94% of executives have an innovation problem

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Category: Background

Articles that cover basic background information

postInnovation: Diffusion, and What Network Topology can tell usWork In ProgressEarly Thoughts
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Category Background
    #Background

Your target market is a network. Can we take advantage of that network's structure to accelerate diffusion? Or can we make simple structure changes to get that acceleration?

We already have seen that diffusion is the spreading of a message through channels of a social system. In the news we always here of social media influencers, which are really individuals who have many people connected to them. And Gladwell talks of Mavens, connectors etc. The number of connections and their directions are just two metrics we can measure of a network. Others, such as density, weak ties, structural holes give us even more information about how well messages are likely to spread.

If we can find out a network's structure, perhaps we can engineer it to make things easier for us.

However, we might find it is easier to do this within organisations - where how people really connect is often different to the stated top down organisation hierarchy. But general public networks can be harder to understand

Reading time <5 mins
postInnovation Resistance
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Category Background, In Practice
    #Background, In Practice

By forgetting about Innovation Resistance, you are setting your innovation on the path for failure

We nearly always take a positive view of an innovation - it is a good thing. Therefore, we focus on diffusion and adoption. However, customers resist innovations. And this resistance can range between passive and active resistance.

What is this resistance? And why does it occur? (in a later article we look at what we can do to minimise).

Reading time <13 mins
postMarketing Mix – how many Ps are needed?
The Resulting Services Marketing Mix
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Category Background, Tools
    #Background, Tools

Does the classic marketing mix- product, price, place and promotion - fit for today's world? A world where

  • the consumer is better informed
  • our economies are service dominated,
  • technology is replacing people, and
  • we are concerned with sustainability and circular economy

Reading time <18 mins
postDiffusion of Innovation II – Bass Diffusion, let’s get Mathematical…
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Category Background, In Practice
    #Background, In Practice

How should you build up your supply chain? What are the real market sizes of Rogers' adopter types? When is best to launch the next generation of your innovation?

To answer those, we take a deeper look at the mathematics behind Bass' Diffusion Model

The maths helps us understand the split of innovator and imitator types - captured as two co-efficients in the formula. That allows us to understand where to apply internal and external influence. We can use existing sales (or a comparator) to derive these two co-efficients and therefore predict adoption. That helps us manage supply chains and real market size. Additionally, we can determine when it is best to launch the next generation of the innovation (and see what happens when we lauch to early or late)

And, best of all...it all fits real life!

Reading time <14 mins
postDiffusion of Innovation
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Category Background
    #Background

How do people find out about an innovation?

It is via communication, through a network of people (and organisations). Technically this is called diffusion.

I take a network first approach to exploring this question. Putting into context the well known adoption curve, crossing the chasm and the tipping point (where diffusion and adoption accelerates). And gives us insights into how to best position ourselves for diffusion success

Reading time <13 mins
postProduct Innovation – what is it about?Work In Progress
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Category Background
    #Background

It's useful to have some background on product-dominated innovation since service-dominated innovation is similar (yet with additional factors to address).

In this article we look at:

  1. how the roles, resources and value attributes of product innovation play out
  2. Rogers' adoptability/diffusion curve
  3. Moore's crossing the chasm
  4. Bass' adoption curve
  5. the factors that impact the speed of innovation adoption

Reading time <9 mins
postServices are eating the world – the shift to the services Economy
We are shifting to service economies - by 2050 it is predicted to be greater han 80%
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Category Background
    #Background

You may be surprised to learn that the service economy is around 80% of the economy in "developed" lands (already 79% in UK). And it is an economic segment that is increasing everywhere.

I explore why we shift towards service dominant economies and the impact of that shift.

Not least if that you need to think of innovation differently for the service world than you do at present

Reading time <8 mins
postEmbracing Service-Dominant Logic – part 1
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Category Background
    #Background

Is our current way of thinking about the world - a so called goods-dominant logic that is goods-centric and has a heavy focus on value-exchange - the best mindset for services?

In this first of two articles we look at what is this goods-dominant mindset. We conclude that yes we could use it for services, but it limits us. It is like driving a performance sports car, but only ever using 1st gear.

Once we look more at services we realise a new logic is needed to access the other gears. But that this is a realisation not a revolution.

Reading time <12 mins
postServices are eating the world – but what are they?Work In Progress
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Category Background
    #Background

In our increasingly service based economies it is important to understand what services are.

We gain this understanding by looking at services through academic definitions, marketing, and economic attributes, a continuum between gods and services and finally the logic behind services.

Reading time <14 mins
postThe innovation problem…Work In Progress
Various insights to the Innovation Problem
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Category Background
    #Background

94% of executives are unhappy with innovation performance - and 54% of innovating companies struggle to bridge the gap between innovation and business. Whilst 84% of the same executives see innovation as important to their growth strategy

And yet we seem to plough on, year after year, with new innovation innitiatives. Never fixing the issue.

I've been a Chief Innovation Officer and hit the performance problem. And I'm on a mission to find out why and how to fix

Reading time <11 mins