Innovation is a word mostly “abused” in every company anymore. They all talk about it but don’t do anything to show it. The Harvard Business School had a visiting scholar Roberto Verganti talk about his exploration of the new world of “design-driven innovation.”
“In every industry, sooner or later, there is a radical change in the language of its products,” he says. “So the point for companies is, do they want to lead the change, or do they want to suffer the change?”
Here are the categories Verganti puts companies in.
-
- Launch and see. The company launches a variety of products, and then measures market reaction to each, relying on the selective capability of consumers to determine which products to focus on.
- See and launch. The company employs some sort of research process and then launches products based on its findings.
- Wait and see. The company allows others to experiment with various products, observes what is most successful, and reacts accordingly.
This is a good article on classifying your companies’ innovation attempts. There are no pictures but the article isn’t too long. Check it out here.
this is a good article… I think some of the design driven innovation is based on how your design team interacts. If your team is truly a team, expect great ideas and the consistent push to do better. If your design team is hard headed and egocentric, it’s time to disband you’ll go nowhere.
True,
The term “Innovation” is abused and most likely used to market a company’s DESIRE to set themselves apart from their competition. It’s more or less a buzz word.
Bottom line is that innovation costs money. Money that the some companies do not want to spend. Up front costs for possible mass production of a product that may hopefully catch on is too risky. As far as the automotive field goes, this risk is even higher. No supplier would be willing to let their innovative inventions sell for rock bottom automotive pricing.
It’s one of several reasons why Chrysler and Ford have been doing so poorly. They are definitely a “wait and see” company. In fact far worse. They wait to see what is compelling and successful then react by doing nothing. Still produce cheap, bland, un-emotional products which make it so hard for them to compete in future years.
A great example of innovation is Apple. Apple has done such a terrific job with consistantly using or even advancing technology to CONVINCE their users that they need their products. Each year there is an advancement to the Ipod. Last year there were two versions of the Nano. Everytime I look at their products, I wonder how they are going to out perform their previous model and they most often do.
They have now built up a reputation of delivering something new for their consumers and consumers are willing to pay the premium price to get it. Apple has created such a strong sustainable presence that other manufacturers make money by creating products for the Ipod.
Ooooooooh….”sustainable” another cool buzz word.