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Last Issue: #31 The Journey
Twenty thousand leagues under the sea by Jules Verne (1825-1905). This book is the answer to my thoughts on travel. It certainly anticipated the saga...Read more
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Loading ...When it comes to the business world, I am absolutely convinced that the kind of creativity that leads to real innovation can only develop “in house” – in other words the place where all the input from day-to-day relations with clients and products is received and digested. To paraphrase the Chinese saying ”Listen and forget, see and remember, do and know”, I think that only the deep understanding which comes from daily practice can trigger that inventive spark. Whether we are talking about radical innovation – where the innovator is an “inventor” who thinks up brand-new product and process technologies, or incremental innovation – where the innovator uses his ingenuity to apply other people’s product or process technologies to a certain sector for the first time – to my mind, delegating the creative aspect to an
outsider would be unthinkable. It is highly unlikely that anyone would innovate on a “contract” basis.
In support of my belief, this is exactly what happens in our company. illycaffè is based on three things: quality, distant markets and the technology to serve the first two. The constant drive towards improvement and our strong inclination towards research and science mean that we have invented no fewer than three of the eight radical inventions that have marked the coffee industry over the past century: the modern version of the espresso, pressurised packs, and the first industrially-produced coffee pods. All “home made”. These have been accompanied (again in-house) by important process innovations, in particular the electronic sorting of defective coffee beans, and also new developments as regards the value chain. Here I am referring to our way of procuring raw materials. Our supply chain integrated upstream means that we are now the only coffee roaster who buys 100% of its green coffee directly from the growers themselves. In this way we can provide the growers with the know-how they need to achieve high quality, which means we can pay them higher-than-market prices, in consideration of the excellent work they do. Even when it comes to communications, our best-known campaigns are a direct result of the creativity of people who work for us. In particular, I am referring to the designer espresso cups in the illy art collection, or the more recent Galleria illy project, presented in New York and Milan.
The culture of “doing things in-house” keeps the business going. Knowing how to express its skills in its own industry allows a company to base its corporate strategy on knowledge. Sharing knowledge encourages the creation of virtuous networks of partners, which nowadays is essential to speed up growth. People working within a company who have this approach find themselves in a stimulating environment with a multi-faceted culture and a business mentality which reaches all levels. An environment that creates trends and also sets them, instead of merely following other people’s ideas.
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