Case Studies on

Managing Innovation – Vol. I

Edited by
Nusrath Jahan Maldar
Rajendar Singh Rathore
Icfai Business School Case Development Centre

Icfai Books
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Case studies are intended to be used as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate
either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation.

Copies of individual case studies are available for purchase from www.ibscdc.org

ISBN : 81-314-0603-2

Editorial Team: Subha Dharmapuri

Visualiser: Ch. Yugandhar Rao
Designer: K. Sreehari Rao and P. Damodara Siva Prasad
Case Title Page No.

Case Studies on Product Innovation

Breakthrough Innovation
Segway HT: Troubles and Challenges of the Revolutionary Human Transporter 5
Michelin’s PAX Tyres: Radial Type Innovation? 23
The iPod – Apple’s Trojan Horse? 37
TiVo: Pioneering the Interactive Television 49
Nokia’s ‘N-Gage’ing Initiative 59
Sharp: Building Competitive Advantage through Innovation 73
Steve Jobs: The Disruptive Innovator? 83
Utility Computing: IBM On-demand 113
Incremental Innovation
7E7: Boeing’s Big Bet 125
Airbus: Flying High with A380 143
Apple’s New Operating System, “Tiger”: Riding on the Success of iPod? 153
Innovation at Pixar – The Key to Sustainable Profitability? 173
Samsung’s Washing Machines: The “Nano” Innovation 183
Reckitt Benckiser: Growing through Innovations 191
Case Studies on Process Innovation
Olympus’ “Creative Destruction”: Tsuyoshi Kikukawa Revamping
the Innovation Process 207
Project Platypus – Mattel’s Unconventional Toy Development Process 231
Innovating 3M’s Innovations 249
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories: On the New Drug Discovery Trail 267
A.G. Lafley: Innovating P&G’s Innovations 283
Outsourcing Innovation: Opportunities and Challenges 297
Google’s Innovation-driven Growth 311
Case Studies on Business Model Innovation
Music Piracy and iTunes 325
FedEx: Revolutionising Global Express Delivery 337
Dell’s Business Model: Is it Time to Reinvent? 351
Interviews
Dr. Curtis R Carlson 371
Dr. Sam Kogan 375
Michael Treacy 383
OVERVIEW i

OVERVIEW

Management guru, Peter Drucker, observed that any business enterprise has only two
basic functions: marketing and innovation. All else, he implied, was detail.1 His words
have proved to be prophetic, as the birth or turnaround of some of the world’s leading
companies today has been scripted by an exemplary innovation. Be it Procter & Gamble,
Sony, Intel or Apple, innovations have spanned the success of these diverse companies
across decades.
Although the term ‘Innovation’ has been defined and redefined over the ages, its
importance has rarely been denied – fast changing markets and technology combined
with intense competition in almost all major industries have ensured that. Successful
innovations, throughout history, have driven new customer acquisition, margin
enhancement and top-line growth, as demonstrated by Ford’s Model T in the early 20th
century and Apple’s iPod in the early 21st century. The question plaguing companies
today is not, should we innovate? But rather, how should we innovate? (Exhibit I).
The world has seen several innovations that have been pioneered by geniuses but
increasingly, strategists are now beginning to believe that a structured approach to
innovation, which follows a conscious, purposeful search for opportunities, is the key to
building an innovative company.
Areas of opportunity can be found both within the company and the industry in which
it operates. A company’s social or intellectual environment may also provide a hint of
such a prospect. Within the company, ideas may spring from previous experience or
technological understanding. Not long ago, companies like Xerox and General Electric
looked to their own R&D to come up with paradigm-changing innovations, and R&D
was jealously guarded as the primary source of the organization’s intellectual capital.
Those were the days of ‘Closed Innovation’. However, as the 21st century has dawned,
the belief that ‘not all smart people work for us’ has taken hold and businesses are
looking to leverage on other companies’ intellectual capital. Partnerships with research
laboratories, universities and building strong relationships, especially with customers
and suppliers, have today become the rule rather than the exception, in an attempt to
identify and capitalize on a new opportunity.
Once new ideas have been identified or generated, the company must finalise which
projects to fund, which to put off and which to kill. The company must then determine
the details of the projects funding – should it be funded internally, collaboratively or
through a joint venture, or should it be licensed or outsourced entirely. Even after finalising
the company’s R&D portfolio, there is a need for reevaluation in the light of the company's
overall objectives and resource availability. Ideally, the R&D portfolio of any company
should contain a mix of the following:

