Nowadays, innovation has almost become the mantra of government leaders, business managers and mass media. Management innovation, technological innovation, market innovation, product innovation, concept innovation and so on are endless. So, is it innovative for all teams to send female players to participate in the competition? How reasonable is it to put on the hat of "innovation" for the projects and measures approved for the first time? In this regard, we should trace back to the source, find out what innovation is, who carries out innovation, and what is the driving force of innovation, in order to accurately understand innovation.
Innovation is a serious theoretical proposition in the field of economics. The earliest and most systematic exposition can be found in the Theory of Economic Development published in joseph schumpete 19 1 1. He believes that economic development is not an increase in quantity, but a qualitative leap due to the introduction of "new combination" in the production process. Specifically, the new combination refers to "changing the existing state that our needs are met, changing the relationship between things and forces, combining some things and separating others." Technically and economically, production means combining what we can with strength. Every mode of production means some kind of combination ... no matter how many mail cars or mail cars you keep adding, you can't get a railway from them. The process of realizing "new combination" is innovation, which includes five situations:
(1) "adopt new products-that is, products unfamiliar to consumers-or new features of products." This is a common product innovation, such as changing fluorescent lamps to incandescent lamps, changing railways to highways, changing tablet computers to notebook computers, and changing LCD monitors to cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors.
(2) "adopting new production methods, that is, methods that have not yet passed the experience appraisal in the relevant manufacturing departments, and this new method never needs to be based on new scientific discoveries; Moreover, it can also exist in a new way of processing products in business. " For example, credit card in banking, combined alkali production in chemical industry, ammonia alkali production in metallurgical industry and electrolytic aluminum production are all innovations in production methods. Schumpeter emphasized that this innovation is not necessarily based on new scientific discoveries, but just a rearrangement and combination of existing production factors. There are many examples in real life, such as large supermarkets represented by Wal-Mart. Compared with the original department store, there is no technical innovation, but there are a lot of innovations in dealing with the relationship between goods and customers, which has achieved great success.
(3) "Open up a new market, that is, a manufacturing department of the country concerned has never entered before, regardless of whether this market has existed before." "New market" here has two meanings. First of all, this is a new market in geographical sense. It is for this kind of innovation that enterprises "go out", participate in international competition and open up international markets; Secondly, it is a new market in the sense of segmentation. For example, Apple started from a personal computer and later produced products such as ipod, iphone and ipad. Market innovation in the sense of segmentation is often closely combined with product innovation. Without product innovation, market innovation will become passive water; Without market innovation, product innovation will lose its continuous motivation.
(4) "Seize or control the new supply source of raw materials or semi-finished products, whether the source already exists or is created for the first time." You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Raw materials are the constituent elements of products, and the lack of raw materials will inevitably lead to unsustainable production. In this case, the only way to maintain production is technological innovation and substitution with other raw materials. During the First World War, Germany was blocked by the British Navy, rubber, oil and other strategic materials were embargoed, and the defense industry was in trouble. Poverty has changed, and German scientists have invented artificial rubber to replace natural rubber produced in tropical areas as raw materials for automobile and artillery industries. It should be noted that the artificial rubber made by German scientists is not an innovation, but a scientific invention. German enterprises use artificial rubber in military industries such as automobiles and cannons, and the process of equipping "Ramstein" is innovation.
(5) "to realize the new organization of any kind of industry, such as creating monopoly position or breaking monopoly position." Is monopoly also innovation? Schumpeter's explanation of innovation here is puzzling. In fact, as long as we understand the premise of innovation in Schumpeter's context, doubts will disappear. In the theory of economic development, Schumpeter invented a free market without political power. Competing market players constantly optimize the combination of production factors and pursue the maximization of production efficiency. With the process of survival of the fittest, it is likely that natural monopoly will eventually appear. Therefore, the process of "creating monopoly position" undoubtedly belongs to innovation. If the monopolist doesn't make progress or make mistakes in decision-making, the production efficiency will decline, other competitors will take advantage of the situation to nibble at the profits of the monopolist, and the "new combination" of production will gradually replace the old combination of the monopolist, and the original monopoly situation will be broken, so "breaking the monopoly position" is also innovation.
Schumpeter's innovation is limited to the production process within the enterprise. The subject of innovation is naturally "entrepreneur". The standard to measure whether a person is an entrepreneur is not status or money, but whether he can achieve "new combination", that is, the above five innovations. Schumpeter pointed out that "no matter what type, only when everyone actually' realizes a new combination' can he be an entrepreneur"; Once he established his business, that is, when he settled down to run it, just like others run their business, he lost this qualification. "Judging from this, the daily managers of enterprises are obviously not entrepreneurs; Executives who follow the rules are not entrepreneurs; Managers at all levels who take measures to improve production technology and product quality are undoubtedly entrepreneurs; Once the improvement process is over and the manager begins to be satisfied with the status quo, then he is no longer an entrepreneur.
The following question is, what is the motivation for entrepreneurs to innovate? Throughout the ages, many scholars have conducted in-depth discussions on this. Adam Smith, the founder of economics, thinks that motivation comes from the egoism of "economic man", Karl Marx thinks that motivation comes from interest motivation, sociologist Sambat thinks that motivation should be found in Judaism, and another master Max Weber advocates that Calvinism's Protestant ethics is the source of innovation. Schumpeter believes that all the above theories are difficult to fully explain the behavior of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs innovate not for pleasure, not to fulfill Weber's "vocation", but for three important beliefs:
First, "there is a dream and will to find a private kingdom, which is often (though not necessarily) a dynasty."
Second, "there is the will to conquer, the impulse to fight, and the impulse to prove that you are superior to others. Success is not for the fruit of success, but for success itself. "
Third, "there is the joy of creating, the joy of doing things well, or the joy of just exerting one's ability and intelligence."
Schumpeter said: "To understand a person, his nationality and the social background in which he grew up are the key." His summary of the driving force of innovation can be regarded as a portrayal of his life experience and thoughts. Schumpeter loves horseback riding and has repeatedly declared that he wants to be "the best rider in Europe". Members of the Schumpeter family have believed in a legend for generations: their ancestors had a great knight, Baron von Schumpeter, who founded the Holy Roman Empire with Count Rudolph of Habsburg in 1272. Perhaps it inherited the "chivalry" of Baron Schumpeter. It is not difficult for us to understand that in Schumpeter's mind, entrepreneurs' innovation is not for fame and fortune, nor for religious beliefs, but for a kind of "will" and a kind of "creative" happiness.
Schumpeter's explanation of the driving force of innovation at the beginning of the 20th century has already involved the important viewpoints of modern incentive theory. In the mid-20th century, abraham maslow and others initiated humanistic psychology. Maslow believes that human motivation can be roughly divided into five levels from low to high: physiological needs, security needs, social needs, respect needs and self-realization needs. High-level needs are often based on the partial satisfaction of low-level needs. Schumpeter's explanation of entrepreneurs' motivation has obviously involved high-level needs such as respect and self-realization, which is precisely the factor neglected by the "economic man hypothesis" since the birth of economics.
To sum up, innovation, as an important theoretical proposition of economics, is not only the essence of economic development, but also the embodiment of the vitality of modern society. Its essence is "new combination", and the main body is entrepreneurs who pursue "new combination" for a specific purpose. From this perspective, the so-called "innovation" of the London Olympic Games has nothing to do with real innovation.