Innovation Challenge

While their peers like Kodak became the poster children of how-not-to-innovate, Fujifilm have quietly been one of the most innovative companies on the planet over the last 15 years. The wave of digital photography saw them disrupt themselves repeatedly, branching their industry leading technology out into new businesses including digital imaging, healthcare and even cosmetics - Astalift has become a leading brand in Asia.

Like many Japanese companies however, this innovation drive had all been driven from Tokyo HQ. In an increasingly globalised economy that saw booming opportunity in regions like Southeast Asia (SEA), this centralised model for innovation was beginning to show signs of weakness. In order to meet the needs of consumers and businesses in these new markets, they would require a decentralised approach - something they had little experience with.

Fujifilm’s SEA leadership team were challenged to step up and build an engine for localised innovation to capture the opportunity of the growing middle class in their region. However, with all of their processes and systems based around a hierarchical model that relied heavily on annual planning and tightly controlled strategic guidance from HQ, how would they navigate their environment to embed lightweight, localised innovation practices as their new BAU?