CIO’s research.

• Five outstanding best rated companies in the U.S. (at the time research was completed by CIO); 3M, GE, P&G, Starbucks and John Deere are analyzed in depth in order to better understand how these companies remained innovative over decades. Comprehensive reports are available.
• Over thirty companies have also been examined and this research is provided under ‘Insights’ For the complete list see; Companies researched by CIO.

The research provides insight into  leadership and management practices which contribute to their long-term innovativeness.

There is a consistency, a pattern, which emerges from CIO’s examination of the policies and management practices of these companies. Innovation is sustained through applying not one, but the appropriate combination of management practices.

• Not all companies embrace the idea of being innovative but if an organization wishes, or needs to be innovative to survive and grow, it is absolutely essential that leadership – the Board, CEO, and senior management – lead the effort.
• Innovation involves risk. Improved information and better measures are needed at senior levels to portray innovation so that the risk level is clear.
• There is a set of tools which can provide help to those organizations wishing to be innovative.
• Stock price performance does not always correlate with innovation but longevity does.

IM (Innovation management) reports are in-depth, comprehensive reports on the historic development of the company’s approach to innovation management, their tools and techniques. Real companies. Real practices. Idea-intensive, highly-respected companies. The reports are based on a variety of sources including, interviews with suppliers and ex-employees, biographies of the company’s senior executive officer, third party interviews, and an analyses of company and investor presentations. Each report uses a framework for cataloging the information in such a way that the reader can relatively easily apply best practices to their own organization.

CIO also provides comment on innovation issues. Papers are provided on such issues as; Board responsibility for risk, the need to think more about the meaning and importance of research and development spending.

SMEs only. CIO has a special section devoted to those more concerned with small and medium-sized organizations; i.e. SMEs. Most of the third party research on corporate innovation has been done with a focus on large companies since these are the companies which. being public, publish more information than do SMEs. Much of what larger companies do to encourage innovation is applicable to SMEs but necessarily scaled to meet immediate needs.