Innovating to Survive

There are many ways in which innovation can improve an organization's revenue and customer base

Innovation is essential to survival, and also to development and profit. There are many ways in which innovation can improve an organization's revenue and customer base, and defend against competitors. These range from making existing processes more efficient, to producing something before competitors can imitate it, to completely rewriting the rules of competition in your market. Here are some of the building blocks of innovation:

• Novelty in process - A faster, cheaper, or more efficient production process gives you an instant advantage.
• Right timing - Getting into a market early establishes your brand before the competition has time to develop.
• Adding complexity - Offering something too complex for others to imitate places your product at a premium.
• Product service or novelty - Offering a product no one else has access to guarantees your will have no competition.
• Rewriting the rules - Offering people something absolutely novel can create an entirely new market.
• Protecting intellectual property - New trademarks and patents generate revenue through fees for their use.
• New competitive factors - changing the base of your competition (eg, from price to quality) can undermine your rivals.

ACTION POINT: Look for ways to improve your organizations revenue and customer base through innovation.