Big Bang Disruption !!!
Strategy in the age of Devastating Innovation
a Book Review by MindXchange 2014 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz
Our new Age of Innovation is one that presents opportunities for new businesses, along with significant challenges for established enterprises. As authors, Larry Downes and Paul Nunes describe in their book, Big Bang Disruption, the innovation timeline has shrunk at an accelerating rate. It used to take years or even decades for innovations to come along & disrupt markets. Those changes can now happen (seemingly) overnight. Any existing business can be devastated in a matter of days, weeks or months by new competition, often from tiny start-ups with minimal capital, thanks to the declining costs of creation, information, and experimentation.
Examples of Big Bang Disruptions cited by the Authors include:
· Google Maps – The day that Google announced its Google Maps Navigation service, the share price for traditional GPS devices dropped by 15% and they have virtually faded from the scene.
· Amazon Kindle – By waiting until the right moment to launch the Kindle e-Reader, Amazon ushered in a trend in which sales of e-Books are exceeding sales of traditional books by an increasingly wider margin.
· MakerBot’s 3D Printers – Tho’ not the first manufacturer of 3D printers, MakerBot has innovated by creating a free platform that allows users to collaborate with each other and share designs and expertise.
· Uber – Despite the burdensome regulations surrounding the Taxi & Limo industry, Uber’s “ride-sharing” service caught on extremely quickly – thanks in part to the fanatical devotion of its early users.
Surviving Disruptions, such as those appear more & more often, companies need to change how they do business. That’s the lesson from learned from brands like Blockbuster, Blackberry and others that have been devastated by Big Bang Disruptions. Surviving in the age of Big Bang Disruption requires companies embrace a radical new approach to business strategy, the Authors argue. All companies need to “re-invent” themselves as innovators that can anticipate changes & quickly adapt.
Defeating the Disruptors. In their book, the Authors share the secrets of success learned through research from the Accenture Institute for High Performance, at which Nunes is the Global Managing Director of Research, plus Interviews with entreprenuers, investors, & executives from more than 30 industries. They lay out a plan for action and describe how companies such as Philips, Citibank, Fujifilm, & Texas Instruments have embraced the new innovation model. Key steps for adopting that new model include:
· Find curious, focused Experts who can make sense of the hazy future of technology & strategy.
· Engage actual Customers using low-risk market experiments.
· Capture “winner-take-all” Markets, by fulfilling all of that market’s needs.
· Anticipate Saturation and get out of market before the value drops. Shed assets before they become liabilities, and avoid sustaining products that are no longer viable.
Conclusion. As the Authors show, every industry is affected by these trends and the situation is only becoming more challenging as disruptive innovations come faster & faster. The good news is that any company can master the innovation strategy of today’s start-ups, and, in their book, the Authors offer a practical roadmap for which to do so.
Comments: Anything you can add in the War against Disruptors?