1. Blackberry’s failure to innovate
Blackberry, Blockbuster and Borders. All great brands that fell to the mercy of other innovators. Here’s what to learn from them.
There was a time when Blackberry phones were in every corporate pocket. But over time the once highly efficient and popular device was replaced by Google, Samsung and Apple. So what happened? Blackberry’s design didn’t worsen, it just didn’t get better. Malin Liden uses this as an example of how not innovating can leave your product dwarfed by those that do.
“I have always said that standing still is moving backwards, today moving forward slowly is also moving backwards. This means we can no longer just rely on the CEO to drive innovation and wait for them to tell everybody their idea, or have a dedicated department. It has to be everybody’s job,” she says.
Lesson learned:
With the trajectory of tech moving at such a fast pace. It’s no longer ok to stick to a tried and tested favourite. You need to adapt to new trends ahead of the curve – even if it’s an incremental change. Standing still with your business’ innovation is akin to moving backwards, causing your brand to stagnate and dissolve.
2. UPS and the reinvention of its business model
UPS recognised that it had to go one further than Blackberry, by not just updating its products but its whole business model.
UPS was founded in Seattle in 1907, by two teenage boys who had 100 dollars, a bike and a business model of hand delivering telegrams to households that didn’t have a phone.
“Just imagine if they had stuck to that business model. I don’t send a lot of telegrams these days, I don’t know about you?” questions Malin Liden, VP of experience at SAP. “They would be irrelevant but of course due to innovating their business model, they are very much the backbone of the digital economy; without companies like UPS, you wouldn’t order something online.”
Lesson learned:
Changing a winning business model that is securing profits and placating shareholders may seem like a foolish idea, but it could actually be detrimental to do otherwise. If it’s not broken, fix it anyway. You can’t afford to wait until there’s an issue.
3. Jack Ma’s confidence in founding Alibaba
To be truly innovative, you must break new ground, which takes confidence and resolve, as Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba demonstrates.
Breaking into or creating a new market is what entrepreneurial dreams are made of, but for Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, it’s something he made a reality. After multiple failures to get into Harvard law school and even get a job at KFC and some successes in creating China Yellow Pages, Ma along with some friends, created a B2B marketplace site, which seemed an ambitious move considering how hard China’s market can be.
“When he decided to start an e-commerce company in China, one of the most restrictive markets in the world, people thought he was crazy,” explains Malin Liden, VP of experience at SAP.
She attributes his success to his ability to not care too much about other people’s judgements. “He could have cared, but today he’s worth $30 billion instead.”
Lesson learned:
A great and innovative idea may not be a popular one. Although it can be helpful to seek others’ advice when moving into new territory, be mindful of what the common conservative response would be and don’t be afraid to step beyond it – someone has to be first.
