In today’s increasingly global, complex and competitive world, companies looking for profitable sustainable growth need to constantly invent new competitive advantages. Innovation brings differentiation, and differentiation is essential to lasting success.
Innovation has many facets, often underestimated, which are not limited to the notion of technological innovation and R&D.
Technological innovation itself can be a fantastic enabler, as in the case of renewable energy providing green electricity or biotechnologies bringing new medical treatments to market. It can also be an extremely efficient driver bringing down the cost of digital cameras or reducing supply-chain costs thanks to new ERP software.
Innovation, however, is also about people and how they work together. It is about customers and how lasting relationships are built, about industrial facilities and how they operate and share best practices. And of course, innovation is about R&D teams and how they come up with new, but most importantly market-valued technologies, products and solutions.
All of these elements are vital in turning technological innovation into value, and must be brought together through the Business Model framework.
The Business Model is in a way the company’s pragmatic translation of its ambition and its strategy to achieve it. It is also about ensuring that innovation brings value to the company, to its employees, customers and partners as well as to its communities and the environment.

This compelling book explores the link between innovation and Business Models in many different situations: from emerging to mature markets, from recent technologies to proven solutions. In each case, the authors combine real-life examples with business theory, providing us with a great reading and learning experience.

Innovation is a fascinating topic. There is no single universal recipe. It is built from experience and experimentation, from successes and failures, by smart and pragmatic people. These people must be able to adapt what works well to new contexts or leverage new technologies to respond to hitherto unthought-of needs, adding value through their individual and differentiating touch.

This book will surely help both entrepreneurs and ‘intrapreneurs’ along this path. Happy reading!

Philippe DELORME
Executive Vice President, Strategy & Innovation, Schneider Electric.