The Innovator's Toolkit: 50+ Techniques for Predictable and Sustainable Organic Growth, 2nd Edition

Introduction

Growing an already sizeable company isn't an easy feat, and it's even more difficult to do on a sustainable basis. Two avenues exist: You can grow from the outside through mergers and acquisitions, or you can grow from the inside through organically engineered innovation. The problem is that both approaches tend to fall short of expectations, even when used in combination.

Leaving the problem of M&As to others, we wrote this book to take the mystery out of organic growth. Why is it that only a special few companies seem to have a grip on innovation? We watch a company like Apple in reverence as it releases new product after new product that meets or beats expectations in the marketplace (or at least did for an amazing period of time if this is not true after publication of this book).

Executives in every industry wish they could be more like Apple. Or, they come up with reasons why their companies just aren't and never could be:

“We're not a technology company and don't have the ability to make so many product revisions.”

“Our core technology simply isn't as robust as Apple's, so our opportunities are limited.”

You name it. Sometimes it's easier to make excuses than to admit your company just doesn't get it.

Under Armour is an apparel company, but it's not an apparel company that considers itself like others. That's why it's been pursuing innovation like a tech company. No, that's why it's become relentless about innovation, putting most tech companies to shame and ...