Just returned from a national conference for Industrial Extension services to small and growing manufacturers. Group is called MEP Manufacturing Extension Partnership and is a program within the National Institute for Stds. and Technology (NIST). Every state has a group that helps industry compete with best practices and services are typically subsidized which make them affordable to the small guy.
Question to ponder: Do you innovate incrementally or "go for the brass ring" with new to the market/world? I think the answer is both. Open (Radical) innovation vs. incremental innovation has been studied and debated. A brief comparison at Innovation Zen is a fair explanation. The diagram above shows it in a matrix.
Starting at the green block, you can incrementally go right or up (current capabilities/customers) or take the leap to the diversify box (radical change). It is crossed out to make a point that you may want to start small before making the leap to the top right. That said, incremental improvements may lead to radical game changers. Maybe you can take advantage of your competitors incremental improvements to visualize a radical product. Do you think the IPhone is radical or incremental? Maybe it's both. It certainly wasn't the first touch screen application but its ability to be a platform for 3rd party applications has spurred some radical innovations. (Iphone flute). Bottom line- Bloom where you're planted and grow from there.
No comments:
Post a Comment