IMS Projects – Developing dynamic capabilities and innovation capability

This is a guest article written by Adrian Packer, Director of IMS Projects on how HERA members can develop strategic innovation capability.

Adrian is no stranger to HERA having worked with us extensively to deliver our ‘Innovation Ready, Set Go! Program’ and innovation related works in the past. He has worked in a wide variety of sectors including manufacturing, food and beverage, oil and gas, utilities, health local and central government and retail, and is one of only a handful of coaches and trainers in the world certified as a Master NLP Practitioner, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and certified coach.

IMS Projects is a provider of innovative programmes and services that help Kiwi companies and their employees achieve world class levels of operational performance. Their services include strategy and planning, operational excellence, innovation and new product development.

Targeted learning focused on building dynamic capabilities

Inspired by the Productivity Commission’s frontier firms report, Callaghan Innovation identified an opportunity to pilot a targeted learning program, focused on building the dynamic capabilities of Aotearoa New Zealand’s frontier firms.

The purpose of the pilot was to test the hypothesis that developing the strategic innovation capability (dynamic capabilities) of executive teams in leading NZ businesses would generate specific and defined outcomes, that would, in turn, lead to genuine impact for Aotearoa, specifically:

• more productive kiwi companies as measured by standard productivity measures;
• an increase in research and development spend as a percentage of GDP; and
• an inspired network of business leaders who understand dynamic capabilities and can influence dynamic capabilities in their organisations and wider ecosystems.

About the dynamic capabilities framework

Dynamic capabilities, as conceptualised by Professor David Teece, refer to an organisation’s ability to adapt, innovate, and reconfigure its resources and processes in response to changing market conditions and evolving opportunities.

They encompass a firm’s capacity to sense external environmental changes, seize new opportunities, and transform through the alignment of its internal resources and capabilities.

Dynamic Capabilities allow businesses to innovate and pivot quickly, to take advantage of emerging opportunities and stay ahead of the competition. These capabilities are not just limited to the products or services a company offers, but also to the underlying processes, systems, and structures that support its operations.

By developing dynamic capabilities, businesses can build resilience, agility, and flexibility, enabling them to adapt to changes in the market and respond to customer needs with greater speed and efficiency.

Why dynamic capabilities are critical for your business today…

By developing dynamic capabilities, your business can become more agile, adaptive, and innovative.

Specifically, dynamic capabilities can help you:

• Anticipate and sense changes: Scan the horizon and gather intelligence to identify emerging trends, customer needs, and technological advances. This lets you shape your strategy and portfolio of activities to take advantage of new opportunities and mitigate threats.
• Align and integrate resources: Get everyone on the same page and working towards a shared purpose and vision, while maintaining a culture of learning and experimentation. Create an effective organisation that can execute your strategy and generate value for your customers and stakeholders.

• Adapt and renew routines: Experiment, learn, and adapt your routines and processes to continuously improve your performance, quality, and efficiency. Free up resources that can be reinvested in innovation and growth initiatives.
• Accelerate and orchestrate innovation: Develop a systematic approach to innovation management, creating a portfolio of initiatives that span from incremental to radical, from core to adjacent and transformational. Balance your short-term and long-term innovation goals to ensure that your innovation efforts are supporting the emerging needs of tomorrow.

What can we learn from the participants of the pilot program?

Some specific case studies from the program:

Want to find out more?

As you know, HERA is very focused on our members innovating in their business for future success and one way we are doing that is to bring you more insights into future technologies, innovations and training that might help our members to stay ahead of the curve through our collaboration with Adrian and IMS Projects.

One such training that is on our radar is via Callaghan Innovation who are currently accepting applications for the next cohort of businesses looking to enhance their strategic innovation capability.

For more details on the program, including access to a free, no-obligation webinar simply click here  https://go.ims-projects.co.nz/dc-apply. You can also get in touch for more information or an informal conversation at: insights@ims-projects.co.nz.