‘Every act of creation is, first of all, an act of destruction.’ - Pablo Picasso.
… as demonstrates Corning’s capability to reinvent itself from 19th century glass making to leading-edge technologies for the 21st century world economy.
Corning was founded back in the mid-nineteenth century and its 160 year history is one of continuous innovation and invention: from the glass envelope for Edison’s light bulb (1879) to Pyrex® (1915), the television tube (1939), glass-ceramics (1952), optical fiber (1970), ceramic substrates (1972), LCD glass (1985), clear curve fiber optics (2007) and its eponymous Gorilla® Glass (2007), the thin and damage-resistant touch screen glass now used in some 2.7 billion portable electronic devices.
Not surprisingly, it was one of the first companies in the U.S. to institutionalise Research and Development (R&D) in its business strategy and to set-up an R&D laboratory. A consistent commitment to R&D at 8-10% of revenue since the founding of the company has allowed it to repeatedly develop new technologies to enter adjacent or new markets (e.g. LCD TVs); sometimes as a way out of markets that became saturated (e.g. the fiber optics market).
Like other top companies, Corning uses a stage-gate process for managing ideas, from embryonic in Stage 1 to commercially-marketed in Stage 5. But in Corning’s case, the system actually produces consistent results and a few aspects also stand out:
- Innovation viewed as key to continued growth – The business is managed as a portfolio of mature and growth businesses, as well as early-stage ventures, some of which are being developed and managed with a long-term view, even in difficult times. Project selection is a highly competitive and tightly managed process – not all projects get funded. However, the lucky ones get full attention and are turned into reality at high speed.
- Innovation process managed by cross-functional teams covering technology, manufacturing, and marketing. The teams report to a corporate technology council (focused on early-stage ideas) and a growth and strategy council (which takes over when an idea is nearing commercialisation and ensures that the whole organisation is rapidly geared to supporting launch). These teams can define very early in the innovation process exactly how the technology fits with customer and market needs (at times even anticipating them), as well as the manufacturing constraints. Multi disciplinarity also allows shared views of trends that could have an impact on the industry, and how these should be considered in corporate strategy.
- Innovation process inclusive of customers and suppliers – Corning keeps its customers, such as Nortel Networks, end-users, such as Apple, as well as its original equipment manufacturing suppliers well informed of its product development plans to allow early feedback as part of product development and testing.
- Empowered project leadership – Project managers are selected on the basis of their innovation leadership skills and their cross-functional understanding of technology, marketing and manufacturing. They have a large autonomy, the basis of Corning’s nimbleness: it took only three months from the thought of making Gorilla glass to introducing it into the supply chain.
- Objective and regular reviews – The executive team formally reviews individual projects three times a year to assess project performance and resource allocation in light of corporate and innovation goals. These sessions are known to have helped Corning shift its focus from a strongly technology-led approach (which in some occasions resulted in expensive mistakes, such as in the case of automotive safety glass) to a largely responsive, market-led business to, finally, one which is trying to set the pace through deploying key strategic technologies.
- Culture encouraging trust and cooperation – Corning has created a culture where project managers feel safe to shut down projects early if issues such as absence of pull in the marketplace or a fundamental flaw in the technology arise. It avoids laying off researchers in favor of moving them to ongoing development programs and keeps a backlog of development efforts for future review when funds become available.
- Network-based model of innovation which sees key alliances and external partners bringing new and often very different knowledge sets rather than trying to own all the resources. This has allowed Corning to explore less familiar territory. For instance, its competence in photonics arose out of close networks and collaborations with institutes in the former Soviet Union which lacked resources and access to development facilities to develop their knowledge. It also shares technology with major players with large but complementary R&D capabilities thereby helping partners to move the frontier forward quickly by being able to pool resources.
- Continuous generation, management and deployment of intellectual property as a strategic asset – Corning has developed sophisticated ways of harvesting intellectual property from its collaborations without taking over or compromising the autonomy and independence of the laboratories and institutes with which it works. For instance, its patented fusion-glass manufacturing process was the basis of new products such as its Lotus Glass for high-performance displays or its thin-film photovoltaics, and to make improvements to its existing products e.g. Gorilla®Glass 2 and 3.
- Emphasis on learning through shared knowledge – Corning uses storytelling and other approachesto quickly and efficiently communicate and share good practice from its large project experience thereby creating a community of quality and continuous improvement. It also holds a bi-annual companywide "Growth Day" show-cases where emerging products and businesses are presented.
- Innovation targets are shared across employees who recognise the innovation process as the creative source of next-generation systems and products. Corning incentivises entrepreneurial behavior i.e. the ability to solve problems and keep innovation and invention steadily moving along.
The results of Corning’s historical drive for innovation seemingly built on constant reinvention have been visible in our day-to-day life. Their ‘Discovering Beyond Imagination’ moto appears less of a corporate slogan than an embodiment of the truth and their strategy.
More information on Corning’s innovation and constant reinvention can be found HERE
by Christelle Espinasse - inSTRATEGIA
