Ahead of the "Excellence in Research and Development" conference, June 8 at 17:00, at the Tel Aviv Jaffa Academy, Dobi Foust says that successful organizations will invest more effort and resources in research and openness during periods of prosperity and prosperity and will allocate an increasing portion of their profits during these periods in order to ensure renewal and continued business growth and prosperity.
Dobi Fawcett is a business strategy consultant from the Edna Pesher Group Ltd
In a reality where the product/service life cycle is getting shorter, the research and open arm in organizations becomes the organizational "elixir of life" that ensures the continued financial prosperity of any profitable organization. The same is true for start-up companies whose open time from idea to market is a question of "to be or not to be".
Investing in open research cannot "wait" for difficult times when the dairy cow begins to lose her yield - it may be too late (and usually a difficult process to identify) and very quickly the company enters the slippery slope of abrasive and frustrating operational competition (constant decrease in profits) which in many cases leads to decline and even Closing an organization's activity without new outputs. Successful organizations will invest more effort and resources in research and open during periods of boom and prosperity and will allocate an increasing portion of their profits during these periods in order to ensure renewal and continued business growth and prosperity.
The basic values of successful research and development processes have not changed:
- Understanding the target audience and its needs (added value for the customer for which he is willing to pay of his own money)
- Strategic differentiating advantages (which cannot be easily imitated)
- An efficient open process (time and resources)
- A profitable economic model
Along with the business challenge, the reality in which we operate today also invites us to new and interesting opportunities whose connection to the open world of research enables us to successfully deal with future goals and tasks.
Online networks as a tool for pooling information and resources
The online networks allow entrepreneurs (within and outside the organizations) direct access to invaluable information for researchers and entrepreneurs. The "wisdom of the crowd" has long since replaced the "wisdom of the genius" (who knows better than the customer what the customer needs...) and enables continuous "correspondence" with target audiences and their needs and receiving valuable authentic information in all phases of the project: from defining the hypothesis and distilling the idea through examining the process of its realization (planning - in execution - examination - adjustment) and ending with the characterization of the final product / service. This process greatly shortens the timelines and increases the odds of success significantly.
Another advantage of the online networks is the ability to harness partners with complementary knowledge and experience that are essential for the research and open fields but lacking for entrepreneurs. In our complex reality, the specialization is usually vertical and in order to complete the case and open processes, the entrepreneurs often need content experts supporting in many and varied fields. The online networks allow easy access to a variety of potential strategic business partners and even the establishment of business associations (consortia). The third advantage of the online networks is, of course, the access to sources of funding for research and open processes, whether funding funds, private investors, and recently even "crowd investment" mechanisms. The online networks are no less important as an effective and essential lever to market the assimilation and distribution of the new product or service.
Measurement of intangible assets
The criticality of meeting the goals of the research and open processes requires careful management of time and resources. The well-known excuse that research and open processes are not measurable no longer holds. Measurement methods and the setting of quantitative and real goals must be found throughout the life of the project - from its beginning to its end, even in the research and open world.
"Important vs Urgent"
From an overall organizational perspective, there is always the inherent - eternal conflict of resource distribution between the "urgent" (outputs) and the "important" (research and open). The way to deal with this type of conflict is by separating decision-making authorities, including strategic objectives, human and financial resources, etc., with the integration being done at the highest levels of the company. In small companies, at least the amount of manpower and budgets that are designated for open research and that enable meeting the goals must be defined in advance.
Organizational culture - "learning organization"
The last dimension I chose to mention and is the most important of all in my opinion is the corporate culture! Excellence in research and openness to the world will rest on an organizational culture of a courageous vision, openness to overflowing and containing problems, the integration of the existing situation and basic assumptions, curiosity and multidisciplinary cooperation. Such a culture will be created through organizational leadership that sets clear expectations and sets a personal example.
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift" - Albert Einstein
About the author:
Dov (Doby) Fawcett has over thirty years of experience in managing people, technology, and production in large and global high technology organizations (Intel, Numonics, Micron). Among the main positions he held: operations manager (production and engineering), infrastructure manager, and VP of Human Resources. Has extensive experience in leading, training and consulting in various aspects of organizational optimization such as: strategic business planning and its implementation, improving the flow of value in productive organizations, mapping and improving core organizational processes, managing organizational culture and behavior. Senior management member and active partner in leading strategic business processes such as: establishment / start-up, extraction of mature productive activity, merger, purchase, closure of activity and Management Buy-Out. Currently a member of the consulting team of the Edna Pesher company and a partner in the start-up company.
