Rating: 
Summary: Innovation at its finest
Review: 24/7 Innovation is a book that should be owned by everyone in the business industry. It is the best new business book on the market. A must read. After being in the business world for 40 years, I found this book easy reading and pertinent to many aspects of my industry.
Rating:
Summary: Innovate or Evaporate
Review: As Shapiro explains, when offering this "blueprint for surviving and thriving in an age of change," the term "blueprint" is a capability which combines people, processes, and technology that together "deliver business performance as defined by an organization's strategy. This is a key point, one which Bossidy and Charan emphasize in their recently published book, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done. It is important to keep in mind that any "blueprint" provided in a book such as this must almost always be modified to serve the specific needs and objectives of a given organization. This is precisely what Shapiro has in mind when, in the Introduction, observes "in some respects writing a book that describes best practices for innovation that says that best practices are insufficient is slightly ironic. But to try and copy what another company is doing, lock stock and barrel, is just another form of box thinking. Instead, connect the dots. Make connections. Consider what some companies in this book have been doing and consider them in the context of your own business situation. And then try and use these to create new ideas for fostering innovation." Hammer wrote The Agenda to disabuse those who view reengineering as a "silver bullet." I'm certain that Shapiro hopes his readers will view the "blueprint" delineated in Part 1 of 24/7 Innovation for what it is while understanding what it is not...and cannot be expected to do. Change is inevitable. Long ago, someone divided people into three categories: Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who ask "What happened?" Shapiro views desirable change as as fundamental and pervasive. "It affects customers, suppliers, alliance partners, and anyone who touches [or is touched by] the company. But in today's age of change, success requires nothing less. That's why 24/7 innovation is the only way to achieve a unique and enduring competitive advantage." One of the words now having the loudest buzz is "convergence." (Not long ago, two of the loudest buzzers were "synergies" and "integration.") As Shapiro clearly demonstrates while examining four companies (GlaxoSmithKline, Invensys, The Real Estate Assessment Center of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and BC Hydro) in Appendix A, the most effective organizations are indeed those which achieve and then sustain an appropriate convergence of process, people, and technology. That is, they become and then remain what Shapiro describes as an "organic organization." In his book, he offers all manner of strategies and tactics as well as real-world examples to suggest HOW any organization (regardless of size or nature) can use the principles of "24/7 Innovation" to achieve that formidable objective.
Rating:
Summary: Insight & Innovation at it's Best!
Review: I found this book to be a fabulous, easy reading exploration of why business today is lacking in what it needs most...innovation. After years of cost-cutting and restructuring, it's innovation and the growth engine that is critical. This books walks you through new insights about how to bring back the spark to your organization...no matter what the size. Anyone interested in changing their organization, and themselves for that matter, should read this book. Great stuff!!
Rating: 
Summary: Creating More Competitive Organizations
Review: Mr. Shapiro argues that continuous innovation is the only possible source of competitive advantage in a rapidly changing business environment. Yet most companies organize themselves and their efforts in ways that will discourage the development and implementation of these necessary innovations. So rather than doing what you did yesterday better, he wants you to do something new today. This requires a major change in thinking from the typical "lower your costs" and "improve your quality" mentality of many companies. The book is enlivened by many examples from Europe, where Mr. Shapiro practices as a management consultant for Accenture. One of the things I liked best about this book was the figure on page 18 that describes the organizational progress that is typically followed to go from a functionally bound operation to one that is an alliance-based network of capabilities with partners performing many noncore roles. Many people have difficulty in grasping the different approaches, and this figure may well be helpful to some of them. The book's focus is around organizing new and improving on old capabilities. A capability is a holistic concept of something that enables "an organization to perform optimally in activities that typically require processes, people, and technology. Capabilities derive from an explicit strategy, and they deliver measurable results." It is in this context that innovation is conceived of as a capability. Mr. Shapiro wants you to focus on where outdistancing the competition will make a difference with the customer, and then use your innovation capability to enhance your capabilities in this differentiating capability. For a pharmaceutical company, this might mean improving the capability to generate new products to market. The main point here is that there is a combination of factors that need to be considered that is beyond what is contained in a single process. The best way to think in capability terms is to focus on some output of the organization that is meaningful to customers. He is also mindful of the problem of optimizing a system, rather than part of a system, as The Fifth Discipline has made us all sensitive to. One of the nice qualities of this book is that Mr. Shapiro has a sense of humor, something rarely found in business books. He tells a very funny story about buying airline tickets on-line as a counterpoint to his emphasis on the importance of information technology. Those who like to take an analytical approach to any problem will find Mr. Shapiro's thinking the most helpful. He has taken right-brained tasks and described them in left-brain terms. But be sure to pay attention to the Koch examples, which take a more right-brained approach to the challenge than most of the other examples do. For those with little intuition, this left-brained "connecting the dots" may be the only way to move forward. If you have also read nothing on improving corporate innovation, this is a good book to start with. While I admired the book, Mr. Shapiro seemed to have limited his thinking in two important areas that you should be aware of. First, he sees innovation as being most valuable in creating new business models, yet he pays relatively little attention to this specific form of innovation in the book. Instead, most of the book talks about enhancing capabilities where an organization needs an external partner or to blend individual processes better. Second, he sees using information technology as a critical element to improving innovation. My own experience in studying innovation has shown that using more information technology is seldom a critical element in creating a new competitive advantage. Creating better communication and mutual understanding are often quite important, and these can be aided by simply better organizing the communications that take place now. So take this part of the book with a grain of salt. I didn't know enough about the European examples to know how accurate they were. I was struck by many minor errors in the U.S. ones though. Since Mr. Shapiro worked in Accenture's New York office for 15 years and has many U.S. colleagues, I found these errors puzzling. The errors made me wonder how accurate the European examples are. If you have already been through The Fifth Discipline, The Fifth Discipline Workbook, and The Dance of Change, you will probably find this book more general than what you need to expand your understanding of corporate creativity that leads to successful innovations. If you are trying to decide whether to read Michael Hammer's The Agenda or 24/7 Innovation, take 24/7 Innovation. How can you continuously create improved business models?
