“Why Thomas Edison Murdered Topsy the Elephant”
UQ Business School Industry Breakfast, 27th May 2009
Professor Mark Dodgson

Please note…
To reference the following material, or to find further details, please refer to:
Dodgson, M, Gann, D and Salter, A (2008) The Management of Technological
Innovation: Strategy and Practice, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Dodgson, M, Gann, D and Salter, A (2005) Think, Play, Do: Technology, Innovation
And Organization, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Dodgson, M and Gann, D (forthcoming 2010) Innovation: A Very Short Introduction,
Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Understanding innova.on
“This really is an innovative approach, but I’m afraid
we can’t consider it. It’s never been done before.”

The World’s Greatest Entrepreneur
Aged 24 he was ready to
“begin, proceed and finish
our future schemes, our days
and years, in the pursuit of
Fortune, Fame, and the
Public good”
Josiah Wedgwood 1730‐1795
Portrait by Joshua Reynolds

Wedgwood’s achievements
Created an enduring, world famous company ✔
Developed radical innova.ons: products ✔
processes ✔
organiza.on ✔
business model ✔
Contributed to:
na.onal infrastructure ✔
new export markets ✔
industry policy ✔
new industrial cluster ✔
Outstanding scien.st ✔
Marke.ng genius ✔
Developed a new approach to industrial design ✔
LeM the world a beNer place ✔

Marke.ng innova.on

Retailing
innova.ons
‐ self‐service,
‐ catalogues,
‐ paNern books,
‐ free carriage of goods,
‐ newspaper adver.sements
‐ money‐back guarantees,
‐ discounts for introductory orders,
‐ travelling salesmen, and
‐ regular sales
all aiming “to amuse, and divert, and please, and
astonish, nay, and even to ravish the Ladies”.

Queen CharloNe’s
Dinner Service
“To this manufacturer the Queen was pleased to give her name and patronage,
commanding it to be called Queensware, and honouring the inventor by
appoin.ng him Her Majesty’s PoNer”

Catherine the Great’s
Dinner Service
A stunning display would “bring an immense number of People of Fashion into our
Rooms – Would fully complete our notoriety to the whole island”

Product innovations
Wedgwood developed several new
ceramics, including Jasper, Black
Basalt, and Creamware
He undertook 5000 experiments
in developing Jasper
His favourite motto:
“Everything yields to experiment”

Approach to design…
George Hepplewhite George Stubbs Robert Adam John Flaxman
His objective was: “to sharpen the fancy and skill of the artist by a collision with the
talents of others”.
The result was to make drab and functional pottery elegant

“He was the greatest man
who ever, in any age or in
any country, applied himself
to the important work of
mixing art with industry”
William Gladstone

“The Lunar Men”
Josiah Wedgwood Ma.hew Boulton
Erasmus Darwin
“In the .me of Lunar men
science and art were not
separated, you could be an
inventor and designer, an
experimenter and a poet, a
dreamer and an entrepreneur
all at once” (Uglow, 2002:xviii)
James Wa. Joseph Priestley

Thomas Edison
1847‐1931

Edison recognized the importance of having informal, crea.ve
workplaces for research and bureaucra.c structures for opera.ons

“Hell, there are no rules here – we’re
trying to accomplish something”
“From his neck down a man is worth a
couple of dollars a day, from his neck up
he is worth anything his brain can produce”

Some research principles:
- Only invent with a market in mind.
- Pursue several lines of research, keeping options open until
strongest contender emerges – then concentrate effort and
resources.
- Explore how ideas from separate areas of research can be
combined.
- Look everywhere for ideas.
- Re-use proven components in new designs.
- Long-term views: usually 5-7 years to perfect a thing, but
some took 25+.
- Understand the value of chance, serendipity and ‘accident’.
- Most returns go to the owner of the system.

New forms of business model

20,000 bags lost in 5 days

Complexity
T5 infrastructure is a ‘system of systems’
• 2 main terminal buildings
• 60 aircraM stands
• 600‐bed hotel 260 hectares – the size of Hyde Park.
• 4,000 space car park 30 million passengers a year.
• Road and rail extensions £4.3 billion project.
• Air traffic control tower
• 2 river diversions
BAA the systems integrator and project manager
• 80 1st .er suppliers
• 500 2nd .er suppliers
• 2,000 3rd .er suppliers
• 5,000 4th .er suppliers
• 15,000 fiMh .er suppliers
The project required a balance between highly structured rou.nes
and innova.on to deal with unknowns

Project depended on a completely new approach to partnership
which has changed the UK construc.on industry
Traditional Approach Innovative Approach
risk Client risk Client
Integrated
Project Team
Contractor Partners
Tradi.onal contrac.ng Under T5
Client ‘dumps risk’ on contractors Client ‘bears the risk’
Adversarial rela.onships Works with ‘partners’

Prior to starting the project BAA estimated the traditional
approach would result in its being:
• £1bn over budget,
• one year late, and
• result in two fatalities.
Using the innovative approach, T5 opened exactly on time
(4.00am on 27th March 2008), on budget, with no fatalities

telepresence ‐ collabora.on tools

simula.on and
prototyping

collabora.on tools
collabora.on using nD
displays and touch‐lite
technology

in case of fire, please use the elevator
engineers, architects,
developers, regulators, fire
authori.es and insurance
firms using digital models to
design safer buildings

Innovation involves:
Energy and perseverance
Combining ideas from many sources
Being competent across the board, not just brilliant
at one or two things
Balancing the long- and short-term
Competing vigorously, using all (socially and morally
acceptable!) tools at your disposal

Innovation involves:
Organizing appropriately, with the right people
Understanding where you want to be in
complex systems
Partnering effectively
Managing acceptable risk
Using supportive new technologies.

Understanding innovation involves…
Lessons of the past Current good practice Preparing for the future

Innovation Leadership Network and Blog
www.timkastelle.org