Our Innovation Strategy

From its earliest days, the Eczacıbaşı Group has recognized the value of creative and original ideas. For us, innovation is a corporate culture that is sustainable, measurable and manageable and that enables us to keep one step ahead of the competition. Hence, we strive continually to develop this culture in a systematic manner.

We see innovation as an integral part of our daily lives, something that affects all our business processes, independent of our job descriptions. Successful innovation, we believe, is the most creative solution to a consumer’s real need. By looking at life, our environment and our products through the eyes of consumers, we are able to take an innovative approach to every stage of the product development journey from conception to launch.

Recognizing the many ways that innovation and sustainability are complementary, we pursue our creative process in ways that minimize our environmental impact. By including our business partners in this process, we strive to develop products and services that create the most value for consumers and facilitate sustainable development.

Meetinnovation

We know that innovation only occurs in an environment that encourages creativity and innovative thinking. We are taking steps to establish this environment and transform innovation into a corporate culture.

Since 1998, we have organized annual events to share information about Group companies’ innovative projects and recognize the most innovative among them. First called “Eczacıbaşı Creativity and Innovation Day” and then, after 2008, “Meetinnovation”, this annual event aims to encourage every employee, alone or with a team, to develop innovative projects that contribute to the Eczacıbaşı Group’s strategic targets and business results.

The primary aims of Meetinnovation are to:

• Establish an environment that encourages innovation in our companies,
• Present successful examples of creative and innovative differentiation in products, processes and services,
• Establish a foundation for innovative thinking at every stage of a project, from the initial idea through to tangible results,
• Reward creative and innovative projects by individuals or teams that contribute to our strategic targets and business results.

Meetinnovation also provides a platform for learning about diverse innovation perspectives and projects around the world. For this reason, every event features an internationally renowned guest speaker who has done groundbreaking work in the area of innovation. To date, we have benefited from the visionary perspectives of Murat Günak (2014), Peter Fisk (2012), John Sviokla (2011), Daniel Pink (2007), Robert Sutton (2005), Ross Lovegrove (2004), Juan Enriquez (2003), Tom Kelley (2002), Stan Davis (2001), Kjell Nordström (2000) and Deanna Berg (1999), to name a few.

Innovation Awards

The Eczacıbaşı Group’s annual innovation competition has been an integral part of Meetinnovation since 1999. Here, companies compete for awards in five categories: “Most Innovative Product or Service”, “Most Innovative Efficiency Project”, “Most Innovative Communications Project”, “e-Transformation Project”, and “Sustainability”. The winners in each category are announced at Meetinnovation, a daylong event attended by employees, business partners and the press. Since the first competition in 1999, the number of projects submitted by companies has risen steadily, reaching 476 as of end-2016. As of the same date, the cumulative contribution of these projects to Group operations was $ 348,5 million.

İnocino

As part of our efforts to internalize innovation, we developed the Inocino Suggestion Evaluation System, which enables us to transform valuable new ideas into value creating projects.

All Eczacıbaşı Group employees, individually or as teams, may submit their ideas to any unit or company in the Group through the Inocino Suggestion Evaluation System.

We evaluate all suggestions submitted through Inocino on their innovativeness, potential contribution to the Group, and capacity for replication in other departments or Group companies. Everyone can track the evaluation and development of their project ideas through the Inocino system, which starts with an evaluation by the Inocino leader of the employee/team who submitted the idea and then continues with the Innovation Committee of the company or department to which the idea applies.

To date, Eczacıbaşı Group employees have submitted over 50,000 ideas, 40% of which have become ongoing or completed projects.

Blue Ocean

“Strategy requires a choice between differentiation and low cost.” Before the launch of the Blue Ocean concept, this is what everyone believed. Developed by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy makes a fundamental break from this tenant by offering a new target and perspective for achieving differentiation and low cost at the same time.

Since 2007, the Eczacıbaşı Group has carried out a large number of Blue Ocean studies aimed at creating new value for our customers through new products and services. During these studies, we sought to redefine the borders of our markets and reduce our costs. Our Blue Ocean teams, which comprise employees from diverse business units, became competent in identifying opportunities we had not been aware of through the eyes of our customers.

Selpak Paper Cloth, Selin Junior Liquid Soap, Selin Odor Neutralizing Products, VitrA Warmtouch and VitrA Isotile are just a few of the products these studies have helped us to develop and which have enabled us to differentiate ourselves significantly in competitive markets.