San Francisco seminar 2008
Day 4
Commercializing Innovation – From Research to Global Market
Introduction and Context
The fourth day of the seminar marked a clear highlight of the San Francisco program.
The focus shifted from technology and digital solutions to the commercialization of innovation—how ideas, research, and technology are transformed into real products, services, and markets.
Through contributions from Oxford, Santa Clara University, IBM Almaden, Innovation Norway, and Linden Lab, participants gained insights into academic models, business practices, and Nordic innovation culture.
The common thread throughout the day was the connection between research, entrepreneurship, and customer experience—and how these must be viewed as part of a single ecosystem.
“Innovation is not just about creating something new—it is about making it accessible and valuable to others.”
Program Overview
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Day 4 – April 3, 2008 – Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Haas School of Business
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Jonathan Reynolds – Omnichannel Retailing and the Future of Commerce
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Dr. Kirthi Kalyanam – Online-Influenced Retail Sales and the New Consumer Journey
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Erik Klein & Curtis Ryan (IBM Almaden Research Center) – From Multichannel to Cross-Channel: A Business Transformation
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Glenn Fisher (Linden Lab) – Second Life as a Platform for Innovation and Interaction
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Svein-Egil Nielsen (Innovation Norway) – Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Policy – The Norwegian Perspective
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Filip Gordon (BI) – Scandinavian Innovation Ecosystems and Trust-Based Models
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Key Academic Themes
From Multichannel to Omnichannel
IBM Almaden and Oxford showed how, in the 2000s, the concept of “multichannel” initially meant being present across multiple channels—but without integration. The emerging concept of cross-channel retailing was about interaction between channels, not simply operating them in parallel.
IBM presented its Multi-Channel Roadmap, built around four Cs:
Choice, Consistency, Context, Continuity.
This became an early definition of what we today call omnichannel retailing. Jonathan Reynolds of Oxford emphasized the need to move from distribution logic to experience logic—viewing value from the customer’s perspective rather than the retailer’s.
Online-Influenced Retail
Dr. Kirthi Kalyanam of Santa Clara University presented his findings on online-influenced retail sales—physical retail purchases that begin digitally. As early as 2008, his data showed that between 32% and 36% of all retail sales were influenced by online information, and that the figure was expected to rise to 38% by 2012 (Forrester Research).
He also showed how Cyber Monday had changed consumer behavior and documented early patterns in the search-to-store cycle. The concepts of conversion, retention, and acquisition were presented as fundamental pillars of the digital value chain.
From Technology to Organization
Curtis Ryan and Erik Klein (IBM) explored how IT structures and organizational development must be aligned to realize the value of new channels. Companies that continued to operate in silos captured only a fraction of the potential value.
The path was from siloed → matrixed → integrated multichannel organization.
Innovation Through Virtual Worlds
Glenn Fisher of Linden Lab introduced Second Life as a platform for innovation, simulation, and brand building. At the time, more than 45,000 businesses were operating profitably within the Second Life universe—in areas ranging from education and recruitment to product design and digital prototyping.
He described how virtual environments can foster creative collaboration and experimentation without physical constraints.
“Second Life is not about escaping reality—it is about enhancing it.”
Norwegian Innovation in a Global Perspective
Svein-Egil Nielsen of Innovation Norway gave an inspiring presentation on how Norway and the Nordic countries can turn their size and high levels of trust into competitive advantages.
He emphasized the connection between entrepreneurship, public policy, and access to capital, and how collaboration between business, academia, and the public sector can create innovations with global impact.
The Scandinavian Model
Filip Gordon of BI presented findings from Scandinavian case studies in which service innovation, digital transformation, and trust were highlighted as key factors.
He described how trust enables faster decision-making, flatter organizational structures, and a culture of sharing—making innovation easier to scale.
Case Studies
IBM Almaden / Retailer Transformation
Customer experience across channels: a 12% increase in customer loyalty and an 18% increase in average order value.
Second Life / Global Brands
Virtual testing environments used by Cisco, IBM, and Philips for product development and internal training.
Innovation Norway / Norway as a Testing Ground
Small markets provide opportunities for rapid experimentation and international learning.
Reflections and Discussion:
The discussions that day became both academic and philosophical:
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How do we actually define value creation in a digital world?
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What role do trust and societal structures play in a society’s capacity for innovation?
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How can organizations learn faster—not just develop faster?
It became clear that innovation does not happen in isolation, but through the interaction of research, business, and culture.
International Perspectives
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United States: Technology-driven innovation and commercialization through venture capital.
