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Table of contents
1. Accelerated Innovation: The New Challenge From China............................................................................ 1

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Document 1 of 1

Accelerated Innovation: The New Challenge From China

Author: Williamson, Peter J; Yin, Eden
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Abstract (Abstract): Chinese companies are opening up a new front in global competition based on
reengineering R&D and innovation processes to make new product development dramatically faster and less
costly. This new emphasis is unlikely to generate stunning technological breakthroughs, but it allows Chinese
competitors to reduce the time it takes to bring innovative products and services to mainstream markets. It also
represents a different way of deploying Chinese cost and volume advantages in global competition. Chinese
companies, including manufacturers such as Lenovo Group Ltd. and Guangzhou Pearl River Piano Group Co.
Ltd. and Internet players such as Tencent Inc., are pioneering new ways of industrializing innovation. They are
pushing the boundaries of simultaneous engineering, leveraging rapid launch-test-improve cycles and
combining vertical hierarchy with horizontal flexibility to enhance the innovation process. For example, when
Lenovo acquired IBMs personal computer business in 2005, its new product development cycle was 12 to 18
months. Since then, Lenovo has managed to cut that cycle in half by applying simultaneous engineering across
the entire innovation process. Other Chinese manufacturers, including Guangzhou Pearl River Piano Group,
have applied a similar approach. Accelerated innovation and many of the processes and techniques it draws
upon are not unique to Chinese companies, authors Peter J. Williamson and Eden Yin concede. Whats
noteworthy, they say, is how Chinese companies have learned to accelerate innovation across a wide range of
industries, using rapid scale-up, low cost and good enough quality. Even if the results dont lead to
breakthroughs, the innovations can powerfully disrupt incumbents profit models. The authors describe three
ways that non-Chinese companies can respond effectively. The first way is for companies that are beyond the
start-up phase to reengineer their own innovation processes in accordance with the principles and techniques of
accelerated innovation being pioneered in China. The second way is to tap into Chinas existing accelerated
capabilities by tasking their own R&D units in China to focus on time-sensitive projects and by hiring local staff
with knowledge of how to speed up certain aspects of the new product development cycle while reducing costs.
The third approach is to develop alliances with Chinese players in order to tap into accelerated innovation knowhow.
Abstract: Chinese companies are opening up a new front in global competition. It centers on what the authors
call accelerated innovation - that is, reengineering research and development and innovation processes to
make new product development dramatically faster and less costly. The new emphasis is unlikely to generate
stunning technological breakthroughs, but it allows Chinese competitors to reduce the time it takes to bring
innovative products and services to mainstream markets. It also represents a different way of deploying
Chinese cost and volume advantages in global competition.
Links: Use Find Full Text button for other sources
Subject: Innovations; Problem solving; Technological change; Competitive advantage; Customer relationship
management;
Location: China
Classification: 2400: Public relations; 5240: Software & systems; 5220: Information technology management;
9179: Asia & the Pacific
Publication title: MIT Sloan Management Review

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Volume: 55
Issue: 4
Pages: 27-34
Publication year: 2014
Publication date: Summer 2014
Publisher: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Place of publication: Cambridge
Country of publication: United States
Publication subject: Business And Economics--Management
ISSN: 15329194
CODEN: SMRVAO
Source type: Scholarly Journals
Language of publication: English
Document type: Feature
ProQuest document ID: 1543709914
Document URL:
http://ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1543709914?accountid=8424
Copyright: Copyright Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014. All rights reserved.
Last updated: 2014-09-09
Database: ProQuest Central

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