Do you think innovation is vital for growth?

[Leigh Steele]

How do you encourage forward-thinking and innovation in your business?

Even small businesses require the power of ingenuity to grow. Get inspired by this list of companies who are disrupting every industry from biotech to transportation.

Meet the 2018 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies

 

[mfawcett]

My company offers a digital service, so I'm not opposed to innovation or disrupting industries.

That said, I think a lot of what we hear for disruption and innovation is simply media hype. I think bigger factors are demographics and the economic situation. For example, in the 1950s the economy was going gang-busters. That wasn't because of innovation for the most part, it was because of demographics, and supply & demand in the post-war West.

 

[Leigh Steele]

mfawcett That's an interesting opinion and I'm so glad you shared that perspective. Perhaps disruption is both a combination of luck (ie socioeconomics) and true innovation/needs. Either way, it's fascinating!

 

[Inva]

Hmm, I do not feel disrupted in any way, am i reading it wrong?

Innovation is a word that practically did not exist before Apple popularised it as a PR tool. Therefore i am agreed with mfawcett that it's used today mostly as hype. Wherever i read "innovation", "innovative" etc, i know 100% that this product or service is NOT innovative in any way. Someone who is really innovative does not waste word space with buzzwords but describes the new feature instead.

In our company we simply focus on creating a good product. It is this that inspires real innovative ideas, IF AND WHEN they come. But nowadays it seems to me most companies "innovate" just for the sake of it. A lot of "innovation" today is in reality useless stuff. Btw a couple years back i saw embedded webcam in Apple laptops, they had listed this as an "innovative" feature.

 

[VirtualGlobalPhone]

Inva ; World is better today because of the power and influence these words like Innovation, disruptive .. brings on daily life. We simply cant deny that... look at the sales of the company you mentioned and the value ... ohmm is it 1 Trillion$ .... seriously!!!.
Because .. Its these simple words brings trust, faith, believes in the common people mind to make these company and there product successful.

Leigh Steele , I guess i have answered one part with above. The other part is to understand that moving forward with better than yesterday is always need to be looked into. In that way you push the whole industry. Look at the same company which Inva referred. Before that the phones were just phone ... today its smartest phone.

For us as company bringing more value additions with right feature for present day is very important with "Innovation" either by "Collaboration" or "Own resource".

 

[Leigh Steele]

Inva I valued your perspective as well. I can see how you've come to that belief. As I mentioned earlier, I like to think the the truth generally lies somewhere in the middle. True innovation is a way of being, of thinking beyond limitations. It requires action. So yes, using the word solely for the sake of marketing could absolutely dilute it's meaning.

VirtualGlobalPhone - I agree with you. If we support continual growth, then we must be willing to look at a business from both a logical and creative standpoint. I think innovation encapsulates that in a powerful way.