This article provides a conceptual rationale for environmental sustainability derived from Taoist and Buddhist philosophies. Our goal as a society should be to jointly enhance the quality of human lifestyles and the natural environment, not just one or the other. Innovations in this area can have a nonlinear or exponential impact.
These days, when migrants arrive at a refugee camp, one of the first things they ask for is access to WiFi and electricity to recharge their cell phones. Their smartphone is as basic a resource for survival as food and water. This is a vivid reminder of the fact that we are fully immersed in a digital world.
Today we have to “think China” when it comes to looking for the dynamism within Ecosystems and Platforms. They are leading, exploring and extending the thinking beyond our more limited ambitions in the West. It is the environmental conditions coming together or being explored and exploited that make China stand out in its dynamism in this area.
In the new global environment innovation is tending towards Platform Disruption, and is more focused on waves of change than single technology disruptions. The competitive capability of different innovation cultures, rather than technology, therefore becomes the critical success factor. In this article, Haydn Shaughnessy examines product and service platforms as the new organisational form and suggests that modern enterprises need to take the leap to a new way of business.
If nations increased their supportive policies and reduced their harmful policies, the rate of innovation worldwide would significantly accelerate. This report assesses countries on the extent to which their economic and trade policies either constructively contribute to or negatively detract from the global innovation system.
As part of the transformation of the Chinese economy, attested by many recent news, China is fast transitioning from low cost manufacturing to a higher value innovation-led economy. This article looks at this momentous transition.
The future is hard to predict and a lot of “experts” regularly get it wrong. However, there are some facts so important and trends so inevitable that leaders would be ill-advised to ignore and not try to anticipate. Here are three of many future megatrends that will not necessarily determine what will happen, but will most likely have a big impact on everybody’s business in the coming years to decades.
It’s follow my leader time for the world’s stock markets. Concerns over the state of the Chinese economy have seen markets plunge into freefall, only for some to bounce upwards again a few hours later. At the time of writing, markets are still in flux with analysts divided on the eventual outcome.
This paper is a follow-up to my previous article, “The Eastern Way: How Chinese Philosophy can Power Innovation in Business Today” (June 18, 2012). The present article defines the concept of intensity in innovation, using Eastern Zen philosophy, in a way that can be useful for business while avoiding too much focus on personality traits. Zen intensity in innovation stresses intuition, sensory and physical experience/re-experience, artistry, the integration of conflicting ideas, and the avoidance of premature choices. Examples are cited from the career of the late Zen enthusiast, Steve Jobs. Regarding the use of time, the Zen approach to intensity implies a full and sustained engagement of all creative processes, not simply a rapid time to project completion.
While most of the world’s airlines and markets suffer low growth rates, Asia stands out with growth rates of 9% in 2012. Asia is one of the most competitive aviation markets with 75% of routes serviced by 3 or more carriers. Seven of the ten busiest global air routes are in Asia.
The discussion around integrating Western Management with Eastern Philosophies has gained considerable traction, and for good reason - both Europe and China have undergone significant transformations during the past 30 years and collaboration has never been more relevant than in the post-recession context. In this exclusive interview, Professor Richard Li-Hua discusses the key considerations around this topic and indicates how innovation managers can benefit from this integration.
Never has the world witnessed a large market emerge so quickly as China has. As the economy grows it is also changing. China is fast climbing the value curve, transitioning from low-cost manufacturing to innovation-led growth. In telecommunications, supercomputing, life sciences, non-fuel energy sources and “green-tech” in general, there is already a vibrant innovation/research and development (R&D) scene.
Between now and 2020, Chinese consumers will become the main driver of China’s economy, and probably also the global economy. The opportunities are enormous, worth billions of dollars as per capita incomes treble, and disposable income tops $10 billion per year. Meeting Chinese consumers’ needs is perhaps one of the greatest opportunities ever; it is also one of the greatest challenges, if we are not to deplete the planet disastrously; nor create debt fuelled bubbles, or high inflation.
As innovation leaders in industry gather to discuss the front and back end of innovation in a global context, a common theme emerges. Whether expanding to a neighboring country or across oceans, entering a foreign market is always a “beyond-the-core” activity requiring the development of new competencies. One solution: identify skills first, not people.
In spite of spectacular economic growth, China is still afflicted by criticism that its traditional culture inhibits innovation. However, Chinese culture is now changing in response to fundamental techno-economic shifts, and philosophy is not the same as culture. This article shows how an unconventional synthesis of Chinese philosophical systems can power innovation opportunities in 21st century business—and not only for China.
