...The paper introduces the category of “architectural innovation” on the basis that seemingly minor changes to technology which may earlier be classified as an incremental innovation can have competitive consequences of a radical one. The key concept is the distinction between component knowledge and architectural knowledge. The paper argues that firms concentrate on refining components within a stable architecture established by a dominant design, and consequently, their “information-processing capabilities” are shaped by the existing architecture. While building upon component knowledge, their architectural knowledge is outmoded and made obsolete by architectural innovations. Their resulting inability to identify or understand new interactions between components has serious competitive consequences. The conceptual framework of the paper is clear and straightforward. The main argument is advanced in a logical manner, and supporting premises (such as the way organizations manage knowledge) are supported by prior literature. Within the boundaries of the paper’s assumptions, the argument is persuasive. Furthermore, the application to the photolithographic alignment (PA) equipment industry justifies the model. The trends in the industry suggest the conceptual framework is largely accurate. Nonetheless, the assumptions made limit the usefulness of the concept. Firstly, the analysis of firms’ information-processing is restricted to communication channels, information filtering...
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...the book, experimental innovators are not rigid in pursuit of their first ideas and preserve through many failures and move on quickly. In approaching their challenging goals, they accept the fact that they will face many unpredictable obstacles, risks and even breakdowns which they have to cope with and overcome without considerable emotional impacts. These characteristics of experimental innovators are results of having a growth mind-set. People with this mind-set are always willing to grow hence more open to accept new challenges and risks. They do not seek validation of others after every performance, and do not believe that their failures reflect their capabilities and do not get disappointed by them. As a result, they do not stop trying new things until they gain major accomplishments. On the other hand, people with fixed mind-sets avoid taking new challenges because they are afraid of the possible failures. Any negative comment, failure, or bad performance tends to destroy their self-image; consequently, their main concern becomes seeking validation of others by trying to look smart and successful. They place so much emphasis on minimizing risks and errors that they keep doing things they are already good at instead of trying new things. As a result, they plateau early and achieve less than their full potential. We are programmed at an early age to think that failure is bad. That belief puts off organizations from effectively learning from their missteps. (Amy C. Edmondson...
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...Hulya Er Summary/Response Essay Failure is not Daunting Undoubtedly, nearly all of us want to become successful, advance up our career ladders and attain better social ranking, so our vocabulary repertoire does not comprise the concept of failure. At schools, teachers lay great stress on the significance of academic achievement. In the field of popular psychology, many books like 99 Steps or Tips for Accomplishment are written about how people achieve success. Even though numerous people pay attention to the value of success especially in this Era of Knowledge, saying “failure is a good thing” astonishes me. In Jon Carroll’s article, “Failure is a Good Thing”, he asserts that failure is a beginning, not the end of the world. Failure is how we learn, that is, failure is a natural part of our learning process and a proof that we are trying. Carroll also contends that success is boring since it becomes tedious after a while because of not feeding the soul and keeping us from risking and trying new things. Most of us fear failure, but failure and believing in the possibility of it offer some oppurtunities: It encourages creativity, provides us with new beginnings, and reminds us of being human. First of all, fault is an important teacher that promotes innovation as Jon Carroll connotated. Some of our most memorable lessons come from the stories of our biggest mistakes. The history books are full of those who failed repeatedly before reaching the zenith of success in their fields:...
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...Effective Leadership Literature Review Patrick Carter Dr. Dale Mancini Solutions Leadership August 10, 2009 Effective Leadership Effective leadership is crucial to an organization’s success. There are several common characteristics that effective organizational leaders share. Without these characteristics, initiatives and change can fail. Leaders can take many different steps to help keep projects from failing. Leaders need to be self-aware of how their actions are perceived by those they manage (Moment, 2007). Employees will sometimes mirror the behavior of managers. Aghdaei (2008) talks about the philosophy of “shadow of a leader,” where the leader demonstrates the wanted behavior (p. 16). Leaders should model hard work for employees (Weiss, 2000). Aghdaei (2008) states that “when you repeatedly demonstrate meaningful, positive behavior, people are motivated to follow” (p. 16). Leaders must have enthusiasm for their work so that it spreads to those whom they supervise. That involves leaders believing in the company in which they work. “The ability to inspire loyalty and build relationships is a key component of leadership” (Newcomb, 2005, p. 35). “The CEO who wants to be a true leader must be the most vivid example of the culture at work. Only then can the CEO inspire passion in the rest of the team” (Hesselbein, Goldsmith, & Somerville, 2002, p. 124). To get the best out of workers, leaders need to be able to motivate them (Moment, 2007). Leaders should...
