The Open Innovation Marketplace: Creating Value in the Challenge Driven Enterprise

1. Introduction

“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.”

—Damon Runyon

Placing Bets

The proclivity to bet on the “swift” might serve you well, especially when it comes to placing bets at the racetrack. But in a new and complex world, few people actually know what “swift” or “strong” means in every context. For example, an executive may know what a “strong” market analyst or a “strong” manufacturing department head looks like when it comes to hiring someone. Yet that same executive might find it hard to identify a “strong” pharmacokineticist, which is a new, highly specialized branch of pharmacology. Indeed, it’s because of this difficulty that universities issue PhDs in pharmacokinetics. ...