Tom Davenport, President’s Chair in Information Technology and Management at Babson College, recently wrote about the importance of “ambidextrous judgment,” using both data analytics and business intuition to push your organization forward.  Davenport uses examples from Harrah’s, Netflix, and others to demonstrate companies’ increased focus on working to combine data with business intuition in their decision-making process.   It appears as though traditional “data miners” are looking to build subjective creativity and intuitive courage, while “gut feel” executives are realizing that near- and real-time data can provide valuable prediction tools.

MREB view: We could not agree more that combining traditional data analysis with intuition leads to better business decisions.  In fact, a few years ago we conducted a survey to identify the drivers of insight productivity, and working in an environment that rewards risk-taking and encourages intuitive creativity was one of the four main factors evident in more insightful researchers.  (MREB members, read more about this and the other 3 drivers of insight productivity here.) Read More »

Forbes.com recently compiled a collection of articles aimed to help companies embrace the future and optimize change management.  An article by growth strategy consultant Adam Hartung outlines the dangers of latching on to the status quo, and an entry from the McKinsey Quarterly outlines how to retain key talent during times of change (it isn’t about the indiscriminant use of incentives–think praise, attention, and opportunity).  These articles and others are meant to inspire companies to shift directions quickly and face the future strategically.

MREB view: Changing with your company is an imperative but tricky challenge for Research functions.  Your team should be acting as the headlights for the firm, helping it navigate the troubled waters of change, but sometimes keeping up with frequent business partner turn-over and expectations shifts can seem daunting. Read More »

In September’s issue of Research World, George Day, a professor of marketing at Wharton, outlines his ideas on how businesses can better connect the dots, spotting and reacting to opportunities or threats more successfully.  He believes that companies with an inside-out perspective are good at mining information on their current markets, but that companies that take an outside-in approach—taking the point of view of consumers and competitors to understand peripheral opportunities—are the ones who will identify and react the most effectively.

MREB view: a couple of years ago we set out to study how Research could be a lead voice firm strategy given substantial increases in the volume and pace of market changes.  We found that while Research departments were getting really good at driving action on short-term market changes, it is much more challenging to convince the business to take action on long-term, peripheral opportunities.  Read More »

MIT research fellow Michael Schrage recently blogged about Tesco’s enterprise innovation process.  For a new idea to be implemented in-store, it must meet 3 conditions:

1. The innovation must make something better for customers
2. It must proves cheaper for the company
3. The change must make things simpler for staff

With the baseline belief that if you aren’t making things simpler for the staff, you are making things more difficult, Tesco actually holds its innovators accountable for simplicity: if a change doesn’t simplify something for the front line, it’s a no-go.

MREB view: Holding yourself accountable for simplicity is a great mindset for Research too, because our goal is to effect change within our organizations. Read More »