3-MINUTE WEBINAR READ
3 - M I N U T E R E A D : I N N O VAT E O R D I E
The objective
The solution
The outcome
In order to thrive in a competitive
business climate, creative disruption is an absolute must—leading
disruptive innovators are recognizing this need, and exchanging
success for reinvention.
To avoid the Innovator’s Dilemma, some organizations are pushing forward through continual
reinvention and collaboration, while others adopt
a lean start-up approach to doing business. In
these times of uncertainty, faster, smarter, and
bolder decisions provide a lifeline.
Global giants such as Nike, IBM, and
Apple have all reaped the rewards
of shaking up the business-as-usual
model—better products, a bigger market
share, and successfully pioneering technologies for a consumer-powered globe.
In order to grow, all industries must undergo significant disruption—the
business world’s equivalent of a wake-up call. Business professor Clayton Christensen first used the term ‘disruptive innovation’ back in 1995,
to describe the process by which a product or service starts out in its
simplest form at the bottom of the market, before moving up to eventually displace established competitors.
Creative disruption: it’s unavoidable
The waves of creative disruption – technological or digital – have caused
the acceleration of change across industries. For example, 3D printing
has revolutionized the manufacturing and healthcare industries, and
companies such as Netflix have changed the way we consume ondemand media. Leading disruptive innovators recognize the need to
move away from the beaten path of success and security, in order to
connect with the engaged and empowered consumer: Apple’s takeover of the mobile phone industry, after starting out with computers, and
Google’s expansion into ads, causing advertising giants to sit up and
take note, are just some examples of the direction innovation has taken
over the last decade alone.
How to become a leading innovator: collaboration and
continual reinvention
As creative disruption continues to blur the lines between industries, and
organizational leaders come to realize that they cannot continue business
as usual – a concept referred to as the Innovator’s Dilemma – innovation
is affecting the way many organizations operate. The life expectancy
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of companies has been compressed by 80% since the 1920s, and by
2021, 40% of Fortune 500 companies will simply have disappeared.
The threat of death at the hands of tradition and custom is pushing
companies to collaborate in order to stay relevant, and forcing the CEOs
of leading companies to ask: do we have innovation in our bones? After
selling off its low-end server business to Lenovo, tech giant IBM entered
into a partnership with Apple, distributing iPads offering industry-specific
enterprise mobile solutions—a smart move by IBM to exploit the power
of one of the world’s most powerful brands.
Another method of innovation being employed by companies is one of
continual reinvention, explained by the Three Horizons model:
Horizon one: extend and defend products
Horizon two: drive emerging products
Horizon three: create new, viable opportunities
The unwillingness to let go of the old and look beyond past and current
successes is something Bill Gat