Research shows that innovators have a poor track record of predicting which of their own ideas will result in breakthroughs. But some ideas that appear to be incremental at first eventually prove to be blockbusters. Carrying more ideas through to incubation gives both the company and the broader market a chance to learn more about them and for unanticipated use cases to emerge.

Most large companies take a similar approach to corporate innovation, running it out of centralized innovation groups. But companies in China, both domestic and foreign, are much more likely to turn to market-facing sources of innovation, including customers, competitors, and front-line employees. China's fast growth is producing a disproportionately large share of new customers for many industries, which demands an orientation toward generating ideas closer to customers to drive more market-led innovation.