You're an Academic. You have written an interesting article, or perhaps a book, that has been well received. From this intellectual property (IP), you have developed tools and methodologies that work well in client workshops. You think the approach could be scaled up, but you're just one person. Where should you go next?

Members of the MAC Partnership have a long track record in supporting the development of interesting IP and successfully bringing it to market in partnership with its authors. Many of our Partners were associated with the original development of the Strategic Intent and Core Competencies model of C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel. Some worked on the development of the Balanced Scorecard of David Norton and Robert Kaplan. Many are currently involved in the development of the Value Innovation model of Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. From this experience, we have developed a strong philosophy of how to develop blockbuster frameworks in the market.

We are highly selective in supporting the development of conceptual frameworks conceived by our Academic Partners. Since the role of academic institutions is to generate ideas, there is a near-infinite number of methodologies available. Yet very few will eventually turn into meaningful consulting approaches. We therefore apply rigorous tests before embarking on any methodology development.

We focus our exploration of interesting methodologies on what we term Customer-Inspired Innovation. We are interested in all frameworks or models that deal with the strategic and transformational applications of innovation. We are particularly interested in approaches that involve customers or prospective customers in generating insights.

We undertake conceptual developments only in situations where we think the ideas presented are original, AND there is established evidence of a marketplace interest for the ideas. We always seek evidence of favorable client responses to the ideas, typically in the context of one or two assignments where we participate with the Academic. These assignments also offer the field-based material from which the methodology is further conceptualized and the tools developed. We never engage in any methodological development on the basis of ideas alone, no matter how appealing they may look.

We proactively seek interesting IP and approach some Academics directly. We also receive a steady flow of unsolicited methodologies. Our Intellectual Property Committee organizes regular IP Fairs, where the generators of original IP come and discuss their material with us. We charge a fee for the submission of unsolicited intellectual property and participation in our Methodology Fairs. This fee is a way to cover our expenses, and guarantees that only approaches with serious development potential are brought to us.

The process through which we support the development of ideas is described in the section entitled Idea Development Support.

If you are interested in discussing intellectual property with the MAC Partnership, please write to Academics@macpartnership.com.