Innovation Landscape™ lessons

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Why net startups scare big guys

'Normal' companies invest in product development first and then think about the secondary innovations that would boost its value. Startups like E*Trade and Quicken are doing something quite different: they start at the fringes of the model, thinking first about business models and customer experiences, then move inward to plan products, services and processes.

Why customer experiences may be more important than you think

Airlines today are experimenting with alliances and other kinds of innovations more than ever before. Yet it may be this emerging category of customer experiences -- shaped by the efforts of companies like Southwest Airlines and Virgin -- that brings this industry into its next era. We believe this to be characteristic of any industry that has emphasized process efficiencies to the exclusion of customer experiences.

Why even innovative industries are ripe for upsets

As an industry ages, it typically over invests in one or two categories of innovation while often ignoring others. For computers, price/performance ratio became the blinding preoccupation and research money pit until Apple surprised everyone with its customer experience wallop in the form of stylish iMacs that easily connect to the Internet.

Why an innovation system gets better results