Judging from responses to the June column, big ideas rank high on a list including technology and intellectual property as sources of competitive advantage. But they are only a starting point, outweighed by methods and the state of the "managerial mind" necessary to execute them. This raises a new set of questions concerning the future of global competition.
As Winfried Schoepf put it, "The big idea is the only thing with the ability to attract enough people around a new concept when real change is needed in an organization." Rodrigo Borgia comments, "... big ideas guide us to put our brain to work." And Don Martin added, "Management concepts provide a benchmark against which the desired direction within a company both externally and internally can be measured."
Others suggested that the big idea is of little importance without effective implementation. Matt Crichton pointed out that "... you can have the biggest idea in the world but if you don't make it personal in your employees' lives ... the idea will go nowhere." In Kathryn Yates' words, "Big ideas or new management concepts are a useless (though entertaining) exercise unless management approaches them with military discipline." Mike Kirkeberg goes even further in saying, "All new management philosophies and strategies work ... until they don't. ... It seems very simple: Make a good product; treat people like people (employees, customers, shareholders) and treat them well; don't worry about gurus …."
While big ideas may have originated, according to at least one study, primarily from the U.S. in recent decades, what does this mean for future competitive advantage on a global basis? Here the predominant thought was that the rapid dissemination of these ideas bodes well for companies able to execute them anywhere in the world. Tom Davenport, one of the authors of the study in question, commented, "... while most gurus come from the U.S., idea practitioners can be found all around the globe ... ideas are so broadly distributed today that it's relatively easy to access them no matter where you're located." In Thomas Kermorgant's words, "Outstanding companies create the concepts that are then formalized and spread by gurus. Outstanding companies exist in all cultures and continents."
Anju Marempudi poses the question of the month in helping us sum up responses to issues surrounding big ideas. In his words, "It's the right mix of management concepts, IT and IP—not just one of them—that probably defined the American century. Now all these ingredients are more transferable to the rest of the world in the emerging global context. This ... paves the way for an Asian century through the information highway." What do you think? 