Disruptive Innovation in Challenging Times
Well established markets are seldom disrupted by their incumbent players. They are familiar with the ‘rules of the game’ and have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
That’s why so many markets are reinvented by newcomers. Smaller players who don’t know, or don’t play by the rules – but who generate new value for consumers and stakeholder alike.
Disruption Generates Exponential Growth
True disruptors aren’t focussed on short-term returns or immediate profitability. Their eye is on the long-term future and how they can build business propositions for Horizon Three.
They reframe & redefine markets, harness & leverage new technology – and place the consumer at the heart of everything they do.
Tesla
Tesla harnessed multiple technologies and compelling storytelling to create a car brand that has catalysed the whole motor industry to embrace electric.
Impossible
Impossible Foods totally disrupted expectations of plant-based foods, by leveraging technologies that could replicate the experience of eating meat.
Netflix
Netflix reinvented how entertainment is delivered, but their biggest breakthrough is in the use of data to map and predict audience preferences.
Uber
Uber harnessed to power of the smartphone app to remove the barriers that made ride-hailing a chore.
Casper
Casper set out to create the perfect mattress, but more importantly, reinvented the business model with D2C and a 100 day guarantee
Fever Tree
Fever Tree recognise that their role was to deliver high-quality mixers that complement consumers’ spirit of choice, not obliterate its subtlety.
Can Established Businesses Disrupt?
Yes, of course established businesses can disrupt. They just need to be willing to think and act differently.
Disruptive innovation requires a mindset that is willing to: reframe opportunties, experiment with delivery models and incubate!
#1: Consumer Centricity
Consumers are unlikely to be able to tell you what they need, because like us, they struggle to imagine an alternative future.
However, careful interrogation of their aspirations, observation of their current behaviours, and analysis of their pain-points – can reveal unmet needs and opportunties for experience enhancement.
Our experienced quali moderators regularly leverage a variety of online insight-gathering tools including mobile ethnography, vox-pop and structured interviews to unlock actionable insights.
#3: Leveraging Technology
Breakthrough thinking frequently needs ‘technology enablers’ that go far beyond the current, and potentially even future, capabilities of your organisation.
Spotting emerging science and identifying potential partners with technology skills that might deliver the enabling capabilities you need – is a specialist skill
We partner with the highly experienced, technology scouting team at Idyl Consulting to spot science-enablers that can empower your team’s creativity and stimulate breakthrough thinking.
#3: Reframing Markets
Spotting opportunties for consumer experience enhancement and identifying potential technology enablers is only part of the disruptive innovations challenge.
The challenge is to get your team thinking imaginatively about how the consumer challenge could be addressed by new technology levers and new business models.
Our face-to-face and virtual workshops are the perfect environment to share the consumer voices, explore how to better the best in class experience and leverage new technology and business models to reinvent the consumer experience.
Can You Afford Not To Disrupt?
it’s tempting to think that you should defend the status quo
It’s tempting to think that during tough economic times – you should sit tight and protect your resources
But, whilst you protect the status quo and protect your resources … challenger brands are stalking your core business and working out how to innovate you out of existence
By managing your business’s expectations, thinking more experimentally and acting more entrepreneurially … you could add disruptive value to your own market and build the Horizon 3 businesses streams that will represent your ‘future core’