radical innovation
INDEX Copenhagen Prelude
BOSTON . MILAN . SEOUL

Something without an antecedent
that creates value for a core audience

Reliability
Corporation = Predictability
Consistency

Business Thinking Innovative Thinking
Logical Intuitive
Deductive reasoning Abductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning
Requires proof to proceed Asks what if?
Looks for precedents Unconstrained by the past
Quick to decide Holds multiple possibilities
There is right and wrong There is always a better way
Uncomfortable with ambiguity Relishes ambiguity
Wants results Wants meaning
Roger Martin, Dean Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

Fostering Radical Innovation
• Strategic motivation
• Cognitive diversity
• Unconstrained by existing processes
• Unconstrained by existing metrics
• Looking in new ways
• Leveraging partnerships
• Engage the external world
Making Innovation Work; Davila, Epstein, Shelton

The Kitchen Floor
Biggest home cleaning challenge.
On Average:
• The kitchen floor is cleaned about once
a week for up to 45 minutes
• Kitchen floor is swept daily.
• Counter tops cleaned twice a day
Typically used:
• Sponge mop 42%
• String mop 26%
• Cloth 17%
30% of households buy 1.5 mops or brooms each year
No brand recognition (O’Cedar 20%, Quickie 19%, Libman 12%)
$300 million/year in sales of mops and broom Source: Habits and Practices, Nielsen, etc.

Ethnographic Research
Ethnography starts with a conscious attitude
of most complete ignorance.
Rather than studying people, ethnography means
learning from people.
Ethnographers make cultural inferences from three sources:
(1) from what people say; (2) from the way people act;
and (3) from the artifacts people use.
James P. Spradley, The Ethnographic Interview

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Opportunity for Innovation
“mop” with single use disposable “sponge”

July 14, 2003 © Design Continuum, Inc.

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Tool 1 Tool 1 Tool 2 T 2
ool T 2
ool
SolutionA SolutionB SolutionX SolutionA SolutionA

Embracing a Radical Innovation
Swiffer Sales
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
2003
Product Development
Concept Development
Launch
Ethnographic
Research and
Envisioning
Ongoing
Technical
research

Strategic Motivation
Incremental Radical
Consistent reliable growth, Ambitious growth,
low risk higher risk
Extrapolate current business. Focus on ambition,
Identify gaps exploration
Making Innovation Work; Davila, Epstein, Shelton

Unconstrained by Existing Progresses
Incremental Radical
Based on milestones Subjective evaluation of
experimental learning
Formalized stage gates
Informal based on team dynamics
Making Innovation Work; Davila, Epstein, Shelton

Unconstrained by Existing Measures
Incremental Radical
Clear metrics; Input metrics and
inputs, process, outputs Experimentation related metrics
Avoid failures Learn from failures
Making Innovation Work; Davila, Epstein, Shelton

Looking in New Ways
Incremental Radical
Standardized tools; focus groups, Anthropological, observation,
experiential, experimentation
conjoint analysis, surveys,
prototyping
Making Innovation Work; Davila, Epstein, Shelton

Partnerships
Incremental Radical
Multi-project long term Project based
agreements Access to missing capabilities
Making Innovation Work; Davila, Epstein, Shelton

Engage the External World
Incremental Radical
Monitor current competitors Engage idea generators -
universities, labs, start-ups,
and context
and foreign markets
Making Innovation Work; Davila, Epstein, Shelton

Radical Innovation
Swiffer

The “New” Radical Innovation
Money
Increased Meaning in Someone’s Life Maker
Pump
High
Lo
Swiffer
Lo High
Degree of Lifestyle Improvement

dan buchner
dbuchner@dcontinuum.com
BOSTON . MILAN . SEOUL