Innovate or Die

<<Previous

continued from: Masters of Innovation

It has got the knack of continuously attacking its own products. Its history proves it. From sensor to Mach3, Gillette kept on innovating and attacking it own products. It revolutionized the wet shaving market throughout the world as there has been a continuous evolution in Gillette's product line since its inception. According to professor Kindra, Gillette has been successful because "of its attitude of continually rejuvenating existing products with new features" which helps it in staying far ahead of its competitors. Commenting on Gillette's relentless strategy of attacking itself, professor Burgers says, "Gillette has done an excellent job for many years in continuous innovation. I sometimes wonder if there should not be some level of shaving perfection where improvements are no longer possible".

The next popular player in this game is IBM, which from its very inception has been introducing new lines of mainframe computers with a significant price performance advantage over its existing products. It has never hesitated or missed out the chance to crush its competitors whenever the situation demanded. It earned the reputation of `irreplaceable' with its strategy of continuous innovation and self-attack in its competitive struggle with Dell, HP, Apple and many more companies in order to achieve its present position. It seems to adhere to the golden rule of the business that says, "if you fail to crush your competitor or leave him, it will crush you back. So never ever fail to crush your competitor whenever the situation arises or demands so."

Another example of successful innovation is Sony. It always kept its focus on its core business of consumer electronics, but at the same time constantly kept introducing breakthrough products and new models even if they were hurting the sales of its existing products.

Jason Jennings, the author of the best selling book Less is More gives another example of a highly innovative company. His favorite is the 60-year old Koch industry of America, the second largest privately held company, about which he is writing in his forthcoming book Think Big Act Small. Koch industries has got the capability and the commitment of continuously searching for new ways to create value and long-lasting relationships with the customers, which resulted in increasing revenues and profits by 10% annually for 10 consecutive years.

Then of course is the classic story of Microsoft. Microsoft is one of the most spectacular innovative success stories in today's business scenario. Nevertheless, organizations such as, Walt Disney, 3M, Intel, SMH, Johnson & Johnson, GE, Rolls Royce, P&G, Mc Donald's etc., have mastered the art of creating consistent and sustainable positions year after year irrespective of different circumstances by continuously re-innovating and attacking themselves.

More >>

2005, ICMR Case Studies and Management Resources. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic or mechanical, without permission.