To make innovation work, you must pull the right levers

In a commentary, SMU Academic Director (MSc in Innovation) and Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources (Education) Thomas Menkhoff discussed the key ingredients required to make innovation work. He noted that mastering innovation requires solid innovation management skills and that competent innovators know how to identify and seize innovation opportunities triggered by changes in industry and market structures such as the rapid growth of the sharing economy, citing the success stories of Carousell (a Singaporean e-commerce company), Uber, and BMW's car-sharing service, DriveNow. Prof Menkhoff also highlighted that knowing how to "rewire" the value network by changing the supply chain or the revenue, cost and margin model can be very effective in generating and implementing new profitable solutions.