Spring 2004, Vol. 45, No. 3

 

For the second consecutive year, MIT Sloan Management Review and PricewaterhouseCoopers join together to honor the SMR articles that have contributed most significantly to the enhancement and advancement of management practice. Choosing from among the articles published in 2003, an independent panel of judges concluded that the following three contributions most completely met the standard for the award: To illuminate the interplay between the best in current management theory and practice in ways most useful to senior managers. In particular, the judges felt that each of the winners represents "fascinating work" in areas absolutely crucial for today's companies and managers — innovation and leadership — developed in ways forwardthinking yet pragmatic, solutions-oriented yet copiously supported and illustrated with high-quality research and thoughtfully constructed frameworks.

First Place

"The New Frontier of Experience Innovation"
C.K. Prahalad and Venkatram Ramaswamy

Managers are discovering that neither value nor innovation can be generated successfully and sustainably through a company-centric, product-and-service-focused prism. The authors argue that a new point of view is required that allows customers to "co-construct" their own consumption experiences and create unique value for themselves. "This article opens an entirely new way to think about all the core issues of business, not just innovation," said one judge. "It can redefine the logic of the extended enterprise, and the nature of competition. It also creates a new basis for thinking about the kind of technology needed." Another judge lauded its "high-quality research and forward thinking ... [an] orientation toward solutions and customer experience [that] clearly challenges management to avoid inventing commodities of the future." C.K. Prahalad is the Harvey C. Fruehauf Professor of Business Administration and Venkatram Ramaswamy is a professor of marketing and the Michael R. and Mary Kay Hallman Fellow of Electronic Business at the University of Michigan Business School in Ann Arbor.

This article appeared in the Summer 2003 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review. (Reprint 4442)

Runner Up

"Developing Versatile Leadership"
Robert E. Kaplan and Robert B. Kaiser

Writings about leadership often take managers to task for the things they don't do well or for the gaps in their skills; less frequently do they delve into the problem of leaders who overdo it — whose well-developed skills cause an imbalance in their approach to the job. Such people tend to have an either/ or focus — they are either people-oriented or dismissive of people's needs, big-picture thinkers or fixated on execution, and so on. The authors seek to help managers overcome this duality by developing a framework based on two overarching leadership balances: between forceful and enabling leadership, and between strategic and operational leadership. One judge's take: "The authors did a terrific job discussing the complex dimensions of leadership in a way that is both rigorous and practical. The metrics they present are very compelling and quite original. The conclusions they draw are extremely insightful and carry enormous implications for leadership." Robert E. Kaplan and Robert B. Kaiser are consultants with Kaplan DeVries Inc. in Greensboro, North Carolina.

This article appeared in the Summer 2003 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review. (Reprint 4444)

Runner Up

"The Era of Open Innovation"
Henry W. Chesbrough

Internal R&D is no longer the strategic asset it once was. One need only contrast the success of Cisco Systems, which acquires most of the technology it needs from the outside, with the struggles of Lucent Technologies, which inherited most of AT&T's Bell Laboratories and continues to seek fundamental discoveries internally. The author calls the traditional approach closed innovation; its watchword is self-reliance — if you want to do something right, you've got to do it yourself. He heralds in its stead a new model of open innovation in which the boundary between a firm and its surrounding environment is permeable enough to enable ideas to move easily between the two. In a landscape of abundant knowledge with a short shelf-life, open innovation offers newer, better ways to create value. "The author has carefully researched and documented a practice that is likely to become a major source of competitive strength for many companies," concluded one judge. "The work is highly original and thoughtfully constructed." Henry W. Chesbrough is an assistant professor at Harvard Business School in Boston.

This article appeared in the Spring 2003 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review. (Reprint 4435)

Panel Of Judges

John Graell
President and CEO, Molymet
Santiago, Chile

Anita M. McGahan
Professor and Chairman, Strategy and Policy
Department
Boston University School of Management

David W. Landers
President and CEO, Unilever Bestfoods Food Service
Lisle, Illinois

Harry Lasker
Chairman, Cerylion
Burlington, Massachusetts

Randy Zwirn
President and CEO, Siemens Westinghouse
Power Corp.
Orlando, Florida

 

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