The authors draw on an unprecedented study of 250 recent corporate innovation initiatives in industries ranging from manufacturing to biotech, retail to information technology. They offer a clear-eyed assessment of every leading approach: its advantages and drawbacks, its execution challenges, and where it's most likely to work (or not).

• Corporate venturing: Mature venturing approaches that link tightly to core strategic goals
• ""Asset-lite"" innovation: Defining smart, aggressive IP management strategies?and understanding their limitations
• Innovation-by-alliance: Realizing the promise and overcoming the perils of partnership

Companies have tried one new strategy after another to promote innovation: corporate venturing and VC funds, intrapreneuring, patenting and IP licensing, innovation-by-alliance, innovation-by-acquisition, spinouts, spin-ins, and many more. By and large, they've failed. However, effective innovation is even more urgent today than it's ever been.

In this book, three leading experts on commercializing innovation systematically sort through the wreckage of yesterday's strategies, learning crucial lessons about what works and what doesn't. Along the way, they define a focused, integrated model for innovation: one that is more nuanced and complex, but also better-grounded, more durable, and far more effective.

INNOVATION THAT FITS draws on a thorough examination of more than 250 innovation programs from organizations of widely differing sizes and industries, from 1998 through 2003. Based on this unprecedented research, the authors reveal the right time to use each innovation "arrow" in your quiver; how to account for contingencies and risks; and how to focus on your core innovation challenges—not just superficial "symptoms."

Introducing a new model for sustainable innovation
Beyond fads: driving long-term innovation where it really matters

Corporate venturing: Learning the lessons of failure
Mature venturing approaches that link tightly to core strategic goals

"Asset-lite" innovation: Is IP and licensing really enough?
Defining smart, aggressive IP management strategies—and understanding their limitations

Innovation-by-alliance: Reconsidering collaboration
Overcoming the perils of partnership

R&D by M&A: Should you buy it, not build it?
A clear-eyed look at the results of Innovation-By-Acquisition strategies

Spinoffs: Liberating value or generating chaos?
From Thermo Electron to Ex...

Companies have tried one new strategy after another to promote innovation: corporate venturing and VC funds, intrapreneuring, patenting and IP licensing, innovation-by-alliance, innovation-by-acquisition, spinouts, spin-ins, and many more. By and large, they've failed. However, effective innovation is even more urgent today than it's ever been.

In this book, three leading experts on commercializing innovation systematically sort through the wreckage of yesterday's strategies, learning crucial lessons about what works and what doesn't. Along the way, they define a focused, integrated model for innovation: one that is more nuanced and complex, but also better-grounded, more durable, and far more effective.

INNOVATION THAT FITS draws on a thorough examination of more than 250 innovation programs from organizations of widely differing sizes and industries, from 1998 through 2003. Based on this unprecedented research, the authors reveal the right time to use each innovation "arrow" in your quiver; how to account for contingencies and risks; and how to focus on your core innovation challenges—not just superficial "symptoms."

Introducing a new model for sustainable innovation
Beyond fads: driving long-term innovation where it really matters

Corporate venturing: Learning the lessons of failure
Mature venturing approaches that link tightly to core strategic goals

"Asset-lite" innovation: Is IP and licensing really enough?
Defining smart, aggressive IP management strategies—and understanding their limitations

Innovation-by-alliance: Reconsidering collaboration
Overcoming the perils of partnership

R&D by M&A: Should you buy it, not build it?
A clear-eyed look at the results of Innovation-By-Acquisition strategies

Spinoffs: Liberating value or generating chaos?
From Thermo Electron to Expedia: pros, cons, challenges, and solutions