Overcoming Resource Constraints

Resources need not be a constraint to innovation in an organization. Key to improving your organization’s ability to innovate is paying attention to the amount and types of resources in the organization and allocating them in ways that support innovation.

Feed and Starve Innovation

Some innovations require a massive investment of resources to make them happen. The Manhattan Project, which created the first atomic bomb, was awash in resources. The project was started in 1940 with wartime funding and a life-or-death mandate, and scientists working on the project could get virtually anything they asked for. By 1945, the project had employed thousands of scientists and spent over $2 billion, which would be over $30 billion in 2010 dollars (Schwartz, 1998). And in truth, nothing short of this massive commitment of resources could have gotten the job done in only a few years’ time.