Cambridge Business Association
No-Excuses Innovation
Book

No-Excuses Innovation

Strategies for Small and Medium-Sized Mature Enterprises

Bruce Vojak and Walter Herbst
Stanford UP, 2022
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Well Structured
  • Overview
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

Real innovation can seem out of reach for “small and medium-sized mature enterprises” (SMMEs) that lack the economies of scale and the resources of large companies. For these firms, sticking with tried and true business formulas may seem like the safest choice. In reality, this choice keeps you trapped in a place of competitive disadvantage, with no way to respond to changes in the market. In this step-by-step guide for owners, advisers and leaders in SMMEs, Bruce Vojak and Walter Herbst provide a concrete method for pursuing innovation in ways that match the scale of your business.

Summary

Innovation seems too expensive until someone else has a breakthrough.

Improvements to your current business like incremental updates to your product line or optimizing your supply chain or manufacturing processes extend the viability of your current business paradigm. If you are focused exclusively on optimizing your current business, however, consider carrot peelers. You can make a carrot peeler as ergonomic and as sharp as possible; you can optimize your supply chain until you have scrimped every penny from your costs; but you still won’t be able to compete with pre-peeled baby carrots – a product that responds to the needs of customers who are happy to skip peeling altogether.

This example illustrates the difference between innovation within your present paradigm and a true “breakthrough.” When you make incremental improvements to an existing product, you stay in the same paradigm. While the product improves, nothing fundamental about the basis of competition changes. This kind of incremental innovation is helpful when all your competitors are in the same paradigm...

About the Authors

Bruce Vojak is managing director of Breakthrough Innovation Advisors. Walter B. Herbst is co-founder of Herbst Produkt and a professor emeritus at the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University.

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