Innovation Lifecycles
Innovation Lifecycles
Leveraging market, technology, and organizational S-curves to drive breakthrough growth by Soren Kaplan, Managing Principal, InnovationPoint LLC
A
ll too often, companies’ growth agendas rest upon tried and true strategies, tactics and other best practices that are “proven” to drive results. And why shouldn’t they be? They’ve worked in the past and are often associated with the success of the core business. The problem is that these strategies and tactics can often be misaligned to the unique market, technology, or organizational requirements for realizing future opportunities and breakthrough innovations.
to cycle more quickly while certain consumer products move more slowly.
Lifecycles and Market Adoption
The Lifecycle model suggests that market adoption reflects a bell curve that tracks to customer/consumer adoption of a new technology, product or service. First come the “early adopters” who are interested in testing out and trying something new. After the early adopters come targeted market beachheads that represent segments with specific needs that become reference points for other segments. The technology then moves from custom solutions for specific segments to mass manufacturing and distribution of standardized products for the mass market. From there, the market matures. This is when late adopters who are adverse to “risk” begin purchasing the tried and true solutions. Competitiveness becomes almost entirely based on incremental improvements and economies of scale.
Through understanding innovation lifecycles, it becomes possible to address the following questions: • Which products, services and technologies are most vulnerable to competitive disruption? • Where are the greatest opportunities for breakthrough innovation and growth? • What specific growth strategies are appropriate across the portfolio? • What organizational strategies – leadership, structure, processes, and metrics – best support businesses, products,
Leveraging market, technology, and organizational S-curves to drive breakthrough growth by Soren Kaplan, Managing Principal, InnovationPoint LLC
A
ll too often, companies’ growth agendas rest upon tried and true strategies, tactics and other best practices that are “proven” to drive results. And why shouldn’t they be? They’ve worked in the past and are often associated with the success of the core business. The problem is that these strategies and tactics can often be misaligned to the unique market, technology, or organizational requirements for realizing future opportunities and breakthrough innovations.
to cycle more quickly while certain consumer products move more slowly.
Lifecycles and Market Adoption
The Lifecycle model suggests that market adoption reflects a bell curve that tracks to customer/consumer adoption of a new technology, product or service. First come the “early adopters” who are interested in testing out and trying something new. After the early adopters come targeted market beachheads that represent segments with specific needs that become reference points for other segments. The technology then moves from custom solutions for specific segments to mass manufacturing and distribution of standardized products for the mass market. From there, the market matures. This is when late adopters who are adverse to “risk” begin purchasing the tried and true solutions. Competitiveness becomes almost entirely based on incremental improvements and economies of scale.
Through understanding innovation lifecycles, it becomes possible to address the following questions: • Which products, services and technologies are most vulnerable to competitive disruption? • Where are the greatest opportunities for breakthrough innovation and growth? • What specific growth strategies are appropriate across the portfolio? • What organizational strategies – leadership, structure, processes, and metrics – best support businesses, products,