The Social Innovation Imperative: Create Winning Products, Services, and Programs that Solve Society's Most Pressing Challenges (BUSINESS BOOKS) - Hardcover

Bates, Sandra M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071754997 ISBN 13: 9780071754996

Publisher: McGraw Hill, 2012

Synopsis

“This book is a must read for anyone who cares about the well-being of humanity in our modern world.”
―Jake B. Schrum, President Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX

“The Social Innovation Imperative advances a best practice framework to solving the world’s most pressing social issues. This is a foundational guide to changing the world that will be referenced for years to come.”
―Michael Reynolds, Vice President, Product Development and Management, Cigna Health Care

“Advancing the works of Clayton Christensen, Tony Ulwick, and others, Bates gives us a systematic approach for addressing critical human needs and the ecosystems in which they persist. This book is a blueprint to help us solve the ‘right’ things―the ‘right’ way.”
―Joe Grieshop, President, Chief Innovation Executive, netTrekker, Founding Partner, Knovation Lab

“Bates lays out a comprehensive, needs-driven approach for creating a social innovation road map. The detailed templates she provides offer particular insight for large, complex challenges.”
―Sarah Miller Caldicott, author of Innovate Like Edison and Inventing The Future, great-grandniece of Thomas Edison

“Bates shows how to create comprehensive innovation strategies using a six-step framework, and she gives the reader detailed ‘how to’ instruction for each step.”
―Ellen Domb, Ph.D., President, PQR Group, Founder of The TRIZ Journal

About the Book:

In recent years, business leaders have been investing unprecedented amounts of time and money pursuing innovation to drive profits and growth. Although far from perfected, the innovation best practices they follow are by now well established.

But when your expected ROI isn’t measured in dollars but in social good, the game is played very differently―which is where The Social Innovation Imperative comes in.

Sandra M. Bates has spent the last decade helping major corporations create new markets for technology, consumer goods, and services. Now, she turns her attention to the social sector. The Social Innovation Imperative begins by explaining why innovation in social sectors, such as health care, conservation, and education, is unique and then provides the framework and tools that create a best practice for driving innovative change that will impact our world.

Bates organizes the process into action-oriented steps you can follow to meet your goals effectively and in the most efficient manner possible. Learn how to:

Investigate the Needs―define the social challenge, determine unmet needs, and examine opportunities for achieving them
Innovate the Solution―devise a workable solution and develop a powerful social business model
Implement the Solution―ensure the solution creates shared value and discover techniques to make certain that it does not become an orphan innovation

In The Social Innovation Imperative, Bates combines everything she has learned as a high-level business consultant to offer a refreshing new approach for developing breakthrough products, programs, and services to meet society’s needs.

The Framework for Social Innovation outlined in this book removes the mystery from innovation success and provides a systematic approach anyone can adopt. The Social Innovation Imperative offers essential wisdom for innovators everywhere―whether nonprofits, NGOs, foundations, government agencies, or corporations―who wish to generate meaningful social value.

About this title

About the Author

Sandra M. Bates has worked with more than 50 companies, spanning dozens of industries, and more than 100 innovation initiatives, helping executive teams launch award-winning products, services, and programs. She most recently founded The Innovation Partners, a group focused on generating social impact through innovation. Bates was also the executive director and cofounder of the Strategyn Institute, where she engaged and trained hundreds of executives in the Outcome-Driven Innovation methodology, allowing her to enjoy both consulting and teaching others.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SOCIAL INNOVATION IMPERATIVE

Create Winning Products, Services, and Programs That Solve Society's Most Pressing Challenges

By SANDRA M. BATES

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-07-175499-6

Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1 Investigate
Chapter 1 Define the Social Challenge
Chapter 2 Understand and Prioritize the Needs
Chapter 3 Examine the Opportunities
Part 2 Innovate the Solution
Chapter 4 Devise a Workable Solution
Chapter 5 Develop a Business Model
Part 3 Implement the Solution
Chapter 6 Diffusion of Innovation
Chapter 7 Health Care
Chapter 8 Resource Conservation
Chapter 9 What Citizens Want
Notes
Index

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

DEFINE THE SOCIAL CHALLENGE

Poverty, hunger, terrorism, natural disasters, environmental damage, lonelyelderly, poor graduation rates, inaccessible health care—these are issueswe know well. They have plagued us for generations because they are "wickedproblems."

