OnInnovation : Visionaries thinking out loud™

The essence of strategy is choosing to perform activities differently than rivals do; and the most vital competitive weapon is not lower price, but new ideas.

Across the border in Mexico, we  have a taco shop in every corner. They all sell the same thing and their business name usually starts with the name of someone plus “tacos.”  It’s safe to say that their businesses all operate very much the same way; the only difference between them is where they get the meat and ingredients.

We live in a world of sameness, and the only way out of it is to innovate.

There are brave souls who choose to question the dominant logic of competition; who chose to do something entirely different. There is one taco shop in Tijuana which doesn’t follow conventional logic; it doesn’t sell tacos, but rather, art. Tacos Salceados created what is known as the “Quesataco,” which starts with flakes of cheese spread across the flat iron stove. Your choice of cuts are then lined down the middle and then ultimately encased in the crisp golden cheese. The stuffed crisp cheese roll is then placed in a fresh thick tortilla, and topped with house dressings and avocado. The Quesataco later spawned other creations, such as shrimp tacos covered in a sweet tasting sauce.

It is this fresh perspective which makes it stand out among the rest of the taco shops.

The thing people forget when they compete, is that you must stand out in some manner. Too many people copy their competition too much. They assume if it is working for the competitor, then it will work for them. Passion for what you are doing, consistency, and a sprinkle of uniqueness is just the start. Sticking with it and always looking for that unique tweak is key.

Here are 4 ways to help you think about defeating sameness:

Purpose matters

Conventional logic says that businesses exist to make money. Why not exist to deliver meaning? The difference between you and competitors is nothing more than how you answer the ‘why’ of your intentions: Why are you doing this? Online retailer Zappos knows why they are in business; not to sell a lot of shoes, but rather to deliver the best customer service in a meaningful way.

Reset expectations

Your customers have interacted with your competitors, as well as with other businesses, and have an idea of what to expect. These same expectations will be put into play when they interact with you, and if you deliver the “same,” then you’ll be easily ignored. You must reset those expectations by going above and beyond the normal, delivering equal or more value in a faster, more convenient, easier and meaningful way.

Define yourself by what you know not what you do

Over the time your business has existed you have accumulated a portfolio of abilities and strengths. Think about these bundle of skills that you have accumulated over time, things that you are good at and that when combined provide new value to your customers. Stop looking at your company as a provider of specific products or services for specific markets, and start seeing it as a reservoir of skills and assets that can be exploited in different ways or different contexts to create new value.

Be something your competitors are not

In order to compete businesses follow the logic that they have to target the middle of the market, the mainstream consumers. This also means they configure their business just like competitors who are already ahead of them. The problem is that everyone else is going after the same market and with so many choices, so many brands, so much noise it isn’t enough to be good at everything. You have to be the most at something. What are you the most at? Are you the fastest? The most responsive? The most innovative? The most transparent? Look up field or downfield, go to the edges, to the extremes where you can be the most at something.

Key Takeaway: Compete differently and play the game you know you can win.

What do you think?

Photo Credit: Kevin033

It’s always interesting to check out the business bestseller lists and find a long-running title like Good to Great still selling briskly after being in print for nearly ten years. (One might even say that Jim Collins wrote his bestselling book with the goal of being, ahem, Built to Last) There’s clearly a huge, pent-up demand from mainstream business readers for this type of content. Senior executives want to know how companies like Amazon, Apple or Google became market giants. Line managers want to know the daily steps that companies like GE have taken to stay at the top of their game for so long.

But what about formerly great companies that are now merely good — the ones that went from Great to Good and are now trying to re-claim their innovation mojo? As experts such as Steven Levitt of the New York Times Freakonomics blog have pointed out, these companies that have gone from Great to Good are more common than one might think.

After all, the Great Recession has helped to shake out the business leaders within every industry. Within the housing sector, it means that many formerly great companies – like Home Depot and Fannie Mae – are attempting to re-claim their innovation greatness after a brutal real estate shakeout.  Regardless of industry, the various strategies for regaining innovation greatness revolve around one of the following pivot points:

(1) Focusing on the Core – Not surprisingly, the most popular strategy is to retrench and focus on what works. For companies, that means abandoning all the useless product line extensions, closing down stores and focusing on what made you great in the first place. Greater focus on the core inevitably leads to better results, at least in the near-term.

(2) Expanding into New Markets – This is basically the opposite of focusing on the core – it’s for companies that are facing long-term structural changes to their industries or consumer base. This means finding new markets to penetrate — and in some cases, creating entirely new ones from scratch. In other words, finding the next Blue Ocean.

(3) Bringing in New Talent – Sometimes this is as simple as bringing in the original founder or CEO to revitalize the troops. Consider how Michael Dell returned to Dell to guide the company to a new round of growth. Sometimes it requires bringing in an outsider who doesn’t come with baggage in the form of preconceptions of how an industry operates.

(4) Changing Market Perceptions – Changing the way people view your company usually requires a massive new re-branding campaign. In the case of Gap, it meant bringing in celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker to merchandise product in new ways. In the case of Polaroid, it means bringing in Lady Gaga as the new Creative Director. The goal of any re-branding campaign is to remind consumers of what made you great in the first place, while adding a bit more “sizzle” to your classic offerings.

(5) Cutting the Fat - The basic idea behind this premise is that your company or organization has gotten weak and lazy over the years and it’s time to go on a new fitness regime to shed some weight. Usually, this strategy goes hand-in-hand with focusing on the core. For some companies, it’s as simple as bringing in the management consultants to find redundancies and possible cost reductions — like that Gulfstream corporate jet.

Of course, most companies attempt all sorts of permutations of these strategies, depending on how precarious they view their situation.

Starbucks, for example, has taken all five steps to re-claim its innovation greatness over the past 24 months. First, Starbucks re-focused efforts around its “core” — bringing back Pikes Peak as a symbol of their devotion to great coffee and re-evaluating its other food and beverage offerings. They’re also instituting free Wi-Fi as of July 1 to revitalize the Starbucks cafe as a true “third place” destination. Secondly, they’ve expanded into new markets, mostly by experimenting with emerging technological platforms like Foursquare that connect online fans and offline Starbucks stores. Thirdly, Starbucks brought back original founder Howard Schultz in 2008 after an absence of eight years to infuse new energy. Fourth, they’ve tweaked their marketing campaigns in realization that the recession (and greater competition from the likes of Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s) means that asking consumers to pay $5 per coffee is no longer as feasible as it once was. Fifth, they’ve embarked on an ambitious plan to pare back costs and streamline their store rollout strategy.

Will these steps be enough to restore Starbucks to innovation greatness? The steps are certainly an encouraging sign that the company is serious about regaining its innovation mojo. Until Jim Collins decides to write Good to Great… to Good to Great, the question of how great companies can regain their former market status will be one for business schools to debate for years to come.

What do you think?

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons