One way to establish market differentiation is through the introduction of innovative new products. Establishing that differentiation is one thing, but maintaining it is quite another. Here we have put together a ten part series on how to generate higher returns from your innovation investments.

From our series of highly informational articles, companies will learn: how to treat innovation as a cross-functional business process, how to align innovation execution and business strategy; how to create sustainable innovation; how to train your senior executives to successfully execute innovation initiatives; how to effectively manage process and project management; how to measure performance of your processes; how to ensure broad stakeholder buy-in; how to understand the importance of product roadmaps; how to provide the tools necessary for successful product innovation; and finally, how to ensure that portfolio management coincides with process management.

Here is one of the ten practices that leading innovators use to increase the payback from innovation spending: Measuring Performance of Your Processes.

Performance: Does your process measure up?

Portfolio metrics are important. But process metrics are the leading indicators that enable a company to assess the business impact of innovation. Process metrics measure how well a particular innovation initiative is performing against key process adoption criteria.

For instance, you should tally which process deliverables have been completed and which are no longer required or are incomplete in order to determine the rate of actual execution and innovation process use. This type of measurement is particularly important given the alarming frequency with which innovation processes fail simply because the intended users don’t adopt them.

By tracking process adoption patterns across the organization, you can identify and investigate usage issues immediately, and make adjustments across the system to increase process efficiency and efficacy.

A recent study indicated that more than half of senior corporate executives are dissatisfied with the returns their organizations are generating from investments in innovation. However, some organizations are realizing as much as forty to sixty percent more revenue and profit from new products than their industry peers. How do these companies differ?

For additional information on the top practices that leading innovators implement in their business to increase their returns on innovation spending, look for our next article from this ten-part series: Ensuring Broad Stakeholder Buy-In.

Following up with our last discussion about the challenges that face companies in their goal to sustain innovation and continue to move the company forward, we will now discuss how effectively managing your company’s growth portfolio will help to avoid the problems discussed in our last article. A clearly focused company growth portfolio will give the company direction and keep all members of the team in tune, from the company executives, right down to the individual team members.

Growth Portfolio Management

We will first discuss what a growth portfolio should contain. An extensive growth portfolio will contain a number of projects that are aimed at cost reduction, expanding into new markets, new products, and so forth. Having items such as these in your company’s growth portfolio is a great start, but the important thing to keep track of is how well each of these projects are performing in relation to achieving your company’s desired business outcomes.

Carefully selecting which project to pursue at the right moment is what separates the great business managers from the ones that ultimately fail. Choosing the right combination of projects that increase ROI, increase market share, and are ultimately sustainable is the key to successful growth portfolio management.

Keeping your management and team members focused on the execution of the projects in your portfolio is the second piece of the puzzle. Ensuring that your company has a clear view of what the business goals of the company are will allow the individual team members to better understand where they fit into the big picture of things.

Visit us again next week when we discuss how to handle individual challenges to a successful growth campaign for your company: How to Avoid Missing the Mark.

Mexico pledges once again its commitment to sustainable tourism by introducing new market-driven, economic opportunities that support conservation and community development. The Mexico Tourism Board and other Mexicans governmental tourism entities, in conjunction with the World Heritage Alliance (WHA), Expedia, Inc. and the United Nations Foundation, have initiated an educational partnership program for Expedia representatives and members of local communities in Mexico to ensure the protection of the delicate biodiversity, while empowering the rural communities through entrepreneurship.

Earlier this year, Expedia employees traveled to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to work with Community Tours Sian Ka’an (CTSK) — a local, predominantly Mayan- owned tourism cooperative working to ensure protection of the delicate mix of coral reefs, mangroves, clear deep water pools, and forests, which are increasingly drawing tourists southward from nearby Cancun and the Riviera Maya.

“We are very excited and proud of the benefits that our small local communities are receiving,” commented Mexico Tourism Board CEO, Francisco Lopez Mena on the Community Tours Sian Ka’an. “CTSK is a perfect example of how we can empower a local community with the right entrepreneurial skills, while at the same time protecting the environment and offering visitors a rich and fulfilling experience,” stated Lopez Mena.

A representative of CTSK, Manuel Quezada IX, was recently a panelist during the United Nations’ Dialogue for the Future: Indigenous Entrepreneurship Forum organized with Aveda, Inc., to discuss issues related to indigenous entrepreneurship, opportunities and challenges. Satisfyingly, CTSK has experienced revenue growth of more than 125 percent, and it was recently recognized with the prestigious Equator Prize, given biannually to the world’s most innovative community sustainable development project initiatives.

“Tourism is fundamental for creating a constituency for conservation,” said Mexico Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo, “It is important for us as leaders in this industry, to empower our local communities and bring significant changes, financial and environmental benefits for all to enjoy,” added Elizondo.

In 2006 and under Elizondo’s leadership, Mexico became a member of the World Heritage Alliance (WHA), as the first national tourism secretariat to ever join an organization as such. By signing an agreement with the WHA, the country reiterates its commitment to the promotion and preservation of Mexico’s 26 World Heritage sites.

Mexico is ranked first in the Americas and eighth worldwide in UNESCO sites, a distinction given to places of historical, cultural and natural relevance to the world. The country’s islands and protected areas in the Gulf of Baja California, declared a World Heritage Site in 2005, are the most recent addition to Mexico’s impressive list.

Pueblos Magicos Initiative

Another initiative undertaken by the Mexican government is the Pueblos Magicos Program. Mexico’s Tourism Secretariat’s (Sectur) Pueblos Magicos program helps increase tourism to towns located near large cities or other tourist sites, reasonably accessible via roads and that are of particular historic or religious value. Founded in 2001, the Pueblos Magicos program coordinates local, state and federal efforts, channeling funds so the towns may diversify and improve their tourism infrastructure and help inhabitants economically.

While the primary focus of Pueblos Magicos is to develop cultural tourism, other segments, such as eco tourism, adventure tourism and rural tourism also fall under the program’s canopy. As the towns develop the products offered in the different segments, sustainable tourism is cultivated. The program empowers the townspeople, who must initiate and manage the process. Once a town is declared a Pueblo Magico, it receives funds to support the modernization of the micro, small and medium regional businesses related to the tourism industry, such as handicraft shops and restaurants. These grassroots efforts contribute to the tourism sector’s vitality and creativity as well as promote the entrepreneurial spirit.

About the Mexico Tourism Board

The Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) brings together the resources of federal and state governments, municipalities and private companies to promote Mexico’s tourism attractions and destinations internationally. Created in 1999, the MTB is Mexico’s tourism promotion agency, and its participants include members of both the private and public sectors. The MTB has offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

# # #

Erick Laseca

Mexico Tourism Board

312-228-0571 ext14

erick.laseca@bm.com

http://www.visitmexico.com

I couldn’t help but smile when I read a recent article about leading hoteliers such as Hilton coming up with stylish yet affordable extended stay brands. The reason I find this interesting is because just a few days back, I was having a discussion with the chief marketing officer of a leading hotel chain and this is precisely the dialogue we were having.

How do you understand or predict customer behavior? How do you come up with timely product innovations in response to current customer needs? How do you ensure that your schemes and packages are relevant and will deliver in the current market ? You may be launching discount schemes one after the other, but how can you ensure better returns on these schemes? At WNS we employ Analytics to gain such insights.

The message was loud and clear “innovate to survive.” Hoteliers are now starting to understand this and are keen to engage in discussions as to how they can leverage analytics to drive growth and sustainability.

I remember a project we worked on for a leading player in the travel and leisure industry. The client faced high attrition rates because customers were inactive, i.e., were not using their time share properties, eventually leading to non-renewal of their subscriptions. By using analytics, more specifically logistic regression modeling, we helped the client better understand their customers. As a result, the client targeted specific customer segments more effectively with separate retention programs. This customer insight resulted in substantially reduced direct marketing costs and attrition rates.

It is also evident that data-based business insights play a pivotal role in driving innovation. As a hotelier, in tough times like these, you want to be empowered by actionable insights for all elements of your business including promotion effectiveness, customer segmentation, customer loyalty, risk management, and cost optimization. The increased awareness that comes from the right data will allow you to make better informed decisions.

A recent blogpost by Jim Brown, “Profit Impact of Market Strategy,” a British study of 1,000 businesses during the past 30 years, found that companies that spent more on innovation during the downturn saw return on capital employed rise 23.8% during the recovery, compared with 0.6% for those that slashed spending.”

To survive and grow hoteliers, must have an exquisite focus on targeting the right customers with the right product/service package, now more than ever before. Analytics can certainly help.

Aug 11, 2008 – Toronto, Canada – Contact Innovations Inc. will be presenting at the 2008 Financial Services Technology Forum with cheque and eDocument Management Solutions on October 28 & 29 at the Design Exchange in Toronto, Canada.

Contact Innovations Inc. (“CI”), Toronto, Ontario, Canada delivers a broad range of Cheque and eDocument Management Solutions to financial industry, governments, utilities, non-profits and business throughout North America.  CI has been helping its clients with affordable, scalable, innovative imaging solutions since 1994.  CI’s products include: IA (ImageArchive) Cheque BackOffice and Remote Capture, IA Page, IA Statement, IA WebView, IA Remittance and IA FileOptics.  For our US clients, CI offers a Check21 ANSI X9.37 Exchange Interface to the Federal Reserve and other 3rd party exchanges.  In Canada, CI continues to work with clearing agents and financial institutions to implement TECP (truncation) in 2009.

CI will be demonstrating IA Cheque and IA Remittance Software utilizing Digital Check and Canon Image/MICR Scanners.  To learn more about Contact Innovations Inc. and our qualified resellers, check out our website at www.contactinnovations.com.  If you would like to talk to us about our experiences and services, please contact Cliff Copeland at 416-784-5191 x227 or visit us at our booth #204.

The 2008 Financial Services Technology Forum focuses on new, cutting-edge enterprise applications and solutions that are sustainable, flexible, and increase profitability, presented via interactive expositions and engaging conference sessions presented to all corporate users, from service providers to small, medium and large businesses alike.

For more information:

To register for Early-Bird Passes, please visit http://e-financial.wowgao.com/registration

More details about the event can be found at http://e-financial.wowgao.com

About WowGao Inc.

WowGao Inc. is an Event Management Company that organizes and manages internationally renowned conferences and expositions focusing on latest innovations and developments in Information Technology Industry since 2003. We have been honored with an award for our excellence. Our featured events are:

- 2008 Financial Services Technology Forum, October 28 & 29, 2008

- 2009 Government & Health Technologies Conference and Expo, April 28 & 29, 2009

- 2009 Wireless & Mobile Expo and Conference, June, 2009

- 2009 RFID Forum, June, 2009

For any media queries:

Director of Marketing,

416-292-0038 ext 812

Over the last years there has been a relative rush of books on eco and ethical fashion published across the globe. We think this is an excellent indicator of the public’s awareness of how, what, where and whom produced the clothes in our closets.

Sustainable fashion is fashion that is designed to be environmentally friendly. Fashion designers have recently adopted the idea of sustainability, using more environmentally-friendly materials and methods in clothing production like reduction in wastage, reduction in chemical usage, usage of scrap fabric, gunny bags etc. But are the apparel made out of them actually wearable? Yes, the answer is Dpol technology which can produce ecoi friendly garments which can actually divert us to sustainability keeping the costs low, so as to influence the fashion market on a big picture

The country where Mahatma Gandhi once created a revolution by wearing a simple locally hand woven cotton garment called the Khadi as a sign of independence is still a leader in terms of textile innovations. From high tech weaving to rediscovering ancient dyeing traditions, India has some interesting new answers for eco fashion design.

The first breakthrough comes from August Designs www.august.synthasite.com, which has taken an in depth approach to garment construction and developed a brand new patented technology called DPOL that produces ready to stitch, shaped, woven garment components. This considerably reduces fabric loss by approx 15-20% and lead time by approx 50%. DPOL supports sustainability by reducing chemical and other wastages (dyes, fibers, yarns, energy) by 17%-20%, thus imparting the eco-friendly nature to the apparels right from the inception of the process to develop the garments.

Apart from the eco-friendly aspect of the innovation, there are many notable uniqueness, some of these are: Continuity of design, proportionate design, non repeatable design and motifs etc.

The DPOL technology can be used to manufacture high quality fashion garments with mitering at various panels. Another advantage is that it can also support smaller orders: with quantities starting at one single unit, one can get garments according to their own fit, style and need. This could open brand new possibilities for sustainably minded designers: presently designers source normal fabrics and do the surface ornamentation (embroidery/prints etc) whenever required .This method gives them the opportunity to put the design into the fabrics. One can have different weaves or designs on pockets, collars, cuffs or wherever required. Weaves can produce different textures and designs as desired and fabrics can be designed as per the final silhouette of the final garment so that right kind of design falls at right place, giving a brand new meaning to custom-made!

A little over three decades ago, Bruce Henderson, the Boston Consulting Group’s founder, warned managers, “The majority of products in most companies are cash traps. They will absorb more money forever than they will generate.” His apprehensions were entirely justified. Most new products don’t generate substantial financial returns despite companies’ almost slavish worship of innovation.

