Corporate Innovation: I favor Google's Approach Now
The Yin and Yang of Corporate Innovation by Steve Lohr in The New York Times, (1/29/12) lays out the different innovation approaches used by Apple and Google. Partly because Apple sells hardware primarily, its approach is more top-down, measured and less customer-centric. The cost of failure to them of a new hardware product is significant. Steve Jobs was famously quoted as saying that "it's not the consumers' job to know what they want".
Google products are almost entirely software. Lohr says that it "speaks to the power of data driven decision making, on line experimentation and of networked communication". As a Google customer, I notice that there are always many "labs" developing products and beta versions of apps to try. Customers can decide to try or not with no promise by Google of successful implementation.
I think Google's model is more useful for corporate leaders to consider now since it is very different than most companies' approach which is still top-down. Be willing to throw a lot of stuff against the wall and be willing to test and change strategy frequently. The annual strategic plan is a joke now. Those plans are usually obsolete the day they are printed.
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