Assignment title: Information
CHAPTER 7 ASSIGNMENTS INFORMATION
Due Date: Saturday, June 11, 2016 11:55 PM
1. You are to define the 10 terms below in your own word.
2. What Would You Do? Case Assignment
1. Organizational innovation
the successful implementation of creative ideas in organizations
the production of novel and useful ideas
3. Organizational change
a difference in the form, quality, or condition of an organization over time
a cycle that begins with the birth of a new technology and ends when that technology reaches its limits
and is replaced by a newer, substantially better technology
5. S-curve pattern of innovation
a pattern of technological innovation characterized by show initial progress, then rapid progress, and
then slow progress again as a technology matures and reaches its limits
patterns of innovation over time that can create sustainable competitive advantage
7. Technological discontinuity
when a scientific advance or a unique combination of existing technologies creates a significant
breakthrough in performance or function
competition between old and new technologies to establish a new technological standard
a new technological design or process that becomes the accepted market standard
when a new dominant design (i.e., a significantly better technology) prevents a company from
competitively selling its products or makes it difficult to do so
Writing verbatim and/or plagiarism will result in a zero (0) grade.
Below are six (6) effective steps along with examples to assist you with understanding how to
6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing
Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this
material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your
Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all
the essential information in a new form.
Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly
from the source.
Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it easily if you
decide to incorporate the material into your paper.
Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse
quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript
should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of
exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research
Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.
In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a
desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to
minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).
Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the
amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).
Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of
them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should
consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material
copied while taking notes.
What Would You Do? Case Assignment
With 40,000 global patents and patent applications, 3M, maker of Post-it notes, reflective materials
(Scotch lite), and 55,000 products in numerous industries (displays and graphics, electronics and
communications, health care, safety and security, transportation, manufacturing, office products,
and home and leisure), has long been one of the most innovative companies in the world. 3M
codified its focus on innovation into a specific goal, "30/5," which meant that 30 percent of its sales
each year must come from products no more than five years old. The logic was simple but powerful.
Each year, five-year- old products become six years old and would not be counted toward the 30
percent of sales. Thus, the 30/5 goal encouraged everyone at 3M to be on the lookout for and open
to new ideas and products. Furthermore, 3M allowed its engineers and scientists to spend 5 percent
of their time, roughly a half-day per week, doing whatever they wanted as long as it was related to
innovation and new product development.
And it worked, for a while. A decade ago, the Boston Consulting Group, one of the premier
consulting companies in the world, ranked 3M as the most innovative company in the world. In
subsequent years, it dropped to second, third, and then seventh. Today, 3M doesn't even crack the
top 50. Dev Patnaik, of Jump Associates, an innovation consulting firm, says, "People have kind of
forgotten about those guys [3M]. When was the last time you saw something innovative or
experimental coming out of there?" So, what happened?
When your predecessor became CEO ten years ago, he found a struggling, inefficient, oversized
company in need of change. He cut costs by laying off 8,000 people. Marketing, and research and
development funds, which had been allocated to divisions independent of performance (all divisions
got the same increase each year), were now distributed based on past performance and growth
potential. Perform poorly, and your funds would shrink the next year. Likewise, with U.S. sales
stagnating and Asia sales rising, management decreased headcount, hiring, and capital expenditures
in the United States, while significantly increasing all three in fast-growing Asian markets. Six Sigma
processes, popularized at Motorola and GE, were introduced to analyze how things got done, to
remove unnecessary steps, and to change procedures, which caused defects. Thousands of 3M
managers and employees became trained as Six Sigma "black belts" and returned to their divisions
and departments to root out inefficiencies, reduce production times, and decrease waste and
product errors. And it worked incredibly well, in part. Costs and capital spending dropped, while
profits surged 35 percent to record levels. But, product innovation, as compared to the 30/5 goal
sank dramatically, as only 21 percent of profits were generated by products that were no more than
So, what should 3M do? From inception, 3M has been an innovator, bringing a stream of new
products and services to market, creating value for customers, sustainable advantage over
competitors, and sizable returns for investors. Thanks to your predecessor, 3M has lower costs, is
highly efficient, and much more profitable. But it no longer ranks among the most innovative firms in
the world. In fact, the use of Six Sigma procedures appears to be inversely related to product
innovation. If that's the case, should 3M continue to focus on using Six Sigma procedures to reduce
costs and increase efficiencies, or should it strive again to encourage its scientists and managers to
focus on innovation? Which will make 3M more competitive in the long run?
When people think of innovation, they tend to think of game-changing advances that render current
products obsolete, for example, comparing the iPhone to text-based "smartphones." Innovation,
however, also occurs with lots of incremental changes over time. What are the advantages and
disadvantages for 3M of each approach, and when and where would each be more likely to work?
Finally, some companies innovate from within by successfully implementing creative