Wicked problems are complex and involve several different constituents withcompeting objectives. They plague us because they defy our traditional means ofproblem solving: they are caused in numerous ways; they are interwoven anddifficult to untangle. John Camillus, the author of the Harvard BusinessReview article, "Strategy as a Wicked Problem," observes, "Not only doconventional processes fail to tackle wicked problems, but they may exacerbatesituations by generating undesirable consequences." Wicked problems have noeasily apparent answers; solving them can take generations. But there is hope.The key to solving wicked problems lies in defining the issue withprecision, clarity, and detail.

These types of issues are also such that they cannot be handled by just onegroup, no matter how large and powerful. "Large-scale social change requiresbroad cross-sector coordination yet the social sector remains focused on theisolated intervention of individual organizations." Successful programs areoften found where coordination among the government entity, nonprofits, andcorporations takes place.

Understanding the Ecosystem

Within any given social scenario—education, health care, resourceconservation, or hunger alleviation—there are many different groups ofpeople involved. These groups are highly interdependent on each other, eachhaving its own set of needs. Thus, to define a wicked problem, the first step isto map the members involved and what they do. The groups of people workingtoward the overarching goal of the social scenario (for example teachers,students, and parents within the education scenario) comprise anecosystem, and the groups of people within the ecosystem are referred toas members.

In social innovation, the members of the ecosystem are the customer for whom weare trying to create value and improve satisfaction. The challenge is that whilethere are some needs members all agree on, there are several needs that areconflicting so that creating value for one group may detrimentally affect theneeds of another group. These conflicting needs are often the source of theproblem within the social scenario and a key part of the instability anddissatisfaction of the ecosystem.

Let's look at an example of an ecosystem in the education space. All the membersof the ecosystem share the same overarching goal, "create educated, self-sufficient citizens"; however, some of the needs may bring them in conflict withone another. For example, students may be trying to accomplish the need oflearning in a way that feels comfortable to them, but this need may be inconflict with teachers' need to maintain an orderly classroom and providestandardized content to large numbers of students. A true innovation helpsmembers of an ecosystem resolve these conflicts and enables all members to meettheir needs without too much impact on other members.

Further evidence of the conflicting needs among members is found in our healthcare system. The needs of the patient, the health care provider, and the payerare in serious conflict. Patients and payers are putting the squeeze onphysicians to reduce their fees. Physicians who are faced with extremely largestudent loan debt coming out of school find that they cannot make enough moneyto justify the long hours, the school debt, and so on. This disharmony hasdriven physicians to simply give up their practices. In fact, recent surveysshow that over 10 percent of physicians plan to quit their practice, when thereis already a shortage of some types of physicians. Such is a typical result witha severe case of conflicting needs within the ecosystem. The goal of socialinnovation is to maximize the satisfaction of all members of the ecosystem withnew solutions that will address the needs across the spectrum.

Jobs: A Simple Shift in Perspective

A great deal of success within corporate innovation has been a result of gainingclarity concerning what is generally referred to as the "fuzzy front end." Thefront end of innovation involves understanding the problem, identifying thecustomer needs, as well as the constraints that must be overcome. Elimination ofthis fuzziness has been achieved as a result of a simple but elegant paradigmshift in the way organizations view customer needs and the timing of obtainingthose needs. The introduction of using "jobs-to-be-done" as a standardizedmethod of defining needs and the adoption of a "needs-first" approach have madesubstantial improvements in the innovation process.

Jobs are defined as the goals and objectives that people want to accomplish orwhat they are trying to prevent or avoid. In the commercial innovationliterature, jobs are what motivate people to buy a product or service such as aniPhone, which enables them to "be productive while on the go," or auto insuranceso they can "protect against financial loss in the case of an accident."

In the social space, jobs also reflect what people are trying to get done andwhat motivate people to engage in the activities they do. For example, studentswant to prepare for a future career, aid workers for the Red Cross want toprovide supplies to those who are displaced in a natural disaster, andphysicians want to educate patients on how to improve their cardiac health. Jobsexplain why people help or do not help others, what goals they want to achieve,and what they are willing to do without.

In the sphere of social innovation, breaking down social problems into the jobsthat the members are trying to get done allows us to identify where solutionsare needed and what constraints are preventing the successful execution of thatjob. Table 1-1 shows several sample jobs of different socialscenarios.

Consider the results in the corporate world, where analyzing jobs-to-be-done hasled to some breakthrough solutions—like the iPhone. The iPhone's focus isall about helping customers achieve the jobs they want to get done while they'reon the go. While the primary job of the phone is to communicate with others,there are a lot of other jobs that people on the go want to get done aswell. People want to find a restaurant or a Starbucks near their currentlocation. They want to find out what movies are playing near them. They want tocommunicate with several people at a time. They want to be entertained in shortperiods of downtime. In fact, at last count, more than 200,000 applications("apps") have been created for this amazing device to address specific jobs thatpeople want to get done. An app is a very job-specific program that,instead of executing myriad jobs, simply executes one specific job very well andfor a very low cost.