1
Dolan Robert J., “Note on Marketing Strategy”, Harvard Business School Publishing, November 1st 2000 [Ref. No. 9-598-061]
ii MANAGING INNOVATION – VOL.I

Exhibit I
Innovation Theme: Strategy Map

Return on R&D
investments
Financial
Perspective Revenue growth Manage life-cycle
(new customers) costs

Revenue growth
(existing customers)

Customer
Perspective Enhanced First New customer
functionality to market segments

Internal Managing Innovation Theme

Process Identify Manage R&D Develop Launch
Perspective opportunities portfolio new products new products
Manage Reduce Rapid
Platform Alliance
Anticipate project develop- launch
projects projects
future portfolio ment cycle
customer
Derivative Effective
needs Discover
development Manage production
new
development-
products
cycle cost Effective
and Basic
Break-through marketing,
services R&D
development distribution

Learning &
Human Climate Information
Growth capital for action capital
Perspective
• Deep functional expertise • Interdisciplinary teams • Simulation
• Cross-functional awareness • External communities • Virtual prototyping
• Strategic alignment • Leading knowledge
from scientific
community

Source: Kaplan Robert S., “Managing Innovation”, (Balance Scorecard Report), Harvard Business
School Publishing, January-February 2003 [Ref. No. B0301A]
OVERVIEW iii

• Projects focused on developing new science and technology knowledge that

may later be applied commercially
• Projects devoted to developing a platform for the next generation of products
in a given product category
• Alliances with other companies that enable the company to acquire a new
product/process/technology from another company
• Projects aimed at creating breakthrough products based on the application
of science and technology in an entirely new way. Such projects typically
create a new product category or a new line of business for the company.
The core of product development involves the design and development of the new
product. A successful design and development process should be based on two key
characteristics. Firstly, the target market should find the product's desired functionality
attractive, and the company should be able to manufacture the product with a consistent
quality within the targeted cost. Product development involves concept development,
product planning, and detailed product and process engineering.
At the conclusion of a successful product development stage, the company has a new
product in-hand, ‘almost’ ready to be launched in the market. Prior to the commencement
of commercial production, the project team should initiate a pilot production to finalise
production specifications. Testing the product and the production system should involve
answering the following questions –
• Can the finished product meet the required functional, cost and quality
standards when manufactured at commercial volume levels?
• Can the company find suppliers who can deliver the required inputs in the
necessary quantity, on time and within the targeted cost?
Once the production feasibility has been proven, the company can commence commercial
production, while, at the same time, the marketing and sales departments begin to sell
the new product. This stage is iterative and the development project will end only when
the company has been able to achieve production and sales levels that meet the targeted
product quality, functionality and cost.
Having summarized the important stages involved in innovation, it is also important to
look at the main types of innovation that exist in the market. Commonly, innovations
are classified as follows –
Product/Service innovation involves the introduction of a new or substantially improved
good or service. A product/service innovation may create a new line of business not only
for the company but also for the marketplace, while upgradations may involve improvements
in functional characteristics, technical abilities, ease of use, or any other dimension.
iv MANAGING INNOVATION – VOL.I