Rating:
Summary: Creating More Competitive Organizations
Review: Mr. Shapiro argues that continuous innovation is the only possible source of competitive advantage in a rapidly changing business environment. Yet most companies organize themselves and their efforts in ways that will discourage the development and implementation of these necessary innovations. So rather than doing what you did yesterday better, he wants you to do something new today. This requires a major change in thinking from the typical "lower your costs" and "improve your quality" mentality of many companies. The book is enlivened by many examples from Europe, where Mr. Shapiro practices as a management consultant for Accenture.
One of the things I liked best about this book was the figure on page 18 that describes the organizational progress that is typically followed to go from a functionally bound operation to one that is an alliance-based network of capabilities with partners performing many noncore roles. Many people have difficulty in grasping the different approaches, and this figure may well be helpful to some of them. The book's focus is around organizing new and improving on old capabilities. A capability is a holistic concept of something that enables "an organization to perform optimally in activities that typically require processes, people, and technology. Capabilities derive from an explicit strategy, and they deliver measurable results." It is in this context that innovation is conceived of as a capability. Mr. Shapiro wants you to focus on where outdistancing the competition will make a difference with the customer, and then use your innovation capability to enhance your capabilities in this differentiating capability. For a pharmaceutical company, this might mean improving the capability to generate new products to market. The main point here is that there is a combination of factors that need to be considered that is beyond what is contained in a single process. The best way to think in capability terms is to focus on some output of the organization that is meaningful to customers. He is also mindful of the problem of optimizing a system, rather than part of a system, as The Fifth Discipline has made us all sensitive to. One of the nice qualities of this book is that Mr. Shapiro has a sense of humor, something rarely found in business books. He tells a very funny story about buying airline tickets on-line as a counterpoint to his emphasis on the importance of information technology. Those who like to take an analytical approach to any problem will find Mr. Shapiro's thinking the most helpful. He has taken right-brained tasks and described them in left-brain terms. But be sure to pay attention to the Koch examples, which take a more right-brained approach to the challenge than most of the other examples do. For those with little intuition, this left-brained "connecting the dots" may be the only way to move forward. If you have also read nothing on improving corporate innovation, this is a good book to start with. While I admired the book, Mr. Shapiro seemed to have limited his thinking in two important areas that you should be aware of. First, he sees innovation as being most valuable in creating new business models, yet he pays relatively little attention to this specific form of innovation in the book. Instead, most of the book talks about enhancing capabilities where an organization needs an external partner or to blend individual processes better. Second, he sees using information technology as a critical element to improving innovation. My own experience in studying innovation has shown that using more information technology is seldom a critical element in creating a new competitive advantage. Creating better communication and mutual understanding are often quite important, and these can be aided by simply better organizing the communications that take place now. So take this part of the book with a grain of salt. I didn't know enough about the European examples to know how accurate they were. I was struck by many minor errors in the U.S. ones though. Since Mr. Shapiro worked in Accenture's New York office for 15 years and has many U.S. colleagues, I found these errors puzzling. The errors made me wonder how accurate the European examples are. If you have already been through The Fifth Discipline, The Fifth Discipline Workbook, and The Dance of Change, you will probably find this book more general than what you need to expand your understanding of corporate creativity that leads to successful innovations. If you are trying to decide whether to read Michael Hammer's The Agenda or 24/7 Innovation, take 24/7 Innovation. How can you continuously create improved business models?