According to several studies, between five, and as many as nine, out of ten new products end up being financial failures. Even truly innovative products often don’t make as much money as organizations invest in them. Apple Computer, for instance, stopped making the striking G4 Cube less than 12 months after its launch in July 2000 because the company was losing too much cash on the investment. In fact, many corporations make the lion’s share of profits from only a handful of their products. In 2002, just 12 of Proctor & Gamble’s 250-odd brands generated half of its sales and an even bigger share of net profits.

Yet most corporations presume that they can boost profits by fostering creativity. During the innovation spree of the 1990s, for instance, a large number of companies set up new business incubators, floated venture capital funds, and nurtured intrapreneurs. Companies passionately searched for new ways to become more creative, believing that returns on innovation investments would shoot up if they generated more ideas.

However, hot ideas and cool products, no matter how many a company comes up with, aren’t enough to sustain success. “The fact that you can put a dozen inexperienced people in a room and conduct a brainstorming session that produces exciting new ideas shows how little relative importance ideas themselves actually have,” wrote Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt in his 1963 HBR article “Creativity Is Not Enough.” In fact, there’s an important difference between being innovative and being an innovative enterprise: The former generates lots of ideas; the latter generates lots of cash.

For the past 15 years, we’ve worked with companies on their innovation programs and commercialization practices. Based on that experience, we’ve spent the last two years analyzing more than 200 large (mainly Fortune Global 1000) corporations. The companies operate in a variety of industries, from steel to pharmaceuticals to software, and are headquartered mostly in developed economies like the United States, France, Germany, and Japan. Our study suggests there are three ways for a company to take a new product to market. Each of these innovation approaches, as we call them, influences the key drivers of the product’s profitability differently and generates different financial returns for the company.

The approach that a business uses to commercialize an innovation is therefore critical because it helps determine how much money the business will make from that product over the years. In fact, many ideas have failed to live up to their potential simply because businesses went about developing and commercializing them the wrong way.

“Innovating for Cash”, James P. Andrew and Harold L. Sirkin, Harvard Business Review, September 2003.

Employee engagement has been a strong contributor to the success of the businesses. However, Six Sigma initiatives are at a risk of losing on the efforts made due to downsizing in the last few months. Companies are facing the challenges of sustaining the energy and the resources to get the benefits of Six Sigma projects.

Additionally, Six Sigma initiatives are also losing the willingness of the people to work over and above the minimum efforts needed to keep their jobs. The intellectual capital that is the knowledge and ideas of the employees, which are the driving factors for many companies’ competitive edge, is also diminishing.

The combination of the two drives organizations’ efforts to provide product and quality service, customer satisfaction and profitability. Every methodology has a limited life span. In this competitive world, companies are trying to find magical solutions to solve the business problems.

Six Sigma initiatives to be successful and consistent need personal commitment and team effort. It needs the leadership’s effort and commitment to the projects through their actions. At the level of the organization the company should create a corporate culture that instigates long term customer loyalty and shareholder value.

At the individual level, the driving factor is increasing employee engagement by assisting people to fulfill personal values and goals through work environment. Employee engagement comes from empowerment, respect and recognition of achievements, personal development, creativity, economic security, family security and enjoyable relationships with co-workers.

Business leaders need to understand the need to develop strategies to improve employee engagement. Six Sigma leaders have to consider and plan their initiatives accordingly. The contribution and involvement of all the employees is needed to engage them for the desired cultural change. People get engaged when they believe that their involvement is making a difference for them as well.

A Six Sigma training session is not enough to encourage the involvement of the employee in the Six Sigma project, nor is the participation of relevance if the project goes on for moths without any solutions.

Organizations have to take a few measures to increase the employee engagement and get the involvement of even those on the sidelines. Improving strategies based on a few principles can facilitate this.

Simplify

Employees should be able to put their ideas into actions with the support of the managers. This should be possible in not more than one meeting, for employees to understand the relevance of their involvement.

Confident Actions

Employees and managers should feel comfortable to offer ideas that may be in contrast to the existing systems. Small teams with meaningful assignments and clear criteria allow the employees to take confident steps to innovate within limits.

Faster Management Decisions

Management has to ensure that they make decisions quickly on matters that do not need any more than a management improvement. This motivates employees to understand management’s readiness to changes in the project.

Leadership commitment should be reflected through strategic actions, progress review and personal behavior of the management. The sharing of ideas from experience can be a motivating factor.

Speed Everything Up

The faster the real results are achieved the more the people would stay in the project. If there are gains in the change game then would the employees be ready to stay.