Process innovation involves the implementation of a new or significantly improved

production or delivery method. A type of process innovation may be –
• Supply chain innovation where innovations may occur during the process of
sourcing inputs from suppliers and the delivery of outputs to customers.
• Marketing innovation where new marketing methods may be developed
with regard to improving the product design or packaging, product promotion
or pricing.
Business Model innovation involves capturing greater value by changing the way
business is done e.g. Dell and FedEx.
Another method of categorising innovations is by the impact it has on existing markets
or businesses. Breakthrough innovation also called radical innovation involves creating
a new line of business for both the company and the marketplace. The term ‘new’ may
imply a product or process with hitherto unseen performance features or with already
familiar features that offer potential for a 5-10x (or greater) improvement in performance,
or a 30%-50% (or greater) reduction in cost. Breakthrough innovations often tend to be
disruptive in nature, as they tend to render some products obsolete, while significantly
changing a particular product category or creating a new one.
Incremental innovation, sometimes, also called sustaining innovation, implies a step
forward along a technology trajectory. As opposed to breakthrough innovations, incremental
innovations are associated with low risk and a high probability of success. Companies
invest a high degree of their R&D budget in achieving incremental improvements.
For instance, while Sony’s Walkman, the world’s first personal portable cassette player,
can be considered to be a breakthrough innovation, the subsequent portable cassette
players with features like the radio are simply advancements in technology and are
called incremental innovations. Another breakthrough innovation in the same industry
has been Apple’s iPod.
Similarly, in the automobile industry, while hybrid vehicles can be classified as incremental
innovations, the invention of a cheap, safe, personal flying machine that could replace
cars would definitely be considered a breakthrough innovation.
Business organisations generally invest a significant amount of their turnover on innovation,
that is, making changes to their established products, processes and services. The very
nature of the industry in which the company operates gives an idea about the amount
of R&D investment, that the company might be required to make. The amount of
investment can vary from as low as 0.5% of revenues for organisations operating in an
environment with a low rate of change to anything over 20% of turnover for organisations
facing a rapidly changing business environment. In IT, consumer electronics and pharma
companies, the investment tends to be on the higher side, while producers of FMCG
goods may comparatively invest a lesser percentage.
OVERVIEW v

Most importantly, to be consistently successful at innovation, an organization must

have employees who are broad based in their experiences, known within the organization
as the group to contact with radical ideas, and skilled at evaluating and helping to
articulate the benefits of novel technologies.2 Persistence and organizational staying
power are believed to be the key.
This book features case studies on some of the best-known innovations recorded in recent
business history. The case studies have been classified into three categories – product
innovation, process innovation and business model innovation. The product innovation
section has been sub-classified into breakthrough and incremental innovations. Case studies
on breakthrough innovation include among others Segway HT: Troubles and Challenges
of the Revolutionary Human Transporter, Michelin’s PAX Tyres: Radial Type Innovation?,
The iPod – Apple’s Trojan Horse? and TiVo: Pioneering the Interactive Television. Each
of these case studies highlights the industry conditions as well as the organizational
environment that led to the concerned innovation. They also deal with the production and
marketing challenges faced by companies that create breakthrough innovations.
Although a single successful breakthrough innovation has the power to catapult a company
to the forefront of the industry, the case studies on incremental innovation such as
Airbus: Flying High with A380, Innovation at Pixar – The Key to Sustainable Profitability?
and Samsung's Washing Machines: The “Nano” Innovation prove that it also occupies a
very important place in the company’s R&D.
The case studies Olympus’ “Creative Destruction”: Tsuyoshi Kikukawa Revamping the
Innovation Process, Project Platypus – Mattel’s Unconventional Toy Development Process
and Innovating 3M’s Innovations, discuss the importance of providing the right kind of
environment to boost innovation and the role played by top management in building an
‘innovation culture’ within the organisation.
In the third section, the case studies, FedEx: Revolutionising Global Express Delivery
and Dell’s Business Model: Is it Time to Reinvent? exemplify business model innovation.
The book also contains the interviews of such experts in the field of innovation as
Dr. Michael Treacy, Dr. Sam Kogan and Dr. Curtis Carlson. The ideas and issues brought
forth in these interviews can be used as a supplement during case study discussions.

2
O’Connor Colarelli Gina and Rice Mark P., “Opportunity Recognition and Breakthrough Innovation in Large Established
Firms”, California Management Review, Volume 43, Number 2, Winter 2001 [Ref. No. CMR195]