Idea in Brief
The Context
Most companies take a “better mousetraps” approach to innovation, improving a product’s functionality—with only average results.
A Different Approach
A few take a cultural innovation approach instead, first identifying a weakness in the existing category and then reinventing the category’s ideology and symbolism.
The Results
The Ford Explorer, for example, replaced the boring “mom mobile” minivan as America’s favorite family car with a promise of excitement, adventure, and glamour—even though the SUV wasn’t a technically superior vehicle.
Building the next billion-dollar innovation is an irresistible goal. To get a leg up, many companies now emulate the innovation model perfected in the tech sector. Procter & Gamble, for example, pursues what it calls constructive disruption. The company has designed its innovation process like a start-up’s, with a venture lab that pulls in tech entrepreneurs and a lean probe-and-learn prototyping process.
