Innovation at the Core and the Context - An IT Services View

Lets define what is Core and the Context first.

The core is the raison-de-etre of an organization, and/or
the purpose for which a going concern/organization exists,

Good examples of core:
a. IT Service Organizations: Wipro, Infosys, TCS, etc. exist for the purpose of providing IT services to clients
b. Tiger wood brand exists so he plays Golf :-)...
c. Shahruk Khan/Amithab Bachan/Angelina Jolie brand exists so he acts in Movies


The context is every other things that supports the functioning of the organization:
a. For IT Services: Company laws, GAAP/IAS/India AS rules, Brand, Marketing divisions, etc.
b. For Tiger woods: His clubs, his golf gears, turf, Gillette ads, golf balls, :-)...
c. Sharuk Khan/Amithab Bachan/Angelina Jolie: Loreal, Inox, Paramounts etc.

In the earlier post I had discussed about the ideas I got reading "Dealing with Darwin"....Thinking further on it, I realized that most of the innovation 15-16 different innovation types were really in the core of the organization...nobody talked about innovation at the context....

Imagins a new innovation of Titanium metal used in making golf clubs it may give our great Tiger woods an extra fillip of performance on the turf...maybe even a minor edge in his core to win more matches...

Now I realized that some of the Operational excellence zone innovations: Value engineering, Value migration, Integration, and Process innovations actually performed on the context of IT service industry can infact give the IT services industries the extra edge....Imagine applying lean principles, 6-Sigma, and good accounting policies, excellend financial controls within the organizations can provide great reputation for the service industry and infact contribute to winning more deals for them in the market...guess what the innovation at the context really translates directly into providing experential innovation in the customer intimacy zone...clients would love tow work with organizations that are nimble, flexible and provide a great reputation when associated with....That is the case of some of the Indian Pure plays like Wipro, Infosys and TCS (for its Nano...god one client manager in US remembers only one name TCS not coz it provided IT services coz thee guys make lorries and also sell Tetley tea :-)....

So what I really think is that the different innovations mentioned by Moore in Dealing with Darwin are indeed highly interconnected and one feeds into another....it seems to me that great organizations in the world (not just IT services companies) have infact know these interconnectedness and play the innovation nodes so well that one feeds into another leading to growth...For example I dont think Toyota has just been known for just operational excellence through its lean principles that is leading it to be Numero Uno in the Automobile industry it is far greater than that!

What do you think!