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几乎每个公司都说自己有创新

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Got innovation? Just about every company says it does.


创新吗？几乎每个公司都说自己有创新。



Businesses throw around the term to show they're on the cutting edge of everything from technology and medicine to snacks and cosmetics. Companies are touting chief innovation officers, innovation teams, innovation strategies and even innovation days.


从科技和医药到零食和化妆品的各个行业，所有公司总是把这个词挂在嘴边，以显示自己处于行业最前沿。所有公司都在大肆宣扬他们的首席创新长、创新团队、创新战略甚至创新日。



But that doesn't mean the companies are actually doing any innovating. Instead they are using the word to conveymonumental change when the progress they're describing is quite ordinary.


但这并不意味着这些公司确实在做什么创新。他们用这个词，是为了将寻常的进步描述成巨大的变化。



Like the once ubiquitous buzzwords 'synergy' and 'optimization,' innovation is in danger of becoming a cliche -- if it isn't one already.


如同曾经无所不在的术语"协同作用"和"最优化"一样，创新即便现在还不是陈词滥调，那也正面临着变成陈词滥调的危险。



'Most companies say they're innovative in the hope they can somehow con investors into thinking there is growth when there isn't,' says Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School and the author of the 1997 book, 'The Innovator's Dilemma.'


哈佛大学商学院（Harvard Business School）教授、1997年《创新者的困境》（The Innovator's Dilemma）一书作者克里斯坦森（Clayton Christensen）说，大多数公司说他们是创新的，是为了引诱投资者相信公司有增长，而实际上并没有。



A search of annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows companies mentioned some form of the word 'innovation' 33,528 times last year, which was a 64% increase from five years before that.


对向美国证券交易委员会（Securities and Exchange Commission）提交的年度和季度报告的搜索研究显示，去年各个公司以不同方式提到"创新"这个词的次数为33,528次，这比五年前增加了64%。



More than 250 books with 'innovation' in the title have been published in the last three months, most of them dealing with business, according to a search of Amazon.com.


据亚马逊（Amazon.com）的一项搜索统计，过去三个月共有250多本书名含"创新"的书被出版，大都是商业书籍。



The definition of the term varies widely depending on whom you ask. To Bill Hickey, chief executive of Bubble Wrap's maker, Sealed Air Corp., it means inventing a product that has never existed, such as packing material that inflates on delivery.


根据所问对象的不同，这个词的定义差异很大。对Bubble Wrap气泡衬垫制造商希悦尔公司（Sealed Air Corp.）首席执行长希基（Bill Hickey）来说，创新意味着发明一种从来没有存在过的产品，比如现场发泡的包装材料。



To Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. CEO Randy Papadellis, it is turning an overlooked commodity, such as leftover cranberry skins, into a consumer snack like Craisins.


对优鲜沛蔓越莓公司（Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.）首席执行长帕帕得利斯（Randy Papadellis）说，创新就是把被忽略的商品，比如蔓越莓吃剩下的皮，变成Craisins这样的零食。



To Pfizer Inc.'s research and development head, Mikael Dolsten, it is extending a product's scope and application, such as expanding the use of a vaccine for infants that is also effective in older adults.


对辉瑞公司（Pfizer Inc.）的研发主管多尔斯登（Mikael Dolsten）来说，创新是扩大一种产品的范畴和应用，比如扩大一种对成年人也有效的婴儿疫苗的应用。



Scott Berkun, the author of the 2007 book 'The Myths of Innovation,' which warns about the dilution of the word, says that what most people call an innovation is usually just a 'very good product.'


伯尔肯（Scott Berkun）在其2007年所着的《创新的神话》（The Myths of Innovation）一书对创新这个词的弱化提出了警告。他说，大多数人所说的创新往往只是一种"非常好的产品"。



He prefers to reserve the word for civilization-changing inventions like electricity, the printing press and the telephone -- and, more recently, perhaps the iPhone.


他更喜欢把这个词留给电、印刷机和电话等改变文明的发明，也许还包括最近的iPhone。



Mr. Berkun, now an innovation consultant, advises clients to ban the word at their companies.


伯尔肯目前是一名创新咨询师，指导客户禁止该词在客户公司的使用。



'It is a chameleon-like word to hide the lack of substance,' he says.


他说，它是一个变色龙式的词，隐藏着实质内容的缺乏。



Mr. Berkun tracks innovation's popularity as a buzzword back to the 1990s, amid the dot-com bubble and the release of James M. Utterback's 'Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation' and Mr. Christensen's 'Dilemma.'


伯尔肯认为创新作为一个术语的流行源于20世纪90年代，当时正值网络泡沫时期，厄特巴克（James M. Utterback）所着的《掌握创新动力》（Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation）和克里斯坦森的《创新者的困境》也在那时发布。



The word appeals to large companies because it has connotations of being agile and 'cool,' like start-ups and entrepreneurs, he says.


他说，这个词很受大公司的欢迎，因为它像初创企业和创业家一样有着反应灵敏和"酷"的含义。



Technology concerns aren't necessarily the worst offenders. Apple Inc. and Google Inc. mentioned innovation 22 times and 14 times, respectively, in their most recent annual reports. But they were matched by Procter & Gamble Co. (22 times), Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (21 times) and Campbell Soup Co. (18 times).