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...Business Failure Analysis LDR 531/Organizational Leadership Business Failure Analysis Businesses are created with the intention to be successful, achieve goals, and create profits. The continuity of business success depends on the capability to forecast changes on markets and economies, and create a plan to adapt to change, if management failure to forecast changes, the business welfare will be unstable. Blockbuster was a leader on the movies rental business, and failure to reinvent as company, leading to failure. Business Failure Analysis determined Blockbuster’s vision and mission, indicators of the business failure and success from research, how organizational behaviors lead company’s failure, and how the role of leadership, management and culture of the organization in business failure. Business Failure Analysis explained techniques that Blockbuster must used to prevent the impending failure, identified potential barriers during the change process, evaluated the power and political issues within the organization, and described the steps followed to implement the organizational change based on John Kotter’s 8-step plan for implementing change. BUSINESS FAILURE ANALYSIS Blockbuster Inc. was an American-based home movie rental provider, and at its peak in the 2000’s had up to 60,000 employees and more than 9,000 stores. Companies objectives were achieved, become number one movie rental provider in United States of America, and spread their branch thru the world with...
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...Strategies for Learning from Failure Written by Amy C. Edmondson, this article on Harvard Business Review, outlines and interprets key perspectives and strategies that need to be considered when analyzing failures and learning from them. Edmondson shrewdly pinpoints the common downfalls that many senior executives fall into when encountering a failure, such as the blame game, and how factors such as this are counterproductive to tracing the real root of the problem and how to constructively learn from it. Edmondson also discusses the three types of failures that occur, preventable failures, unavoidable failures and intelligent failures. Preventable failures usually occur in predictable operations, such as manufacturing products, and they are failures that can be easily detected (i.e. through a defective product) and amended right away. These failures should not be repeated/tolerated as executives are able to detect them quickly, and the right course of action would ensure their prevention in the future. Unavoidable failures are usually attributed to uncertainty in the workplace, if the context of work is not clear or if the situation the employee is in is unfamiliar, failures tend to occur. An example of this is if data is lost due to an error in a company’s system. The system’s failure is inherently due to an unforeseen circumstance and if management were to place the blame on the IT maintenance person, that would be counterproductive. Intelligent failures are essentially the most...
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...Most executives believe that failure is bad to learn from mistakes - just Ask people to reflect on what they did wrong and exhort them to avoid similar mistakes in the future X Failure is not always bad Learning is not straight forward * require to effectively detect and analyze failures; context-specific; go beyond superficial * > need to throw the old cultural beliefs and stereotypes of success & failure The blame game Old cultural belief: admitting failure = take the blame —> no psychological safety X a false dichotomy √ a culture that makes it safe to admit failure can coexist with high standards for performance. - why? the pic shows the causes of failures It is hard to find real blameworthy actions * e.g. Inattention - caused by lack of effort vs manager’s arrangement In many organizations, 2%-5% of failures detected by managers are truly blameworthy, but 70%-90% are treated as blameworthy. Not all failures are created equal 1.Preventable failures in predictable operations mistakes in processes and routine operations * ususally caused by inattention, lack of ability * Solution: 1.Checklist * 2.Toyota production system - build continual learning from tiny failures 2. Unavoidable failures in complex systems Often caused by uncertainty of work - combination of needs , people and problems never occurred before * e.g. emergency room in Hospital; start-up; complex system- nuclear power Can be averted...
