In this article authors provide an analysis of WeChat’s internal innovation process, how it created the original product, how it stays abreast of user needs and how it remains innovative and agile even though it has more than 2,000 employees.
The article is based on exclusive interviews with Allen Zhang and ten other senior executives, as well as extensive desk research.
This case analyses the evolution of Tencent, and focuses on WeChat. It describes the emergence and growth of WeChat and how it came to dominate large parts of daily life in China; it also provides insight into how WeChat operates and the current strategic challenges facing WeChat.
This case describes how Bayer put an innovation strategy in place that deliberately sought a systemic approach, meaning company-wide, to make innovation the responsibility of all Bayer employees
This article explains how Bayer is actively investing in innovation and using Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT) to train their employees
This article studies what are the key drivers of strategic strategic agility in organisations. The article combines a survey to 40 companies and case studies, and leverages Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (FsQCA) to derive the results.
The Handbook on China and Globalization is an excellent guide for understanding the trends, challenges and opportunities facing China through globalization, this Handbook answers the pertinent questions regarding the globalization process and China’s influence on the world.
Enrique co-authored Chapter 3 (Chinese innovation and entrepreneurship going abroad: from counterfeits and copycats to innovation exporters) with Dickie Liang-Hong Ke.
The case examines the situation of Cirque du Soleil in its early years. Despite initial success, Guy Laliberté, founder and CEO of Cirque du Soleil, is facing a number of challenges, including aspects such as increasing competition, access to the pool of talent, location and growth. All of these elements are in Laliberté’s mind just before meeting with Jean Doré, the mayor of Montreal. Laliberté thinks that it will be a great opportunity to ask for support, but he doesn’t know exactly what to ask for. At the same time, Doré is preparing the city’s strategic plan and is wondering whether Montreal could benefit from Cirque du Soleil’s image and success. He does, however, have some lingering concerns.
WeChat, the messaging app, dominates daily life in China. We conducted an in-depth study of the company, through exclusive interviews with 15 executives, including founder Allen Zhang. We argue that WeChat’s success wasn’t achieved through technological superiority, but through the vision – or grand design – of Zhang. We explore how the grand design approach to innovation – where a new product or service emerges fully-formed in the mind’s eye of the innovator before it is developed and commercialized – can be more effective than design thinking under certain circumstances, most notably when a market is in its early formative stage of development
This article studies what had been published on the topic of strategic agility, providing an understanding of where the topic sat and what key gaps existed. The article shows that strategic agility is a concept that had not reached maturity nor consensus.