In his new book, The New Age of Innovation, management author C K Prahalad and co-author M S Krishnan, present a blueprint for corporate growth and innovation.

Download the podcast to hear him discuss his new ideas, give examples of companies which are ahead of the curve in delivering unique customer experiences and gives practical tips on how managers can be more innovative.

The book Prahalad and Krishnan explain how management practices and organisational structures will need to change in the next 12 years to meet the growing demand for greater efficiency and creativity.

Key points:

1. Individual customer experiences will become increasingly important. Value is now based on personalised experiences for the consumer. Regardless of whether they serve a handful or huge numbers of customers, companies need to have the ability to focus on the single customer and offer him or her a personalised service. Prahalad calls this approach N = 1.

2. Innovation will be driven by flexibility and efficiency. Resources to create this unique customer experience need to be gathered from inside and outside the organisation. Companies don't need to own these resources, but they need to be able to access them and use them as required. Organisations will become less hierarchical and more attuned to their individual employees and suppliers to help give them this flexibility.This phenomenon is termed R = G (Resources from global sources).

3. Innovation is underpinned by new approaches to technology. All businesses will need to become e-businesses with flexible IT structures at their core. Innovative IT approaches will be vital to providing unique customer experiences to tech-savvy members of the FaceBook generation and driving efficient use of resources as determined by R = G.

4. Managers need to start planning for this future now. Prahalad and Krishnan predict that by about 2020 their predictions will be reality and managers will be operating in this new environment. They urge managers to start thinking about this future in their corporate strategy, IT and talent management processes today.

The New Age of Innovation: Driving Co-Created Value Through Global Networks by C.K Prahalad and M.S Krishnan (McGraw-Hill, £15.24)

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