The global success of the iPhone and apps package testifies to the universalityof the concept of the job. The beauty of making the job the unit of focus isthat it brings the discussion to the most basic level, that is, "be productiveon the go" and steers away from preexisting or preconceived notions ofsolutions, such as simply making a better cellular calling experience. Suchdefinition and clarity can make social innovation significantly more effective.

The second major improvement to the success rate of innovation activities is thefocus on a needs-first approach. The needs-first approach is one that identifiesthe needs of the customers, or ecosystem members, and prioritizes them beforeany ideas are generated. With this approach, the idea-generation activities arehighly targeted on the most important and unsatisfied needs. Contrast this withwhat has been the traditional ideas-first approach where ideas are generated bypeople within the organization. They are then put through a process of gainingcustomer reaction, adjustments are made, again customer feedback is obtained,and so on. This method involves a lot of trial and error and is highlyinefficient, yet it was the norm for a long time. In fact, many productdevelopment methodologies actually start with an idea and don't get to thecustomer needs until well into the process. By simply moving the needs gatheringto the front of the process, significant improvement can be made in the successrate of innovation.

Even Thomas Edison, the world's most prolific innovator who spawned the creationof six industries, adapted a "needs-first" approach early in his career after aninitial failure with an "ideas-first" approach. He began to define success interms of "utility" which he defined as "the ability to satisfy a customer needor marketplace need." He realized that it is easy for people with talent forcreating new products and services to get caught up in clever solutions withoutthinking about whether they had a real need in the market. Given the speed atwhich we need to generate solutions in the social space, it is vital to stickwith a plan that works and has been shown to be effective—a "needs-first"approach.

Disruptive Innovation as a Strategy for Social Innovation

Clayton Christensen's disruptive innovation has significant application tosocial challenges. "Disruption is a positive force. It is the process by whichan innovation transforms a market whose services or products are complicated andexpensive into one where simplicity, convenience, accessibility andaffordability characterize the industry."

In the social space this concept is critical for bringing solutions to those whooften need them the most, to groups of people that have little or no access tothe solutions that are available—new technology, services, products, orprograms—even though they have unmet needs that could be addressed withthese solutions. In the Harvard Business Review article, "DisruptiveInnovation for Social Change," Clayton Christensen and his colleagues argue thatsocial innovation should be targeted at the needs that are overserved byexisting solutions and those individuals who do not have the wealth, access, orskills to acquire the solutions that exist today—the nonconsumers (ornonusers).

This group is a significant size in most cases because organizations tend tofocus on addressing the needs of mainstream customers who want more complex andexpensive solutions; these solutions are often out of reach for a large sectorof the population. This group of people, nonusers, are defined as peoplewho "face a barrier that constrains their ability to solve an important problem.They must either go without or attempt to solve the problem to the best of theirability using existing products or services."

Christensen identifies four distinct types of constraints that cause nonuse, andwe can find examples of all of them in social problems:

Wealth-Related Constraints

The most obvious constraint in many social scenarios is that the users simplycannot afford the solutions. For example, there are people who try to manage achronic health problem but who cannot afford the medication that will help keeptheir condition in check. There are also parents who know that their child needsadditional mentoring in a given school subject but the parents lack the money topay for a tutor. Many victims of natural disasters don't have insurance or themeans to rebuild their home and livelihood. This type of nonconsumption is avery real issue—how do we provide access to good solutions for those whocannot afford them?

More and more organizations are beginning to make products and servicesavailable to the vast population at what is known as the bottom of thepyramid (BoP). C. K. Prahalad, professor of Corporate Strategy at theStephen M. Ross School of Business in the University of Michigan, now deceased,has demonstrated that "... by virtue of their numbers, the poor represent asignificant latent purchasing power that must be unlocked." The good news isthat much attention is being given to creating solutions for this group,resulting in profits for the companies pursuing this market and helping theworld's poorest meet their needs.