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...How Failure Breeds Success Even heard of Choglit? How about OK Soda or Surge? Long after ‘New Coke’ became nearly synonymous with innovation failure, these products joined Coca-Cola Co.’s graveyard of beverage busts. Given that history, failure hardly seems like a subject CEO E, Neville Isdell would want to trot out in front of investors. But Isdell did just that, deliberately airing the topic at Coke’s annual meeting in April. “You will see some failures,” he told the crowd. “As we take more risks, this is something we must accept as part of the regeneration process.” Warning Coke investors that the company might experience some flops is a little like warning Atlantans they might experience afternoon thunderstorms in July. But Isdell thinks it’s vital. He wants Coke to take bigger risks, and to do the, he knows he needs to convince employees and shareholders that he will tolerate the failures that will inevitably result. That’s the only way to change Coke’s traditionally risk averse culture. And given the importance of this goal, there’s no podium too big for sending the signal. While few CEOs are as candid about the potential for failure as Isdell, many are wrestling with the same problem, trying to get their organizations to cozy up to the risk-taking that innovation requires. A warning: it’s not going to be an easy shift. After years of cost-cutting initiatives and growing job insecurity, most employees don’t exactly feel like putting themselves on the line. Add to...
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...“Never let the fear of failure be an excuse for not trying. Society tells us that to fail is the most terrible thing in the world, but I know it isn’t. Failure is part of what makes us human.” Amber Deckers, Ella Mental and the Good Sense Guide It is universally accepted that from ancient times humanity makes everything possible to comprehend or invent something new and to develop what has already been discovered. To be quite plain it cannot go without mistakes in this case. In spite of all our wishes and intentions, making false steps turns out to be inseparable part of our life. Moreover failure is considered to be one of the greatest man’s fears. There is no need to deny the fact that up-to-date life is sure to lay high claims to every person and to enhance the importance of competition. Seeking after perfection and willing to make some favorable impression one, in contrast, grows weaker before failure. Frankly speaking the very point, not to be forgotten, is that perfection exists only in our imagination but not in real life. Thus understanding of such thing can become the only way to accept one’s own and somebody else’s failure. You can’t but take into account that all greatest discoveries happened mostly by trial and error. Society imposes certain conditions, according to what it can result in the fear of misfortune that leads us, in turn, to more sizable blunder. Right for mistake means often the right for some innovation, research, experiment...
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...Critically analyses why a business can fail during the early stages of operation in a context you are familiar with. Bakr and Ellis(1987) There is no generally accepted definition of business failure,but from the economic approach,it can be defined as firm earning a rate on return on investment which is less than the company’s opportunity cost. Starting the new business at the beginning of stage is the most difficult period. There are no guarantee that the business is going to success or fail in the future, it all about how the owner of the business to handle the situation, catching the change in market,beating the competitor and making profit year over year.There are also thousands of new born business suffering from the failure period which lead to the company go burst and lose everything. The new born business can manly divide into two parts,the first one would be the Internal factors such as,financial problem,difficultly of getting trust from the suppliers, cost problem, management problem etc. The second one would be external factor,such as the business environment,government measures,taxation etc. So it is very important to know what exactly makes the difference between the succeed and a failed company and how the Entrepreneur is going to handle the situation to avoid the company go bankrupt and gain some experience form the failed examples to avoid the same situation happen when setting up the business during the first stages. There are also some positive and negative...
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...------------------------------------------------- Top of Form Find: Bottom of Form MagazineArchive Embracing the Fear of Failure By Carlin Flora , published on October 26, 2004 "He who never makes mistakes, never makes anything," goes an English Proverb. Unless we learn to embrace failure (whether it's led by an unavoidable mishap, a moral lapse, or a risk miscalculated), we remain snugly tucked inside our comfort zone. The pressure to be perfect leaves us tip-toeing around family members or coasting on automatic pilot at work, feeling safe but stagnated—and not quite alive. From vaccines to Velcro, many inventions were spawned from accidents, seeming failures. But when Fiona Lee, psychology and business professor at the University of Michigan, explored which conditions help people experiment with novel ideas, she uncovered an interesting phenomenon: "Managers talk a lot about innovation and being on the cutting edge, but on an individual level, many people are not willing to try new things." What's holding us back? A fear of failure. "Corporate America has very little tolerance for failure," Lee reports. Compensation is typically based on tasks well-done, not spectacular (and costly) failures that could eventually produce breakthroughs. Bosses preach innovation, and yet they hover over workers, poised to slap wrists. Lee's study concluded that rewarding employees who repeatedly try new things and fail leads to more innovation and more long-term success. But the more prevalent mixed-message style of management...
