Archive for disruptive innovation
Disruptive Intellectual Assets: New Article Published in JPIM
Posted by: | CommentsThe latest Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM), an excellent journal from PDMA for those interested in innovation and new product development, has an article that describes an approach to disruptive innovation that we developed at Kimberly-Clark Corporation when I was there as Corporate Patent Strategist. “Disruptive Innovation and the Need for Disruptive Intellectual Asset Strategy” by Jeff Lindsay and Mike Hopkins (JPIM, Vol. 27, No. 2, March 2010, pp. 283-290), addresses one of the large gaps in the literature around disruptive innovation, namely, what role intellectual assets should play. Search through the popular books and articles by leading authorities in disruptive innovation and you will find scant reference, if any, to intellectual assets, yet they may be key to overcoming the dilemma faced by corporations. A small, aggressive team in a corporation can employ a variety of low-cost intellectual asset (IA) tools to mitigate potential competitive threats from disruptive innovation, while also subtly laying a foundation for future offensive disruptive innovation from the company. By the time the corporation as a whole recognizes the value of an emerging disruptive innovation, it need bot be too late, as is often case, for the initially defensive actions that were taken at an early stage can now provide a serendipitous foundation for taking the offense. It’s not easy, but the odds of success or survival can be significantly increased.
Here is our abstract:
Disruption has become a popular business term, yet it is often used so loosely as to convey almost nothing of substance. Here a largely neglected factor is addressed: the role of intellectual assets in securing opportunities for or averting threats from disruptive innovations. While the literature explains why the decision-making systems in large established companies cause difficulty in responding effectively to disruptive innovation the generation of intellectual assets (e.g., patents, publications, trademarks) typically is not subject to the same cultural and structural barriers. Though it may be difficult to convince a business to invest millions in pursuit of a speculative disruptive innovation, it is much easier for a small team to gain support in pursuing low-cost intellectual assets in the name of mitigating potential threats. A two-pronged approach is proposed that builds on the authors’ experience at Kimberly-Clark Corporation in dealing with disruptive threats and opportunities. The approach calls for generation of intellectual assets, often using small proactive teams, to (1) protect an existing business by reducing competitive risks from disruptive innovation, including the risk of new products with disruptive potential and the risk of associated competitive patents that might limit one’s response; and (2) prepare for future new and disruptive business opportunities that could be protected or strengthened by the intellectual assets generated. Kimberly-Clark’s growing experience with this approach suggests that it may be a valuable component of one’s strategy for innovation and protection of the business.
Disruptive Innovation: Music to My Ears, Especially When Flexible Speakers Are Used
Posted by: | CommentsOne of my favorite inventors from my days at Kimberly-Clark, Fung-jou Chen, recently visited Taiwan and shared with me the news of an exciting innovation hailing from that innovation-rich island. Thin films have been used to create flexible speakers that can deliver reasonable sound quality from an inexpensive, flexible sheet. The sound quality is worse than conventional speakers, but offers new dimensions of convenience, ease of use and installation, small volume requirements, and low cost–a classic formula for disruptive innovation. When this becomes fully commercialized, there will be opportunities to add sound to places and ennvironments where it was too costly or difficult before. The ability for many objects and surfaces to become more interesting, useful, and interactive may increase and enable a variety of new business models to be considered. Disruptive innovations of this kind can be the raw materials for further waves of innovation. Stay tuned!
Further information is available at Fast Company. The technology was developed by ITRI, the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan’s largest and one of the world’s leading high-tech research and development institutions. See their press release on the breakthrough FleXpeaker, which was given a prestigious award by the Wall Street Journal for this development. Below is a Youtube video showing a FleXpeaker in action.
Conquering Innovation Fatigue for Those in Corporate R&D
Posted by: | CommentsRecently I spoke to a group of engineers, scientists and managers about the challenges of innovation fatigue within corporate R&D. I condensed that presentation down to just 14 minutes and have made it available using Pixetell.com, a nice system for recording a presentation.A short URL for the presentation is http://tinyurl.com/jlpres1.
Engineers and scientists are often puzzled by the decision-making processes in corporations, and sometimes get frustrated over the apparent blindness of others to see the potential of an invention or new product or process. Others, however, may see the opportunity through the “Lens of Risk” and find compelling reasons to be concerned. Understanding those other perspectives is one of the topics of this presentation.
Those managing R&D also need to understand the personal aspects of innovation and appreciate the tenuous “will to share” that keeps employees tied to the objectives of the corporation. When the will to share is broken, innovation can dry up quickly and silently, in spite of large budgets and enthusiastic efforts.
Salt from Water: Getting Granular with Disruptive Innovation
Posted by: | CommentsWhile giving a pseudo-explanation for the “physics” behind our last video post, a new tongue-in-cheek demonstration is provided that launches a brief discussion of disruptive innovation and the role that intellectual assets can play. The physical demonstrations occurs in the first 4 minutes, then there are 3 minutes of further discussion. (Sorry about the lighting – my hair isn’t that dark!)
Disruptive innovation involves a product or service that motivates the established incumbents to ignore it or flea to higher ground by focusing on high-end customers. The disruptive innovation tends to be “worse” in some way and initially only attractive to non-users or low-end users of the existing technology, so it is not perceived as a serious threat nor does it cause serious pain as it gets a foothold. The disruptive innovation tends to lack the bells and whistles of existing offerings, but provides new dimensions of convenience, low-cost, easy access, etc., that are not key features being sought by the incumbents. But once the easily-ignored “worse” disruptive innovation gets established, it can, through successive sustaining innovations, reach an increasing large portion of the market and eventually cause direct pain to the incumbents. By the time they feel the pain and recognize the threat, it may be too late because they have not developed the new skills, supply chains, or infrastructures needed to compete effectively. Toast.
The problem with disruptive innovation is that established companies, especially large companies, have filters in place that tend to kill it. The opportunity is too small, not aligned with their core competencies, not aligned with what existing customers are asking for, etc. So it is killed or ignored, whether it comes from internal innovators or external innovators.
In our chapter on disruptive intellectual assets, we explain how a low-cost intellectual asset strategy can be used to overcome the known problems in responding to disruptive innovations. By pursuing these intellectual assets at an early stage in the name of mitigating external risk, you can actually lay a foundation for later products or services of your own when the corporation realizes the importance of the opportunity. Without the intellectual asset foundation, it would normally be too late. An aggressive intellectual asset team can make a huge difference in protecting a company and lying a foundation for future success.
From YouTube.com/magicinnovation (Jeff Lindsay’s Magic Innovation channel): “Salt from Water: Getting Granular with Disruptive Innovation.” Recorded in Appleton, Wisconsin. All rights reserved.