All Six Sigma professional have to think in take into consideration this current scenario to sustain the results of the Six Sigma project. Employee engagement is important for sustenance.

Ethical product development is now a major issue in the industry, and this trend includes the use and promotion of sustainable packaging formats. Ethical packaging is being driven by consumer environmental concern, retailer pressure and the development and promotion of manufacturer CSR. Retailers and manufacturers must be seen to be contributing to a greener and more sustainable way of life by the media, the industry and consumers alike. To remain competitive, retain consumer loyalty and be innovative, retailers and food and drinks manufacturers need to invest in ethical policies by either developing products in ethical packaging or promoting and reminding consumers to act ethically and responsibly.

Trends in Ethical and Sustainable Packaging is a new management report that examines the new innovations in ethical and sustainable packaging by category, region and material. It profiles major innovations within ethical and sustainable food and drinks packaging, including the latest packaging technologies and materials.

Discover the key trends impacting the ethical and sustainable packaging market and understand how these are changing packaging design with this new report…

This new report will enable you to

Gain insight into industry opinions on the usage and future of ethical and sustainable packaging through an exclusive survey of industry executives carried.

Create more effective competitive strategies with this reports detailed analysis of packaging technologies including recyclable, lightweight, biodegradable and packaging from natural sources. Evalualte the pro’s and con’s of these packaging innovations and decide whether these may be appropriate for your organisation.

Improve targeting and the effectiveness of your NPD strategies with this report’s analysis of Productscan data of over 6,000 ethical and sustainable packaging product launches between 2005 and 2008. Detailed analysis of leading ethical packaging types and insights into key regions and packaging materials.

Your questions answered…

To what extent should manufacturers and retailers be investing in ethical and sustainable packaging?

Which countries are driving NPD in ethical and sustainable packaging?

What are the most innovative forms of ethical packaging?

How will packaging regulation affect NPD in ethical and sustainable packaging?

How are key players, including Wal-Mart and PepsiCo investing in ethical and sustainable packaging?

What is driving the trend of ethical and sustainable packaging?

Some key findings from this report…

Packaging from natural sources is a key ethical innovation. Other leading innovations include biodegradable, lightweight and packaging made from recycled sources.

There has been an increase in the share of food and drinks launched in ethical packaging between 2004-2007. Within this share recyclable took the greatest share with 89.5% in 2007. However the largest growth was seen in biodegradable packaging and packaging made from recyclable materials.

53.5% of industry executives believe that recyclable packaging will be significantly important or the most important ethical packaging innovation over the next 5 years. 37.5% believe reduced packaging will be the most important.

Leading retailers are investing in ethical packaging initiatives. This includes Wal-Mart who has pledged to eliminate all private label packaging waste by 2010, with a look to have zero packaging waste land filled by 2025.

For more reports of your interest, please visit the following link: http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research/Packaging.html

Or

Contact us at:

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Website : www.bharatbook.com

Global warming sceptics seem to have gone rather quiet recently. Whether you’re a believer or not, sustainable practices and carbon counting are here to stay; and like it or not, the climate is changing and our lives are going to have to change with it.

However, there has been much controversy over the global warming theory. For years, many people, including some at governmental level (most famously the Bush administration), simply denied global warming was a reality. The sceptics have since greatly diminished as the evidence has grown overwhelmingly and there are now very few who still maintain that the climate isn’t changing rapidly.

However, some companies have been accused of using climate change and other environmental issues as a “greenwashing” exercise. The term is used to describe organisations that put more time or money into advertising their green credentials, than actually carrying out green practises. Examples include changing the name or label of a product (for example, using the images of a pristine forest on a bottle of bleach), or making token efforts that provide little positive benefit to the environment, hoping it will win favourability in the eyes of the public.

However, whilst there are few companies around today who haven’t painted themselves in some shade of green, there are many who are genuinely striving to be more environmentally friendly – and not just for the publicity. Companies want to be seen as responsible and sensitive to the needs of the environment, and if it also makes business sense for them to switch to green practices, then they’ll do it.

So rather than seeing sustainability as a greenwashing PR scam, some companies are viewing green practices as an exiting new adventure requiring innovative new business models, fresh approaches and a change of business culture – and it’s these organisations who are likely to create not only a cleaner, greener future for the planet, but also a long term future for themselves.

To help those companies who want to make a change for the better, there are now some courses on offer, such as the Leading for Sustainability Programme, designed to help businesses executives, governmental agencies and anyone else who’s interested, to implement more environmentally sustainable changes within their organisation.