Innovation Planning: Corning Case-Study

Reviewing Corning internal processes demonstrate the internal capabilities the firm continuously developed to enhance its innovation process, in terms of planning, implementation and ultimately delivering on innovative products. Innovation by definition is crucially important in these dynamic and rapid changing markets. However, continuous and sustainable innovation remains difficult to most organizations.
In all practical terms, it is clear that a huge reliance in consistent innovation depends upon the creative capacity of individuals to come up with new ideas that is compelling and implementable. A second aspect is the ability of organizations to organize and institutionalize the innovation process, from a managerial and technical ways. Since 1908, the firm recognized the need for Research and Development as a way for not just survival of the firm, but as a mean to prosper and dominate its target markets. Starting the R&D as early as the nineteenth century in Silicon Valley enabled the firm to build upon its proven expertise in glass industry to today’s innovative products in fiber optics and flat screens.

The firm had adopted internal policies that boost its innovative capabilities supported by commitment to invest 10% of the firm revenues in R&D, and hiring of world experts to its R&D division. Innovation is intrinsically risky. A firm could invest money and efforts, to generate, discover, and build up new ideas into innovations, but apart from of how good a firm is, many of the resultant outputs will never earn money.

Within these challenges, Corning adopted three step approach towards product innovation; firstly, planning the firm innovation process by means of focusing on specific product offerings. To decide that, Corning mandates periodical recurring meetings between its top line managers and technical