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PA innovation expert, Thomas Brand, has had a byline published in manager magazin online, discussing PA’s innovation report and why German companies are lagging behind.
Thomas Brand refers to the USA as supposed global leader for ground-breaking innovations by firms like Apple, Facebook, Google or Amazon - not all of them always with success as the Apple Watch shows. Also 47 per cent of companies in Germany have had to discard innovative products and ideas according to PA’s innovation report. Even 76 per cent of those companies are focusing more on continuous improvement than on breakthrough innovations.
Thomas Brand says: “One of the most significant barriers to innovation is internal company rules. Many companies struggle to develop and commercialise their innovative ideas due to complex go-to-market processes and the inability to implement concrete innovation initiatives.”
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Other barriers include the inability to predict ROI and too few investments. According to Thomas Brand, companies could learn a great deal from innovative companies such as Google, where true innovation is at the core of the company’s culture.
“Innovation is not something you build, it’s an innate part of the company’s DNA, and the company constantly strives to be market-leading and at the forefront of the newest ideas. Moreover, innovative companies learn from their mistakes, rethink their ideas and quickly launch new ideas for services or products,” says Thomas Brand.
Thomas Brand is an innovation expert at PA Consulting Group