INNOVATE or EVAPORATE: Seven Secrets of Innovative Corporations

摘要

Rubbermaid is a veritable juggernaut when it comes to putting out new products: 365 a year, or almost two new products every workday. Each year it improves over 5,000 existing products. Wolfgang Schmitt, Rubbermaid's CEO, has established lofty objectives for the firm: He wants Rubbermaid to enter a new-product category every 12 to 18 months (recently it has introduced hardware cabinets and garden sheds); to obtain a third of its sales from products introduced within the past five years; and to obtain 25% of its revenues from markets outside the United States by the year 2000, up from the current 18%. To achieve these objectives, Schmitt will continue to pursue Rubber-maid's long-established strategy of innovation.