Innovate or Die

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Authors: Pradip Sinha,
Associate Consultant,
ICMR (IBS Center for Management Research).

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Masters of Innovation Contd...

The next popular player in this game is IBM, which from its very inception has been introducing new lines of mainframe computers with a significant price performance advantage over its existing products. It has never hesitated or missed out the chance to crush its competitors whenever the situation demanded. It earned the reputation of 'irreplaceable' with its strategy of continuous innovation and self-attack in its competitive struggle with Dell, HP, Apple and many more companies in order to achieve its present position. It seems to adhere to the golden rule of the business that says, "if you fail to crush your competitor or leave him, it will crush you back. So never ever fail to crush your competitor whenever the situation arises or demands so."

Another example of successful innovation is Sony. It always kept its focus on its core business of consumer electronics, but at the same time constantly kept introducing breakthrough products and new models even if they were hurting the sales of its existing products. Jason Jennings, the author of the best selling book Less is More gives another example of a highly innovative company. His favorite is the 60-year old Koch industry of America, the second largest privately held company, about which he is writing in his forthcoming book Think Big Act Small.

Koch industries has got the capability and the commitment of continuously searching for new ways to create value and long-lasting relationships with the customers, which resulted in increasing revenues and profits by 10% annually for 10 consecutive years. Then of course is the classic story of Microsoft. Microsoft is one of the most spectacular innovative success stories in today's business scenario. Nevertheless, organizations such as, Walt Disney, 3M, Intel, SMH, Johnson & Johnson, GE, Rolls Royce, P&G, Mc Donald's etc., have mastered the art of creating consistent and sustainable positions year after year irrespective of different circumstances by continuously re-innovating and attacking themselves.

A number of companies in India also, who are market leaders in their respective industries and maintain a dominant position in the market place, have embraced these strategies. The first among these is the name of Hero Honda, the No.1 two-wheeler company in India and also the largest selling motorbike company of the world. Hero knew the importance of change and continuous innovation and attacked itself with better and new products, without any fear of failure. The history and line-up of its products reflect this. Other successful innovative companies include VIP, Bajaj and Nirma, to name a few. All these companies have mastered the art of consistently generating revenues and doing better than all other competitors, i.e., they knew how to create the demand for new products and grow revenues even in recessionary times.

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