Recently, the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) teamed up with product management expert Robert Cooper to complete a cross-industry study on best practices in product innovation. Seventy-four percent of the companies participating in the study said that they have a formal process in place for developing new products. However, nearly half admitted that their process is not being used. What can your company do to avoid this fate?

Consider the two faces of the global innovation movement. Company A, having grown through acquisition, produces multiple brands for multiple markets and operates a worldwide network of research and product development centers. Each of its R&D sites was initially responsible for its own brands and local market, but with globalization these distinctions have lost their importance.

Some executives may be familiar with the many variants of open innovation, a number of which stray a considerable distance from traditional "closed" models of innovation management. Despite the familiarity of these ideas, persistent doubts and misunderstandings often make it hard to generate value from them.