Monthly Archives: September 2007

Innovation at the Bottom

Came across an article on a BusinessWeek blog talking about the One Laptop Per Child project announcing their plan to offer a line of accessories.

The article talks about a $10 DVD Player and a $100 Projector, and how they might be a boon to entrepreneurs in developing countries when paired with the low cost XO laptop.

Innovation at the bottom may lift some enterprising individuals up to a higher standard living in developing countries, but things like a $100 projector could be a boon for entrepreneurs in this country too. Many enterprising entrepreneurs trying to bootstrap their companies here in the United States might find them an attractive alternative to the $800 price for an average projector here. A $100 projector might allow a dislocated U.S. worker trying to pitch their way out of a dead-end low-wage job to now go into important pitches looking just as professional as the big guys.

These tools will undoubtedly have a big impact in developing countries, but what might the impact of these low price tools be in the developed world?

Might innovation at the top be a side effect to the goal of providing one laptop per child?

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Learning Innovations from Microsoft

Want to read up on the latest technologies or innovative business thinking?

If you’re committed to continuous learning to maintain your edge in your career, then no doubt you are frequently making trips to Borders or Barnes & Noble, or perhaps online to Amazon to purchase the latest business, technology, or self improvement books. If you are really green and want to save a tree or two, maybe you even go to your local public library.

Many companies say they are committed to employee learning, some even send employees to training courses or conduct internal training classes, but Microsoft takes employee education one step further. They’ve built up their own library at their Redmond, WA campus headquarters that facilitates the acquisition and lending of the latest business and technology titles.

Even vendors can check out a book like The Strategy Paradox by Michael Raynor for three weeks. Audio books on CD, no problem. E-books? The Microsoft library has those too, along with access to online research sources.

If an employee or vendor doesn’t return something their boss gets charged, so that keeps people honest and the library stocked.

Why is this so innovative?

Innovation sometimes requires a commitment that few others are willing to make. How many companies are willing to bear the cost of running their own library?

But yet how many companies constantly complain about the shortage of qualified technology workers?

Making the resources easily available to employees to increase their body of knowledge not only contributes to increased job satisfaction, but also to increased productivity. Making the library available to vendors working on the Microsoft business as well is where one of the key strategic innovations plays out. What a concept!

Microsoft makes use of a large number of contractors and consultants to drive their business and by opening the library to these resources, they increase the return on investment in non-employee resources as well.

What is your company doing to improve productivity and success from supporting continuous learning?

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