Associate Professor of Business Administration Alva H. Taylor says companies can make use of one person or many to drive innovation, but the ways to manage the process differ with each method. (photo courtesy of the Tuck School of Business)
Apple and Google are two ground-breaking technology companies, but they do not innovate the same way.
Apple employs the auteur model, with one person having complete creative discretion, in this case Steve Jobs. In the more common way of working, such as at Google, teams collaborate to come up with something new.
Both models work, says Alva H. Taylor, an associate professor of business administration who specializes in innovation and creativity, but companies need to manage each differently.
Read the full story, published by the Tuck School of Business in August 2011.