It is important, however, to go through the process of understanding which jobsare important for the people at the bottom of the pyramid. Many a company hasbeen burned by making a product available to that group, just to find out thatits members were nonusers because they had no interest in getting the job donethat the product or service provided. "Companies with brilliant track records ofmarketing to the developed world have failed to launch high-impact projects,such as Nike's disappointing introduction of the $15 World Shoe. Even morestriking is the example of Procter & Gamble—one of the world's bestmarketing and management firms—which, despite the identification of a'market need' of clean water, has been unable to successfully market their PURwater purification technology to the BoP. Indeed, not a single corporation hascreated a viable clean water business at the BoP, though there have been manyattempts." The suggested reason for these failures is that because there is noproduct market, there is no way to judge demand. We would argue the opposite. Inmarkets where there are no products, that is exactly where the jobs-to-be-donemethodology excels. In these markets it is imperative to understand thejobs that these members want to get done and the prioritization of these jobs.Only then will organizations know which products to pursue for this group ofpeople. These data alone define and quantify the demand of that market whicheven in the absence of existing product because we are measuring demand of thejob. If we really want to sell to the BoP, we must understand jobs they want toget done. Too often assumptions are made that are wrong.

Skill-Related Constraints

These constraints prohibit a group of potential users from using a product orservice because they lack a necessary skill to do so. An example is found withseniors who are unfamiliar with computers, and this often prevents them frombeing able to access information and services available on the Internet. We alsosee this with children who have learning disabilities as they struggle to getthe same education as their peers.

Skill-related constraints require innovations that make the job easier or thatallow the job to be done on a simpler platform that can be used by less skilledpeople. An example is the introduction of new medical technologies that allowpatients to do more medical activities themselves, from monitoring blood sugarto taking blood pressure to even checking for ear infections. Another goodexample is a program in Texas called The Green Corn Project in which volunteerswith skill in agriculture and gardening help the poor to establish a smallcommunity garden to provide healthy food for themselves and their families.

Access-Related Constraints

Access-related constraints have to do with location or context. For example,people who do not have access to television are more likely to be unaware ofworld events. However, the "Internet has played a powerful role in democratizingaccess to information" allowing more and more people to participate in eventsthat concern them. Through services such as Wikipedia, blogs, YouTube, andothers, mainstream people can now publish their thoughts, bringing voice tocountless more people than ever before. We've seen the amazing impact this hashad during the Arab Spring of 2011 where these tools helped to overthrowrepressive governments throughout the Middle East. The distribution ofinformation about the ruling party and how people could become involved in anuprising resulted in the end of a 30-year authoritarian rule in Egypt.

Another great example of social innovation that overcomes the access constraintis a newly developed center for victims of domestic violence. These new centerswere created in response to data that showed that "most of the women that die indomestic violence in America die after they've sought a restraining order, afterthey've called the police, after some interaction with the system." The firstcenter, established in San Diego in 2002, brings together police, prosecutors,social service agencies, and nonprofit advocates to assess the immediate dangerof the victim, assist in the next steps, and provide the support needed toensure the victim's safety. Since its inception, the city has seen a "90% dropin intimate partner homicides." The cross-agency collaboration, the wider rangeof services, and the improved public-private cooperation has created trulyamazing results simply by improving access to services that already existed.

Time Constraints

The last type of constraint that causes nonuse is that of time. This occurs whena product or service is too time consuming and cumbersome to use. Former usersare a good source of finding out whether there is a time constraint that isprohibiting adoption of a given solution. Later in this chapter we look atMinuteClinic which is an example of disruptive innovation which has overcometime and access constraints.

The disruptive innovation strategy is highly effective in addressing socialissues. By exploring needs of the nonconsumers involved in the social scenario,the focus can shift to how to create a solution that is simple, affordable andeasily accessible to the nonuser. Nonusers lacking either skill or wealth need asolution without the complexity and all the extra features found in the primaryproduct or service. Solutions that get the primary job done "well enough" areall that is needed. The more that the products, services, or programs can bemade to be self-administered or self-directed and the less complex, the betterthe chance of overcoming issues of nonuse. All in all, the disruptive innovationstrategy should be one of the first perspectives to be considered whenattempting a social innovation.

Defining the Social Scenario

The scenarios we target for social innovation are those in which a change willbenefit more than just a single group of people. The goal of social innovationis to improve our society, the way we live, the way we interact, the way we carefor people, and so forth. Before we can innovate, however, we must first definethe social scenario—the scope or framework within which we will innovate.We must define the goal of the innovation initiative, learn who is involved,identify the scope of nonconsumption and the reason for it, and understand thestatus quo, especially the current "rules" and the biggest issues.

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Excerpted from THE SOCIAL INNOVATION IMPERATIVE by SANDRA M. BATES. Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc..
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Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw Hill
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071754997
• ISBN 13: 9780071754996
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272