profit enterpriseruns a Community Street Soccer Program andhas hosted the Homeless World Cup. It alsoimplements an educational program, TheBig Issue Classroom, that informs studentsand business people about homelessness,challenging presumptions. And recently,it commenced the Women’s SubscriptionsEnterprise, which provides employment andhelp for disadvantaged women through thesale of subscriptions to the magazine. Theorganisation is continually looking for newschemes it could implement, but it carefullyexecutes and beds down every projectbefore moving on to the next one.businessview 7
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