Innovation and the Vacuum Cleaner
February 16th, 2007 by 
Amish Parashar
A recent WSJ piece cites the MIT Sloan Management Review on the topic of Innovation Strategy. The entire piece can be summarized in a few words – don’t ignore innovation. Michael Schrage of the MIT Media Lab points to examples of innovation in what are often considered fatigued products. Starbucks has its twist on age-old office coffee, Dyson on the tried and tested Hoover Vacuum, and GE on the humble toaster. The very symbol of invention, the light bulb, has been steadily transformed from incandescent to compact fluorescent to LED.
Columbia Business School’s Dr. Greenwald said “in the long run, everything is a toaster” referring to tomorrow’s commodification of what is today an innovation. Reality is that most of us are interested in creating meaningful, lasting companies. In order for these ventures to succeed they not only need to be built upon innovate technology but also engender an ethic of continuous innovation. It wasn’t enough for Hoover to create the now eponymous vacuum and then pursue a cost-cutting path (Dyson, branding itself on innovation, has become a serious competitive force). Our new companies often focus on the first few innovations which will change the market, help people, and fill a need. We should ensure that innovation is not limited to starting-up – in the end the culture of innovation within a company is a determinant of success.
What do you think?
Posted in Entrepreneurial, Innovation, Technology | 