Strategic Innovation

Strategic Innovation offers a flexible, customizable template that managers, executives, and business leaders can use to introduce an effective innovation strategy throughout their organization. The authors, Nancy Tennant Snyder and Deborah L. Duarte, provide the tools needed to craft a workable strategy for embedding innovation as a core competency across an enterprise. Instead of innovation for innovation's sake, the authors offer a proven business-focused way to change a culture from point-in-time innovations from a few to a continuous pipeline of innovations from everywhere and everyone.

Based on the real-life example of Whirlpool a solid company with a significant track record and global reach—Strategic Innovation shows how the world's largest appliance company put innovation in place as a core competency. During this process, Whirlpool transformed itself from a quality producer of appliances to a customer-focused company that strategically embeds innovation throughout the organization. Filled with challenges and struggles, and ultimately successful results, the Whirlpool story can help any organization develop a successful innovation strategy. Written as a practical guide, the book contains in each chapter a variety of hands-on resources including checklists and worksheets. Strategic Innovation offers the tools, ideas, and approaches needed for transforming an organization to a company where anyone and everyone can contribute to the organization's prosperity—through innovation.

Not innovative strategy, but using technical and organizational innovation to pursue conventional corporate strategies, is what Snyder and Duarte describe. They detail changes in the Whirlpool appliance company, where Snyder works, between 1993 and 2003, and provide chapter-end worksheets that readers, and presumably workshop attendees, can use to help replicate the triumphs described. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Nancy Tennant Snyder is corporate vice president of core competencies and leadership development for Whirlpool Corporation. She has consulted at many companies on a wide range of business topics. Holding a doctorate in organizational behavior from George Washington University, she is the author of numerous articles on globalization, virtual teams, and organizational capability.

Deborah L. Duarte is a consultant on innovation, knowledge management, and leadership. She has consulted with many public and private organizations including Time Life, NASA, Freddie Mac, Discovery Communication, Exxon Mobil, SBA, and Johnson & Johnson.
Snyder and Duarte are the coauthors of Mastering Virtual Teams second edition, from Jossey-Bass.