It’s been just three short years since the “Reinventing Your Business Through Innovation” conference series began, and it’s clear that amidst shifting demographics, markets, and technology every company must recognize that they need to be in evolution if not full blown revolution to stay relevant and responsive to their customers. This theme was reiterated throughout the 3rd annual half-day conference on January 30, 2013. The event was organized by the Association for Corporate Growth NJ (Pam was ACG NJ Chair) in partnership with Fairleigh Dickinson University Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurship. Click here to view the entire program and full speaker bios.
In her keynote presentation, Denise Morrison, President and CEO of Campbell Soup Company highlighted the importance that Campbell Soup places on a consumer-centric approach to new product development to catch and adapt to shifts in market needs and evolving tastes. She also emphasized the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to evolving culture to foster and enable innovation, but acknowledged “culture is hard to do.” Find out more about Denise Morrison’s keynote presentation on NJBiz.com: Innovation creates can-do culture at Campbell Soup.
In addition to the keynote presentation, two consecutive CEO panels representing companies of all sizes and a variety of industries, provided insights on how they are leading to add value amidst shifting markets, demographics, and technologies. A few of the key takeaways:
- Innovation involves a new way of working across the entire enterprise
- Much of the innovation has involved the use of technology to automate and digitize a growing variety of business functions
- Consumers are looking for greater customization from companies; we saw several examples of customized products and packaging
- Social media and apps are becoming much more part of communicating with all stakeholders for a variety of functions
- It takes strong leadership to identify the most appropriate technology to fit your company’s customers and strategy
- Integrating new technology requires leaders to understand and address the various cultural and change management issues of employees, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders.
Looking ahead, Pam will be chairing the 4th Annual “Reinventing Your Business Through Innovation” Half-Day Conference. Stay tuned as we set a date and plans get underway.
