Some call it incremental innovation, others just copy. Examples can be found in any sector, but in few such as software and consumer electronics the rapprochement between innovators and followers has become so evident. As an example, the iPad, iPhone, or Kindle, and their substitutes.
Only 15 of the world's top 50 technology firms increased their spending on research and development (R&D) last year, including Microsoft, Samsung, Google and Apple. The others have painfully removed the scissors, such as HP, Motorola or Nec, with cuts of more than 20%.
The latest BusinessWeek list designates Apple as the Most Innovative Company of 2010, followed by Google. However, the sum of R&D of both firms does not even reach half of what Nokia or Microsoft spend, both in low hours.
KEEP READING the rest after the jump.
"Once you exceed a certain level of spending, there is no evidence that more R&D resources are going to get better results," explains Barry Jaruzelski, innovation expert at Booz & Company. The key is in talent and making the right decisions about what to prioritize and when, he says, rather than flooding the market with products and seeing which one generates interest.
It's working for Apple. For Henry Chesbrough, professor at the Hass School of Business at the University of California, it is the most innovative. “They have made many mistakes, but their clients forgive them because they continue to take risks, inventing the future. That builds loyalty ».
The Cupertino company is not even in the top 25 of those that spend the most money on R&D in consumer electronics: 1.333 million dollars last year, only 3% of its total revenue, compared to 8.240 million. Nokia dollars, 14% of its sales. But he has managed to make all manufacturers of music players, mobile phones and tablets imitate his style. And, incidentally, become the third largest company in the world by market value.
Source: elpais.com
