The recent cancellation of Columbia University’s planned December session of its Executive Education course, “INNOVATION AND MARKETING“, came as no surprise. It is common wisdom in the business world that in times of recession, one must first cut the Training budget and then the Innovation budget. So this course received a double-whammy.
This phenomenon is quite logical. Innovation’s ultimate goal in any organization is to spur growth. In a period when growth is pretty much out of the question, investment in innovation seems capricious. Companies need to become more insular, stop the bleeding, cut the “luxuries” they have become accustomed to in times of plenty, and weather the storm. Not to mention the shareholders breathing down the Board’s neck to show some sort of profit margin, even if it means letting go a few hundred or thousand “salaries” or “headcount” that they will inevitably rehire a few months later once the R-word has passed.
These companies, however, overlook two essential aspects of innovation. Firstly, while the output of innovation should Continue reading ‘Innovation in times of recession’
