Introduction
The main points of Leadbeater’s TED (2005) talk revolved around the fact that many innovations as we know them today did not come from extensive research and experiments conducted by large corporations. On the contrary, many innovations emerged as a result of consumers’ demands, such as the mountain bike, for example. Users are crucial for innovation and inventions because they are the ones deciding whether a new product is a ‘hit’ or a ‘miss,’ the same way that they decide what new innovative features should be added to the product to improve. For an entrepreneur, this idea presents a great opportunity: involving potential customers in product development. For instance, in the development of an app, an entrepreneur can give free ‘test drives’ to see whether the app is meeting consumers’ demands and find out additional features to incorporate into the app.
Smith-Corona’s Failure
Gutsche explained Smith-Corona’s inability to adapt to the technological trends through not experiencing a crisis. The company’s sales were on the rise; however, technology-oriented businesses improved and saw a great opportunity in developing new products in a crisis because customers were still buying things (Trend Hunter, 2010). Smith-Corona failed because customers started to re-evaluate what was the most important during the crisis and abandoned old technologies that were not relevant anymore. The company did not identify a new opportunity nor did it try to make a change because the management thought that customers would continue buying typewriters during the time of a technological boom and re-evaluation of consumer needs. This case is not an example of the Innovator’s Dilemma because the company did not even consider dedicating itself to producing PC and fell behind in comparison to its competitors.
Battery Life Innovation
According to the article by Divon (2014), G batteries were placed in a difficult position and had to solve an ethical problem of whether to sell their technology to a multi-millionaire company that did not share the same values or collaborates with smaller businesses that supported the ideas of environmental sustainability. The battery industry’s reluctance to accept new technologies can be categorized as the Innovator’s Dilemma since it would take time for the technology to ‘kick in’ and bring both profit and environmental benefit while there is an opportunity to continue selling old technologies and acquiring even bigger profit.
Blue Ocean Strategy and Start-up Ideation
In the spirit of discussion of environmental sustainability, the proposed blue ocean combination that has no competitor on the market is the creation of anti-theft bike handlebars with an internal lock. Anyone has encountered the problem of stolen bikes whether at school or work, so it could be a useful invention, with which regular bike locks cannot compete. The technology aligns with the “10 rules to a great startup idea” (2013) because it is simple, customer-oriented, captures a large market, and is original. However, as with blue ocean strategies, it may be challenging to collaborate with bike companies that don’t mind their bikes being stolen since it means more revenue.
The New Business Road Test
Niche businesses can be particularly rewarding because they offer entrepreneurs more room for innovation, allowing them to do what they want. This kind of business appeals to me greatly because many large corporations forget about customers and only think about accumulating more revenue. Furthermore, a niche business is compatible with the idea of anti-theft bike handles – it serves a specific audience that needs their bikes to be safe. It is expected that the business can grow rapidly in the next six months because spring and summer are around the corner and people will start riding bikes again, so there will be a demand for new bike-related gadgets.
Works Cited
10 rules to a great startup idea. (2013). Web.
Divon, J. (2014). Long-life laptop battery the tech industry doesn’t want you to have. Web.
TED. (2005). The era of open innovation. Web.
Trend Hunter. (2010). Innovation keynote speaker Jeremy Gutsche – 30 minute speech. Web.