科技公司不一定是最大的罪人。苹果公司（Apple Inc.）和谷歌公司（Google Inc.）在其最近的年度报告中分别提到创新22次和14次。但宝洁（Procter & Gamble Co.）、Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.和金宝汤公司（Campbell Soup Co.）也不逊色，分别为22次、21次和18次。



The innovation trend has given birth to an attendant consulting industry, and Fortune 100 companies pay innovation consultants $300,000 to $1 million for work on a single project, which can amount to $1 million to $10 million a year, estimates Booz & Co. innovationstrategy consultant Alex Kandybin.


创新趋势催生了后来咨询业的兴起。据博斯公司（Booz & Co.）创新战略咨询师坎德宾（Alex Kandybin）估计，仅一个项目，财富100强企业为创新咨询师支付的费用为30万到100万美元，相当于每年100万到1,000万美元。



In addition, four in 10 executives say their company now has a chief innovation officer, according to a recent study of the phenomenon released last month by Capgemini Consulting.


此外，凯捷咨询（Capgemini Consulting）上个月发布的对这种现象最近所做的研究显示，40%的高管说自己的公司现在有一位首席创新长。



The findings, based on an online survey of 260 global executives and 25 in-depth interviews, suggest that such titles may be mainly 'for appearances.'


该研究对260位全球高管进行了网上问卷调查，并进行了25次深度采访。研究结果表明，这种头衔可能主要是为了"装门面"。



Most of the executives conceded their companies still don't have a clear innovationstrategy to support the role.


大多数高管都承认，自己的公司还没有清晰的创新战略来支撑这个职位。



Jeff Semenchuk, who was named Hyatt Hotels Corp.'s first chief innovation officer in August, says there is 'nothing fluffy' about his job.


8月被任命为凯悦酒店集团（Hyatt Hotels Corp.）第一任首席创新长的赛门丘克（Jeff Semenchuk）说，他的工作"一点也不空洞"。



The hotel chain recently interviewed hundreds of guests and concluded that 'we're all kind of stuck in the past,' he says of the industry.


他谈到酒店业时说，凯悦最近访问了数百位宾客，得出结论说"我们好像都困在了过去"。



He oversees experimental initiatives at eight newly designated 'lab' hotels around the world. Among his projects: a new process that has an iPad-toting concierge meet guests at the airport and check them in.


他负责监督全球八家新设计的"实验室"酒店的实验计划。其中一个项目是：携带iPad的迎宾人员在机场迎接宾客并为其办理入住手续的新流程。



Innovation is hardly a new term. The word, which derives from the Latin noun innovatus, meaning renewal or change, appeared in print as early as the 15th century, according to Robert Leonard.


创新算不上是个新词。据语言学家伦纳德（Robert Leonard）称，这个词由拉丁名词innovatus衍生而来，意思是更新或改变，这个词早在15世纪就在出版物上出现过。



As companies have sped up product cycles, the word has come to signify not just doing something new but also doing it more quickly, he says.


他说，随着各个公司加快产品周期，这个词的意思开始变了，不仅表示做新的事情，还表示做得更快。



Campbell Soup, for example, says it is trying to bring new products, from soup flavors to skillet sauces, to market more quickly than its competitors do. 'Ideas can be copied much more quickly today,' says Vice President Darren Serrao.


比如金宝汤就说，公司正努力推出从汤料口味到炖料的各类新产品，比竞争对手更快地营销产品。公司副总裁赛劳（Darren Serrao）说，如今理念被抄袭的速度比过去快得多了。



Mr. Christensen classifies innovations into three types: efficiency innovations, which produce the same product more cheaply, such as automating credit checks; sustaining innovations, which turn good products into better ones, such as the hybrid car; and disruptive innovations, which transform expensive, complex products into affordable, simple ones, such as the shift from mainframe to personal computers.


克里斯坦森把创新分为三类：效率创新，即以更低成本生产同一种产品，比如信用检查的自动化；持续创新，即把好的产品变得更好，比如混合动力车；还有颠覆性创新，即把昂贵复杂的产品改造成经济简单的产品，比如从大型计算机到个人电脑的转变。



A company's biggest potential for growth lies in disruptive innovation, he says, noting that the other types could just as well be called ordinary progress and normally don't create more jobs or business.


他说，一家公司最大的增长潜力在于颠覆性创新，他指出，其他两类创新也可以称为普通的改良，一般不会创造更多就业岗位或业务。



But the disruptive innovations can take five to eight years to bear fruit, he says, so companies lose patience.


他说，而颠覆性创新可能需要五到八年才能有成果，所以企业容易失去耐心。



It is far easier, he adds, for companies to just say they're innovating. 'Everybody's innovating, because any change is innovation.'


他说，公司只说自己在创新，这要简单得多；大家都在创新，因为任何变化都是创新。



Some die-hard users of the word innovation admit that they're tiring of it.


创新这个词的有些铁杆用户承认，他们开始对这个词产生厌倦。



Sealed Air's Mr. Hickey, who notes that his company has been using it in corporate filings since at least 1980, is considering dropping the word in company materials.


希悦尔首席执行长希基说，公司至少从1980年开始就一直在公司文件中用这个词，现在他正考虑在公司材料中去掉这个词。



Next up? 'Inventive.'


下一个轮到哪个词呢？"创造性（Inventive）。"



'Inventive is a mind set; innovation is a thing,' he says. 'We'll be heading the pack.'


他说，创造性是一种思维方式；创新是一件事情；我们将会引领潮流。



Leslie Kwoh


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