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... 1. What were some of Apple's biggest successes and failures? Describe why. 2. How much of Apple's success can be linked directly back to its culture? Why? 3. How do the actions of Apple apply to the TCOs? Your Case should be 1 - 2 pages, single-spaced, have references, and typed in an easy-to-read font in MS Word. At the top right-hand corner of your paper, please include your full name, the case name, our course number (TM583), and the date. Apple’s success can be linked directly back to its culture "There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning, and we always... me of Apple's biggest successes and failures? Describe why. What were so Apple Computer: Research How Apple Managed To Reinvent Itself Over The Years. Apple’s Most immensely colossal Successes and Failures Apple has created a factory built around innovation. It seems to harness creativity, stimulate new conceptions, and launches successful, remuneratively lucrative, revolutionary products. I believe that Apple’s most immensely colossal success is its ability to leverage its innovation processes to seize new opportunities in the marketplace and grow its business at an incredible pace. Steve Jobs, the co-founder and CEO of Apple, often boasts about the company culture and how it’s predicated upon innovation, forward thinking, and fixate on the “experience”. ...
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...Failure is interesting,” Dyson tells entrepreneur.com. “It’s part of making progress. You never learn from success, but you do learn from failure. I started out with a simple idea, and by the end it got much more audacious and interesting. I got to a place I never could have imagined because I learned what worked and didn’t work. We have to embrace failure and almost get a kick out of it. Not in a perverse way, but in a problem-solving way.” Design graduate Dyson’s ultimately-successful problem-solving experiments began in 1979. “I’d purchased what claimed to be the most powerful vacuum cleaner on the market,” he tells inc.com. “But it was essentially useless. Rather than sucking up the dirt, it pushed it around the room. I’d seen an industrial sawmill which used something called a cyclonic separator to remove dust from the air, and I thought the same principle of separation might work on a vacuum cleaner. I rigged up a quick prototype, and it did.” It took five years and a further five thousand one hundred and twenty-six prototypes to perfect his design, and almost another decade of failed licensing deals and countless fruitless meetings with distributors before Dyson’s Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaner finally went on sale in the UK in 1993. Having failed to interest any manufacturers in the design, Dyson had mortgaged his house to set up his own manufacturing plant. “I liked living on the edge,” he says. “All those years that my house was in hock to the bank… I liked the...
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...3 pitfalls Commitment: Commitment to planning engenders commitment to strategies and to the process of strategy making. Nature of planning fosters managerial commitment to itself Whether planning is committed to management. Change: Process of planning tends to evoke resistance to serious change in organizations Planning tends to favor short term over long term Politics: Planning is a biased form of objectivity and enforces political resistance. Aggravates the conflict between line and staff 3 fallacies Predetermination: To make strategic planning successful, an organization has to control or predict the course of the environment. Detachment managers are detached from the very things they are supposed to make strategies about Formalization Grand falacy: Soft analysis: Informal visionary and learning processes of line managers. Strategic planning is not the same as strategy making should have been called strategic programming Promoted as a process to formalize, when necessary, the consequences of strategies already developed instead of making new strategies Learning myopia: Why experience is a poor teacher. Experience is often a poor teacher, because it involves inferences from information and there are cognitive limits. Additionally, the experience is not as complex as the actual account. Experiences from others and politics influence your experience as well. Finally learning in the neighborhood of current experiences in the short-run restricts learning...
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...About the case The purpose of this case is to draw attention to how corporations are beginning to understand that being innovative, and taking risks, means coping with the potential of product failure. This case looks at how companies are trying to develop organizational cultures that are innovative, risk taking and able to deal with product failure. It identifies some of the major corporate flops like eVilla Sony Corp’s $500 internet appliance and General Motors crossover SUV. This case also quotes leading business school academics on how failure is important to the experimental process. It outlines how companies can learn from failure and suggests that the challenge is knowing how to balance organizational performance and learning cultures. Moreover it describes how some companies are tackling the issue for example how Corning examined its successes and failures spanning its 150 year history. It also highlights how being involved in learning from failure can impress present and future employers and presents best-practice ideas for getting the most out of failures. Case Analysis Experiential learning process Experiential learning involves learning from experience. According to Kolb, concrete experience provides the information that serves as a basis for reflection. From these reflections, we assimilate the information and form abstract concepts. We then use these concepts to develop new theories about the world, which we then actively test. Through the testing of our ideas...
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