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Europe: Customer-centric strategies and public-private collaboration.
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The Nordic countries: Trust, equality, and collaboration as competitive advantages.
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This day clearly demonstrated that global competitiveness depends just as much on organizational values and culture as it does on technology and capital.
What Did We Take Home?
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Innovation must be user-centered, measurable, and interdisciplinary.
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The shift from multichannel to omnichannel was already underway.
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Virtual environments opened up new possibilities for experimentation and collaboration.
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Scandinavian innovation models demonstrate that trust and collaboration accelerate innovation.
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Norway can use its size and openness as a strategic advantage in global innovation.
Relevance Today
Many of the insights from 2008 underpin today’s strategies in both the private and public sectors:
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Customer journey mapping builds directly on the work of Reynolds and Kalyanam.
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IBM Almaden’s model lives on in omnichannel architecture and CRM solutions.
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Innovation Norway continues to apply the principle of “Norway as a testing ground.”
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Virtual ecosystems have found successors in the metaverse and immersive collaboration.
Day 4 therefore stands as a milestone—when technology, strategy, and culture were brought together into a holistic view of innovation.
Peder Inge Furseth
Peder Inge Furseth was a key academic driving force behind the San Francisco seminars and played an important role in making the encounter with Silicon Valley relevant to Norwegian and European organizations. Through his role as a professor at BI Norwegian Business School and as academic director of the program, he helped participants place the presentations within a broader context—one in which technology, innovation, business development, and people had to be understood together.
In San Francisco, participants met entrepreneurs, researchers, technology leaders, and investors from some of the world’s most innovative environments. Furseth’s strength was his ability to connect these experiences with practical challenges and opportunities facing Norwegian organizations. He helped translate Silicon Valley’s ideas and ways of working into a
Nordic context where collaboration, trust, and long-term value creation play a central role.
Throughout the seminar series, he served as an important bridge between research, business, and technology. For many participants, he therefore became more than an academic leader—he was also a mentor who inspired them to think differently about innovation, digitalization, and commercialization.
Learn more about Peder Inge Furseth here
From Studies and Seminars to Today’s Knowledge Hub
The studies, seminars, and academic trips documented on this page form part of the knowledge base behind The Invisible Capital. Topics such as customers, technology, innovation, digitalization, and value creation have been part of this journey for several decades — while these fields have continued to evolve.
At The Invisible Capital, we continue exploring these questions through dedicated knowledge series. Here, earlier theory, research, and experience are connected with newer knowledge, emerging technologies, and today’s challenges facing people and organizations.
Innovation
Innovation is not just about new ideas. Value is created when knowledge, technology, and ideas are developed into products, services, processes, organizational forms, and business models that are actually put into use. The series on innovation traces the field from Schumpeter to modern innovation research and explores incremental, radical, disruptive, open, and user-driven innovation.
→Explore the Innovation series
The Customer
The customer is not simply the recipient of what an organization produces. In a competitive market, the customer is a decisive factor in whether an organization actually succeeds in creating value. The series on the customer explores customer orientation, customer insight, customer experience, satisfaction, loyalty, trust, and the human interactions that shape the customer relationship.
→ Explore the Customer series
Value Creation
What does it really mean to create value — and who creates it? The Value Creation series moves from economic theory and influential thinkers to a broader understanding of how people, knowledge and skills, institutions, organizations, and the public sector contribute to value creation.
→ Explore the Value Creation series
Digitalization
Digitalization has evolved from individual technologies into a fundamental part of how organizations operate and create value. The Digitalization from A to Z series traces this evolution through the internet, the web, e-commerce, search, UX, social media, mobile, omnichannel, cloud, data, platforms, and digital transformation — leading up to today’s AI-first era.
→ Explore the Digitalization from A to Z series
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence represents the next chapter in the digital evolution. In our dedicated AI knowledge hub, we explore how artificial intelligence works, how AI finds and uses information, how it evaluates sources and websites, and what this development could mean for people, organizations, and value creation.
→ Explore the articles on Artificial Intelligence
Recommended Reading
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
Chris Anderson explains how the internet and digital platforms make it possible to generate profits through niche products, search, and digital distribution. The book shows how companies such as Amazon and Netflix create value through vast digital product selections and specialized interests.
The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Content Marketing, AI, Social Media, Podcasting, Video, and Newsjacking to Reach Buyers Directly
David Meerman Scott shows how the internet, digital channels, and social media have transformed marketing, customer engagement, and commerce. The book explains how organizations must take a holistic approach to customer journeys, content, and digital relationships to succeed in an increasingly connected economy.
