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Week of December 17 - 23, 2007 |
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What is the key to success for the world’s most innovative companies? The latest edition of the Booz Allen Hamilton Global Innovation 1000 points to two critical factors: aligning a firm’s innovation model to its overall corporate strategy and listening to customers at all parts of the process. These findings headline the consultancy’s annual Global Innovation 1000 report, a survey of the 1000 global businesses that are the biggest spenders on R&D. Overall, the study finds that corporate spending on research is growing. It was up ten percent last year to reach a total of $447 billion among these 1000 corporate leaders. The study includes an interesting typology of the three primary corporate innovation strategies which are:
Booz Allen researchers note that none of these strategies is superior to the others. Success with each approach depends less on the chosen strategy, and more on the critical factors of how the innovation approach aligns with overall corporate strategy and how the firm interacts with and learns from customers. Learn more about the 2007 Booz Allen Hamilton Global Innovation 1000. |
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Green Innovation in California What role can innovation play in helping to deal with the pressing challenges of climate change? Quite a lot, according to the inaugural California Green Innovation Index, produced by Next 10, a California-based advocacy group. The study contends that California is the world’s leader in green innovation, thanks in part to its role as the center of the first wave of green innovation in the 1970s. This first wave was focused on energy efficiency, and a new second wave of innovation—targeting further energy efficiencies and the development of clean energy—is just beginning. California—and the US—are well poised to benefit from this new wave of innovation if the public sector, businesses, and investors continue to provide resources and support for key technologies, products, and services. Download the California Green Innovation Index: Inaugural Issue 2008, by Next 10. |
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Health Care Costs Continue to Climb
A new survey from Mercer Consulting provides
hard facts to back up what most of us already know. Health care costs
are continuing to climb. According to Mercer’s survey of employer
sponsored health plans, total US health care costs rose 6.1% last year,
reaching about $ 7,983 per worker per year. The primary good news in
this year’s survey is that the rate of cost increase has held steady for
three years. In 2002, health care costs jumped a staggering fifteen
percent. Employers project expect future cost increases of about 5.7% in
2008. How are firms responding to these cost pressures? Health
management efforts, such as wellness programs, are the primary approach,
now used by 80% of surveyed firms. Another strategy (used by 52% of
those surveyed) expands the use of consumer-driven plans such as Health
Savings Accounts. Both of these strategies do generate cost savings, but
these savings are not keeping pace with overall inflation in health care
costs. |
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Small Business and the Health Care Crunch
The Mercer Consulting survey cited above
examines health care trends in large firms; a new National Federation of
Independent Business (NFIB) survey examines how small companies are
faring. The short answer is “not very well.” The survey finds that, due
to high costs, fifty-two percent of small employers do not offer health
insurance or an insurance purchase subsidy. Forty-seven percent of small
employers do offer such benefits, with 36% providing benefits to all or
most full-time employees. In terms of costs, small employers tend to
spend around 7.5% of payroll on employee benefits. |
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The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship is an initiative of the Public Forum Institute made possible by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City. Through NDE-news, we bring you short summaries and analyses of various trends driving entrepreneurship around the world. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online. |
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National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship
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stories © 2007 The Public Forum Institute
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