HASKAYNE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Death by Consensus:
Institutions and Innovation
Jim Dewald, Dean
Haskayne School of Business
Faculty/Presenter Disclosure
• Faculty: Jim Dewald
• Relationships with commercial interests:
NONE
CFPC CoI Templates: Slide 1
Disclosure of Commercial Support
There is no commercial support and there are no conflict of interests and
there are no commercial/business biases relevant to this talk.
• This program has received financial support from no one
• This program has received in-kind support from no one
• Potential for conflict(s) of interest:
– None
CFPC CoI Templates: Slide 2
Thank You!
Firms Survival (data from 1994 to 2014)
“Even the most successful companies are only two years from possible failure”
Mac Van Wielingen
Bureau of Labor Statistics Glossary, accessed on January 1, 2015 at http://www.bls.gov/bls/glossary.htm.
Why Companies Struggle
Adapted from Olson, van Bever, Verry (2008), “When Growth Stalls”, Harvard Business Review
13%
Strategic Factors
17%
Organizational Factors
70%
External Factors
Growth Stall Factor
Descriptions
Strategic Factors
(70%)
- Premium position captivity (23%)
- Innovation management breakdown (13%)
- Premature core abandonment (10%)
Organizational Factors
(17%)
-Talent Bench Shortfall (9%)
- Board inaction (4%)
External Factors
(13%)
- Regulatory actions (7%)
- Economic Downturn (4%)
Responding to disruptive innovations
Osiyevskyy, O., & Dewald, J. 2015. “Explorative versus Exploitative Business Model Change: The Cognitive Antecedents of Firm Responses to Disruptive Innovation”,
Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 9(1): 58-78
Base Theory: Be Too Big Fail
Dewald, J (2016), “Achieving Longevity: How Great Firms Prosper Through Entrepreneurial Thinking”, University of Toronto Press
Firms Survival (data from 1994 to 2014)
Bureau of Labor Statistics Glossary, accessed on January 1, 2015 at http://www.bls.gov/bls/glossary.htm.
Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Dewald, J (2016), “Achieving Longevity: How Great Firms Prosper Through Entrepreneurial Thinking”, University of Toronto Press
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/104568022571054384/
http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/surveymeters/cs40A.htm
http://pshfes.org/event-1851047
Choosing a Strategic Path
The Three Principles of Agility/Longevity
Entrepreneurial
Culture
Constrained
Resources
Opportunity
Recognition
Dewald, J (2016), “Achieving Longevity: How Great Firms Prosper Through Entrepreneurial Thinking”, University of Toronto Press
Culture through stories
Motivation for Entrepreneurial Thinking
Culture
Opportunity
Bricolage
Establish an Entrepreneurial Culture
Be purposeful in identifying opportunities
Make do with what you
have – limited constraints
drive innovation.
Longevity
Name
Est.
Original Business
Evolving
Comment
Honda
1946
Motorcycles
Robotics
Honda will pursue anything with an engine
Hasbro
1923
Textiles
Toys
Pencil cases led to Mr. Potato Head
IBM
1911
Tabulating &
Recording
Consulting
Multiple changes to core business
Nucor
1905
Auto
Manufacturing
Steel
Twice filed for bankruptcy and had multiple
business changes
3M
1902
Mining
Adhesives &
Cleaning
Shifted from mining to sandpaper to
adhesives
Nokia
1865
Pulp, rubber,
cable
Mobile Phones
Microsoft purchased Nokia in 2013, before
then they were very entrepreneurial
DuPont
1802
Gun powder
Polymer Adhesives,
insecticides, fire
extinguishers, etc.
A legacy of innovation and entrepreneurial
thinking
Dewald, J (2016), “Achieving Longevity: How Great Firms Prosper Through Entrepreneurial Thinking”, University of Toronto Press
How are we doing?
con·sen·sus
kənˈsensəs/
Noun
noun: consensus; plural noun: consensuses
general agreement.
"a consensus of opinion among judges"
synonyms:
agreement, harmony, concurrence, accord, unity, unanimity, solidarity;
Formal concord
"there was consensus among delegates"
antonyms: disagreement
Origin
mid 17th century: from Latin,‘agreement,’ from consens- ‘agreed,’ from the verb consentire .
Lego Exercise
 Try using the consensus model:
 You have 10 minutes to build the most
beautiful structure in the room (and you will
need to explain what it is).
Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Patrick Lencioni
Conflict Resolution – Dual Concerns
A Diversity
Of Responses
Can be
Integrating
Or
Segregating
Source: Ruble & Thomas (2005)
The Relationship Between Conflict and Outcomes
Organizational Outcomes
Constructive
Ideal
Destructive
Positive
The slippery
slope to where
no one care
Negative
Low
Artificial
Harmony
High
Level of Conflict
The slippery
slope to
dictatorship
or stalemate
Mean
Spirited
Personal
Attacks
Death by Consensus
Stage 1
Consensus
• General
Agreement
Stage 2 Fake
Consensus
• Require unanimity for Yes
• Any single person for No
Stage 3
• Everyone
hates each
Stalemate (or
other
Dictatorship)
Foster Entrepreneurial Thinking
Entrepreneurial Thinking
Rational
Reduction
Alt.
Alt.
Alt.
Entrepreneurial
Expansion
idea
idea
idea
Focus
Solve a Problem
Role
Maximizer/Optimizer
Challenger
Sustaining Mindset
Fixed
Open
Trajectory/Nature of
Innovations
Linear, incremental,
competence enhancing
Random, disruptive,
competence destroying
Dominant Knowledge
Base
Exploitation
Exploration
Search Field
Internal
Internal and External
Solution Field
One Best Solution
Equifinality
Business Planning
Deliberate
Belief Foundation – Trial &
Error, Emerging
Rent Generation
Market power or Ricardian Schumpeterian innovative
resource advantage
advantage
Alt.
Find an Opportunity
Barriers to Innovation
Resistance
from the
Customer
Resistance
from
Within
Resistance from
the Supply Chain
Tipping Point Leadership
Cognitive Hurdle
• Crisis? What Crisis?
Resource Hurdle
• We don’t have the time, money, or people to change.
Motivational Hurdle
• What’s in it for me?
Rapid Strategy
Reorientation
Rapid Strategy
Execution
Political Hurdle
• Someone is fearful of losing their power.
From Kim & Mauborgne (2003), “Tipping Point Leadership”, Harvard Business Review
A Cautionary Word on Optionality
 Lack of commitment shows
 To customers
 To suppliers
 To the team
Haskayne School of Business
Let’s talk about
change
.
When you compare your life to the life of your parents – do you feel
we live in fast changing times today?
Haskayne School of Business
“Someone born in 1860, who lived to be 70 years old, grew up in a
world of horses for travel, candles for light, salting and canning for
food preservation, and telegraphs for communication.”
Haskayne School of Business
“The world of their passing had cars and airplanes, electric
light and refrigerators, telephones, radio, and motion
pictures…”
Haskayne School of Business
“we find ourselves wondering why our present
progress seems so paltry in comparison.”
-Mark Huberty
Haskayne School of Business
Pace of Change
Technology
Late 1800’s
1960’s
Today
Personal Travel
Horse and Carriage
Private Auto
Private Auto
Air Travel
Non-existent
Boeing 737
Boeing 737
Home Heating
Wood Stove
Forced Air Furnace
Forced Air Furnace
Home Plumbing
Outhouse
Municipal Services
Municipal Services
Personal
Communication
Telegraph
Telephone (land line)
Telephone (cellular, email,
texting, etc.)
Media
Newspaper
Newspaper and Television
Newspaper, Television,
Internet, and Social Media
Manufacturing
Job-based
Assembly Line
Automated Assembly Line
Photo credit: Marci Plank, 2011; NetCarShow, 2015; HD Wallpapers, 2015
Haskayne School of Business
Principle 1: GPT Led Paradigm Shifts
“General Purpose Technologies are pervasive
technologies that provide an inventive platform
that will interrupt and accelerate the normal march
of economic progress”
Telephone, 1876
Alexander
Graham Bell
Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2012
Internal
Combustion
Engine, 1879
Karl Benz
Wheel, 3500 BC
Mesopotamia
Printing Press, 1440
Johannes Gutenburg
Light Bulb, 1879
Thomas Edison
Haskayne School of Business
Principle 2: Scientific Paradigms, Complements and Framing
Computer
Haskayne School of Business
Principle 3: Narrow Perspective on Management Theory and Practice
The period when Modern
Management Theory was
developed.
This is why popular theory
focused on ‘bells and whistles’,
or ‘faster, smaller, cheaper’.
Computer
Haskayne School of Business
The Next Paradigm?
How do we ready ourselves and
our organizations for
the next shift?
Photo credit: RemedyTip, 2015; Annapolis Valley Regional Library, 2015; Sott, 2015; Telco Motion, 2014; Yale Scientific, 2012; The Breakthrough, 2015
The Haskayne Advantage
Educating for our Future
Organizations must be agile.
“Entrepreneurial thinking breeds
agility” – W. Brett Wilson.
Leaders need to take action by:
1.
Building an Entrepreneurial Culture
2.
Embracing opportunity creation and
discovery
3.
Employing constrained resources
through bricolage and effectuation
Scheduled for release in
May 2016, University of
Toronto Press