Interview with Philip Kotler |
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<< Previous Is adding value or features to a product a form of innovation? There are different degrees of innovation. If a camera manufacturer increases the camera’s speed, this is a product improvement and, at the best, a small level of innovation. If a camera manufacturer adds a feature where a still camera can also make a video, this is a higher level of innovation. Much depends on the value added and the feature. Is innovation a one-time affair or an ongoing, never ending process? Innovation should be part of the company’s culture and not a onetime affair. The company should continually encourage new ideas from its employees and partners. Any particular firm you would like to mention here in this context? Toyota constantly improves its automobiles and its manufacturing system. It is said that they get about seven improvement ideas a year per employee and put about half of these ideas into practice. Their success as an auto company emphasizes the importance of cultivating an innovation mindset. Any other thoughts you would like to share with our readers? In 2003, I have published: Lateral Marketing: A New Approach to Finding Product, Market, and Marketing Mix Ideas (New York: Wiley, 2003. Co-author: Fernando Trias de Bes). It describes how companies can find really new ideas by doing out of- the-box thinking, rather than just making more versions of the same product. It is the difference between making another box of breakfast cereal with a different mix versus suddenly creating a candy bar made of breakfast cereal and chocolate. Companies need to increase their ratio of lateral thinking to old-fashion vertical thinking. |
