7 Steps to Become a Destructive Innovator (Part 2)-Learn with Dr. Shunpeita How to Start a Destructive New Business (Shunpeita Tamada's Column-Part 5)

Last time, we stated that (1) there are three ways in which a company can innovate, one "royal road" aiming for sustainable innovation and two "superior roads" aiming for disruptive innovation. (2) At first glance, it looks like a "royal road", and the "sustainable innovation" that everyone aims for is actually a weak and strong way of eating, where the company that has more management resources and puts them in quickly wins. (3) A new market type is to search for a "non-consumption situation" in which some of the "skills", "access", and "time" are lacking even though there are "jobs" that the customer wants to fulfill. Being a way to create disruptive innovation. (4) I learned that if there are products and services around us that have excessive functions, performance, and services, that is the way to lead to low-end disruptive innovation (see Fig. 1).

Figure 1 Seven steps to bring about disruptive innovation

From this time, step-by-step how to go the "superior way" to bring about disruptive innovation that large companies cannot enter, instead of the way small and medium-sized venture companies hit each other with big companies.・ Let's learn step by step.

Once you've decided to go for the supremacy, the next thing to do is to bring together members with diverse expertise for brainstorming to come up with ideas for new products and services. Figure 2 is taken from a paper published in the Harvard Business Review. The horizontal axis is the diversity of the specialties of the participants who participated in the brainstorming group, and the vertical axis is the value of the innovation ideas generated by the group and is a scatter plot.

Figure 2 Diversity Brings Breakthroughs

The more you go to the left, the more specialized fields the participants have (= less diversity). At times like this, the value of innovation ideas generated from brainstorming is in the middle.

The further to the right from there, the more diverse the areas of expertise of brainstorming participants. Then, the value of the ideas generated by the group will gradually vary. As you go to the right, you can see that the value of the idea fluctuates up and down as the megaphone spreads. And while good ideas pop up, there are also a lot of trivial ideas, so the average value of the ideas created by brainstorming goes down.

"Isn't it bad for the brainstorming group to have more expertise if the average value of the idea goes down?"

Some people may think that.

If all the ideas from brainstorming have to be put to practical use, it's certainly not a good idea to lower the average. However, doing so does not have enough management resources.

Brainstorming is about coming up with as many ideas as possible, choosing the ones that seem to be the best, and moving on to the next step. And, as you can see in Figure 2 again, the ridiculous breakthrough ideas did not come from the less diverse groups on the left, while the participants on the right came from the diverse groups. You can see that some are born.

Brainstorming's goal is to come up with ridiculous breakthrough ideas, so the more diverse the participants, the better.

Specialized fields include not only technical expertise in electronics and machinery, biotechnology and software, but also occupations such as marketing and finance, customer support and design, and experience living abroad with people born and raised in Japan. If you want to increase the value of your ideas, such as some people, older people as well as young people, and women as well as men, you should brainstorm with as many members as possible.

"Even if I say that, we are a machine maker and all the employees are elderly men!"

Some may mourn.

In such a case, it is a good idea to invite outside experts and experts to the brainstorming place after concluding a confidentiality agreement.

Last time, looking for a "non-consumption situation" where some of the "skills", "access", and "time" are lacking even though there are "jobs" that the customer wants to fulfill is the destruction of the new market type. I said that it is a way to create innovation. In his book Job Theory, the late Professor Clayton Christensen of Harvard University introduces techniques to help customers find the "jobs" they want to do:

Are there consumers who aren't happy with the current solution and are trying to come up with their own solution?

for example,

"I want to switch the TV on and off"

My grandfather who wants to fulfill the job

"Operate the switch with your hands"

If you can find your patience with a makeshift solution, you can find both "job existence" and "insufficient solution" at the same time.

What you want to avoid if possible is called a "negative job".

for example,

"It's been half a day since my child's throat hurts and I go to the doctor and receive the prescribed medicine."

This is a "negative job" that you want to avoid if possible.

If you can find something you want to avoid at work or at home, there will surely be a market for products and services to avoid it.

You can learn a lot by observing how your customers are using your products. It's an opportunity for innovation, especially if it's used differently than the company expected.

For example, Church & Dwight's baking soda (baking soda) is originally a powder for inflating bread, but other than that.

Deodorizing the refrigerator Cleaning the carpet Remove the smell of sand from the cat litter box Remove scale and mold from the bathroom

It was used for various purposes (jobs). Therefore, Church & Dwight was able to bring about various product innovations by developing products that suit each job.

No matter how diverse the members are gathered to look for a "non-consumer" situation, if that is not found, it is useful to look for "oversatisfied" customers. And when you find an "oversatisfied" customer, you provide them with a simple, low-cost, "necessary and sufficient" solution. This will lead to low-end disruptive innovation.

What is an oversatisfied situation?

"For a customer group, further improvements in a particular performance do not lead to higher satisfaction."

is.

This is a very unacceptable fact for engineers who do not doubt that "high performance = high added value". but,

Maximum speed of car Clock speed of personal computer Function of kettle pot Barber service

There are quite a lot of products and services in which the satisfaction level does not improve at all even if the customer is already "full" and "arranged" any more.

Are there any products or services around you that have more than enough performance?

Manufacturers continue to improve their performance, but if there is performance (evaluation axis) that does not increase the appreciation of users at all, it is an opportunity to destroy existing companies from the low end.

QB House, conveyor belt sushi, T-fal electric kettles, light cars, etc. are all bringing together technologies and know-how that other companies do not have, causing low-end destruction.

If you would like to study further, please pick up my book "Japanese Innovation Dilemma 2nd Edition: 7 Steps to Become a Destructive Innovator" at a bookstore near you.

⇒ Click here if you want to read the 4th column of Shunpeita Tamada's column "How to start a destructive new business with Dr. Shunpeita".

⇒ Click here if you want to read more about Shunpeita Tamada's column "How to start a destructive new business with Dr. Shunpeita".

⇒To the top of the celebrity column "Ichimitsu Ichizumi" who is active on the front lines of each field

Shunpeita Tamada

Dean, Graduate School of Business Strategy, Institute of Business and Accounting, Kansai Gakuin University, Ph.D. (Academic) (University of Tokyo)

Born in Tokyo in 1966. After graduating from the University of Tokyo, he joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (currently the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). He belongs to Professor Michael Porter's seminar at Harvard University Graduate School, where he studies the relationship between competitiveness and strategy, and receives guidance from Professor Clayton Christensen on the management of disruptive innovation. He is a full-time lecturer at the University of Tsukuba and a fellow at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry before assuming his current position. He has been translated into books such as "Japan's Innovation Dilemma 2nd Edition: 7 Steps to Become a Destructive Innovator" (Shoeisha) and "Industry-Academia Collaboration Innovation-Empirical Analysis by Japanese Patent Data" (Kansai Gakuin University Press). There are long-selling "Innovation Dilemma" (Shoeisha) and "Solutions to Innovation" (Shoeisha).

* This content is the opinion of an independent author who is not directly related to our company. * Please note that the information posted may differ from the latest products, laws, tax systems, etc.