Rating:
Summary: Challenging Book
Review: Mr. Shapiro takes a refreshing and aggressive approach to both the process and spirit of innovation in today's corporate America. This is a hands-on, can-do handbook. It is a must-read for anyone serious about corporate innovation in the eEconomy and all that "jazz". A "standing innovation" for Mr. Shapiro!
Rating:
Summary: A real book that provides guidance and new ideas
Review: Real innovation, the kind that keeps companies winners year after year is not spelled with a capital "I." Relying on breakthrough innovation to save your company is akin to taking your budget to the casino -- you are taking your chances.
24/7 Innovation is a book that discusses the realities, techniques and ideas required to innovate continuously rather than the platitudes that innovation is good. The book's central premise is on the need and how-to necessary to continuously evolve a company's capabilities. The book breaks itself down into two parts and nine chapters that provide a pragmatic approach to understanding what is required and then how to make it happen. The Blueprint section of the book discusses the requirements and strategies for an innovative organization. It faces up to the hard issues of business processes, strategies, customers and technology. It also covers one of the most overlooked aspects of innovation "measurement." Yes, you need measurement in order to innovation continuously and successfully. The next section "Making it happen" talks about how a company targets its efforts -- gaining focus and an ability to act. It also discusses business simulation -- a technique that helps manage the risk and uncertainty when innovating. The best part of these sections is the commentary and examples that ripple throughout the book. These are not the overused stories of 3M, GE and others, rather they include a number of companies you may not have heard of but who are winning the innovation-competition race. It is a welcome experience to hear from new companies as well as a significant number of European companies to give you fresh perspective and insight. Steve Shapiro, the author, is an experienced consultant, which shows to some degree in the book, and people who want to bash consultants will be unable to get past this point to their loss. However, for the business leader who is looking to gain real insight and pick up some new techniques 24/7 Innovation is one of the few books that is worth the read. If you have read some of my other reviews, (click on the link above) you will find that I am critical with business books. My time is limited, as is yours, and this book is one that warrants the investment in reading and taking the time to understand its premise and information. You will walk away with some new ideas. Other books to consider in this area include Michael Schrage's "Serious Play" a book on simulation and Dietrich Dorner's "The Logic of Failure".
Rating:
Summary: Direct Applicability
Review: Shapiro manages to provide a structured way of diagnosing the lack of innovation, and addressing the discovered innovation gaps by easy to use tools and techniques. Innovation is viewed as a dynamic foundation which underpins all aspects and operations of an organisation, and is clearly visible in the culture and performance measures used by the organisation. Shapiro correctly emphasises the importance of targeting and analysis before deciding which part of the business needs an injection of innovation. Realistic examples and executive management pitfalls are presented as part of a practical roadmap for "getting there".
Rating: 
Summary: Filled with consultant hype
Review: Shapiro provides a number of interesting examples. These constitute the primary utility of the book. The structure of the book does not hang together. For example: "Capability" seems to be a major concept, but Shapiro never provides a clear definition. The material in the chapters does not relate well to the chapter titles. Shapiro claims the chapters outline a framework for understanding and generating innovation. Beyond his assertion, there is nothing to substantiate that claim. One finds lots of grandiose claims for insightful analytical frameworks which go unfulfilled. Very disappointing. Shapiro sounds like a consultant hawking his wares. As W. Edwards Deming noted well and often, experience without theory is meaningless. Shapiro not only displays a lake of theoretical perspectives to organize and highlight insights in his examples, he seems to be unaware of such theories and their relevance. The book jacket, which I assume he wrote, indicates that Shapiro is "...recognized as one of today's most influential consultants in the area of process capabilities." If true, this, once again, demonstrates the dearth of talent in the consulting arena. If you know the theories, you can pull some interesting material from this book. The value will come from your knowledge and efforts not from those of the author.
Rating:
Summary: Packed with useful information
Review: This is not another innovation book with techniques for generating new ideas. 24/7 Innovation is about creating a culture of innovation within large companies. It addresses the issue of how to change the structure of an organization in order to brings out the best in its employees. There are a number of excellent examples throughout. My favorite is Koch Industries, a very anti-bureaucratic company. Many business books cover only one topic (e.g., performance measures) and could be summarized in 20 pages. The rest is filler of sorts. Not this book. 24/7 Innovation covers a wide range of topics such as culture change, performance measurement, simulation, processes, and technology. And each is covered quite satisfactorily (some more than others), which means there is a lot to digest. In many respects, this book deserves 5 stars. It is well written and insightful. The reason for giving it 4 stars is that, as other reviewers have mentioned, it was obviously written by a consultant. As such, it does have some jargon. However, it was easy to read and at times entertaining. The combination of examples, frameworks, and techniques makes this a pragmatic book. But more importantly, this book makes you think differently.
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