The Management Guy

  Cultural Innovation by  Douglas Holt Building the next billion-dollar innovation is an irresistible goal. To get a leg up, many companies now emulate the innovation model perfected in the tech sector. Procter & Gamble, for example, pursues what it calls  constructive disruption.  The company has designed its innovation process like a start-up’s, with a venture lab that pulls in tech entrepreneurs and a lean probe-and-learn prototyping process. That approach is not working. The reality is that in most consumer markets, innovation is a slow, incremental grind—extending master brands, adding a new bell or whistle, tweaking a formula. P&G’s star innovations—such as a smart Pampers diaper that signals when a change is needed—aren’t exactly threatening to become the next billion-dollar product. And when companies do swing for the fences, they rarely achieve good results. Take Coca-Cola, which has long prioritized building a business in coffee. After years of research and te