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On October 25th 1990 the president of Philips Jan Timmer announced a reorganization operation, called Centurion, which included a lay-off of 45,000 jobs. This was a personnel reduction of an unprecedented scale in Europe. The FNV, the biggest Dutch trade union, remarked that strikes were pointless because Philips stood at "death's door". Despite the job cutting, the union was impressed by the style of the new leader who in an undisguised, brief and concise manner announced that "the bleeding" had to stop.

Most companies agree innovation is a key avenue to growth, but far too often the implementation is lacking. Some companies stop at lip service, somehow believing that if you say you value innovation it is equal to being innovative. Just think of how many companies do not include innovation as part of their mission statements!

When Jochen Zeitz took the helm of the German sports shoe maker Puma in 1993, his first priority was survival. The company had gone through four chief executives in as many years. After eight straight years of losses, it was mired in debt and was being hopelessly lapped by industry leaders Adidas, Nike, and Reebok. Worse, no one expected Zeitz to succeed. At 30, he was an apprentice by European standards, the youngest CEO of a publicly held German company.

Is it possible to determine which 30 innovations have changed life most dramatically during the past 30 years? After receiving some 1200 suggestions – everything from lithium-ion batteries, LCD screens and eBay to the mute button, GPS and suitcase wheels – a panel of eight judges from Wharton reviewed and selected the top 30 of these innovations.

Jordan Lewis is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on coalitions and partnering. An advisor to companies including American Express, Du Pont, Hewlett-Packard, Marriott and Nokia, he argues here that such partnerships can make the difference between corporate success and failure.