If you wanted to identify the most innovative companies in the world, how would you go about it? One way—the lazy way—would be to ask senior executives to name the most innovative companies outside their industry. Do an opinion survey. Senior executives hear about Apple, they maybe buy iPhones and iPads, and they write down Apple’s name. They use Google to search the Internet and they put Google on their lists. Microsoft, IBM, and Toyota are household names that a lot of people wouldn’t think of as innovative but heck, the senior executives have heard somebody describe them that way so they go on the list. Then, of course, you have to factor in financial performance and Voila! You’ve got a list with about as much validity as asking college students to identify the best party schools outside of their own.

That didn’t stop Bloomberg BusinessWeek from producing just such a list and then spending a lot of time analyzing the results, as you can see by clicking here. And yes, the first five companies on the list are the ones I mentioned, in that order.

What are slightly more valid are the responses of senior leaders to innovation in their companies. Eighty-three percent said innovation will be a key part of their strategy during the economic recovery. Seventy-two percent see innovation as a “top three” strategic priority. Sixty-one percent are planning to spend more on innovation. None of this is surprising.

Interestingly, 28 of the 50 companies identified as “most innovative” are not based in the United States. This shows more global awareness among senior leaders than I would have expected. It also indicates that the U.S. has lost its edge in innovation.

To read something more substantive about innovation, click on these articles:

• The Top Innovative Companies
• The Next Generation Collaborative Enterprise
• Where to Play and How to Win
• Anticipating Disruptive Change
• Innovation in the U.S.: The Bigger Picture
• Making Innovation Part of Your Culture
• 3 Systematic Innovation Processes
• Management System Innovation

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