Innovation: Catalyst or Consequence of Fast Growth?

Michael Levin
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Titan Steel Corporation; Entrepreneur-in-Residence,
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Pop quiz, take your pencils out!

Question One: Does high-tech drive high-growth and extraordinary equity value?

Partially. Think about the following business ideas: a new twist to providing Medicare-covered prescriptions, an accumulator of clients for DirecTV, a temp accounting service, a claims handler for insurance companies, and a real estate fund.

Question Two: How many of these firms are high-tech corporate stars?

None. But they are all superstars when it comes to growth. Hospital Partners of America, Red Ventures, Callaway Partners, Global Risk Solutions, and Noble Investment Group are listed first through fifth on the current Inc. 5,000, which ranks America's fastest-growing private firms.

Given these examples, why is it that technology, technology transfer, and intellectual property continue to be singled out as the sine qua non for high-impact economic growth? We find the plain truth is that growth and value emerge from technology and process in a cycle of innovation, starting with Process or Technology Innovation, leading to Opportunity Recognition, leading to Business Creation, leading to Further Innovation, leading to Enterprise Value.

Pervasive attention is given to productivity growth derived from plug-in-enhanced technology, such as laser welding or robotics—but service sector gains and business creations, like many of those listed on the Inc. 5,000, are where most of the fast-growth activity occurs. Overall, the entrepreneur trumps technology in creating value. Or, put another way, clever science doesn't make a business great; people make a business great.

Imagine innovation as either a catalyst for fast growth or a consequence; the former is typified by electric cars using advanced battery technology and the latter in Netflix, where technology was exploited to deliver movies in a new way. Studies show that the explosive blast of wind preceding an avalanche delivers the most devastating impact, not the snow. And, productive entrepreneurs utilizing fresh technology trigger the power and value of the enterprise, leveraging either an innovative process or technology.

Analyze the "Innovation Value Grid" on to the right. Recall that all five of the previously mentioned fastest-growing firms are evidence of process innovations. On this grid, both Amazon and e-Harmony leverage technology, but principally change a process, thereby improving a customer experience to create value. When we step up to an ATM machine, stop at a KFC drive-through, or jump on a discount airline flight, our lives are improved, time is saved, and value is realized.

The direct commercialization of new science or technologies like non-invasive neurosurgery, anti-viral nano-coated stents, or voice-over Internet connections via Wi-Fi may be catalyzing innovations. And, in such precise, clear-cut cases, entrepreneurial success more directly ties to the technology. 

Question Three: Does hyper-velocity growth on a broad, sustainable scale stand on the shoulders of new technology, or in its shoes?

No bright line separates innovation as a consequence versus a cause, because it is a continuum—nor is advancing technology versus improving process a clean distinction, especially when factoring in product life cycles. Yet, whether it is innovative improvements at the local dry cleaner or original software on a mobile phone, innovation comes in many guises, far from the least being process innovation (which is a fancy way of saying, "Here's how to do this better.").

And, this is a distinction with a difference: In aggregate, the fastest-growing companies are on the "improved process" line, with most of them in the "product/service as consequence" quadrants.

The ultimately unsurprising realization is the "back to the future" element of the analysis, which means it should be anticipated. Marketing skills and individuals' ability to recognize and capitalize on opportunity are the great wealth creators and the triggers for sustainable value creation. A science of entrepreneurship is evolving, but its ability to detect and direct success will increasingly center on fine-tuning the entrepreneur, not the technology—just like the best athletic equipment and training can be applied to all athletes but can never substitute for singular ability. The lab remains a critical component in advancing science and well-being, but the center of wealth creation is the entrepreneur and the non-oxymoron of "old-fashioned process change." In the end, iterative change, and not the one "big idea," creates lasting value.

Final Question: Does this leave us with an uneasy sense that entrepreneurs are born and not taught, or that MBAs are the least likely candidates for high-growth proprietorships?

I think not. The art will be to grow and then graft the new science of entrepreneurship to high-potential candidates, creating an environment that sponsors innovation in process, as well as technology, and recognizes the cause and effect roles of innovation in wealth creation.

Okay, all pencils down, and Blue Books turned in at the front of the room!