In real life we can’t have one without the other, but deciding which one you are has a definitive impact on how your company develops your innovative thinkers, what you do with their ideas, and how you encourage your employees. First we need to be on the same page when it comes to identifying the role of innovation when planning your company’s direction and growth areas. It’s could be your advantage over your competitors if you understand the power behind each type of innovation well enough to decide you can become a new innovation animal.
Disruptive Innovation is to Radical Innovation what Incremental Innovation is to Sustaining Innovation.
First things First: When thinking of innovation as a new idea, a new device, or a new process, we can expand on the concept of innovation to recognize it as a process that brings together various original ideas and combining those ideas, devices, or technical processes in such a way that they are reachable, or accessible, and have a significant impact on a market or society.
Invention is the creation of a product.
Innovation takes the product into a realm of usefulness and develops it to a point that makes it accessible to everyone. In other words, inventions can sit on the shelves of scientists indefinitely, until and innovator comes along and works out a business plan, and a marketing plan to make the invention a product – and put it directly into the hands of interested users.
Innovation has two major directions:
1) An incremental innovation approach is to take a product, concept, or service that already exists and make continuous improvements over time, revising the marketing and updating the usefulness to attract buyers and build a loyal clientele. Some examples are software versions, automotive engineering and design, television, even the music industry.
Think of innovation as two teams intent on learning the best way to climb a hill. The two teams begin on a medium sized hill both using the same implements and equipment for climbing. Progress is slow, but always upward. One side is having success by making small changes, learning from their errors and making minor revisions to keep them on their upward path. The second team has a different approach, while using the advancement the 1st team has been developing, they realize they can combine the various climbing mechanisms and strongholds to gather momentum to jump from the first small hill, to a huge mountain. They evacuate the hill with a sideways jump to the mountain, saying goodbye to the old climbing strategies, they introduce entirely new concepts because they now have a mountain of choices, the pathways don’t always have to lead upwards, they can move sideways and still be making progress in a successful climb.
2) Radical innovation is the concept used by the second team. The could not have gotten to the mountain without the incremental innovations they made with the first team, but now they have ventured out into a larger world of possibilities. A larger mountain means more access to larger groups of climbers, and the terrain is different, the momentum is greater, because the climbers on the mountain have more room for new innovators to help with new concepts.
Not every radical innovation becomes a disruptive force in society, or conquers the existing market. Every radical innovation that has disrupted the way we do things has begun with an invention, a process, and a series of incremental innovations. An example of this would be the light bulb. Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb, he developed the new materials for the product of the light bulb, so it would continue to work for a prolonged length of time. The materials he found to create a useful light bulb made electricity a disruptive force. As innovators developed an electrical system that could service every home in communities, and the world. The businesses that may have failed due to their replacement by the advancement of electricity, candle makers, candle holder makers, match manufacturers, gas lamp manufacturers, as electricity found more applications, the list grew, old fashioned businesses had to adapt to the new market or quit.
Start up businesses have a better choice, they can establish an innovative environment with their employees from the beginning. Encouraging ideas, new thoughts on processes, product design and marketing ideas. Long established companies have to consider opening up new pathways to allow their employees the accessibility to presenting their ideas and innovations. Some long-time corporations have developed entire venture departments to allow creativity and idea development a place in their corporate structure.
If you can visualize the power behind different innovation concepts, you are on your way to becoming a new corporate innovation animal.
Sources:
http://jnd.org/dn.mss/Norman%20%26%20Verganti.%20Design%20Research%20%26%20Innovation-18%20Mar%202012.pdf, http://www.innovaders.com/innovation/general.htm, http://www.paradigmassociates.us/resources/articles/DisruptiveTechnology.php
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