TII Innovation Journal

Kodak innovates its way out of a strategic hole

Kodak innovates its way out of a strategic hole: "

The conventional wisdom is that Kodak might just become irrelevant if it fails to adapt to the rapid changes occurring in the digital photography market. Well, according to Jack Cheng in a blog post called A Place Called Kodak, we are now witnessing a revitalized Kodak with a lethal innovative first-strike capability:

'There’s been a lot of talk about Kodak’s rebranding in the past few months. The reaction to Kodak Gallery campaign has generally been positive, and recently, news about the company doing away with the yellow/red letter K box (which stayed consistent for 70 years and is THE icon for the era of 35mm film) and replacing it with a more modern (and debatably more generic) version made the rounds on the Web. I love the direction Kodak is taking... but not for the reasons above. It’s where the company is going with its products that makes me buy into the idea that they’re serious about innovation, design, and digital...'

Jack Cheng points to a USA Today article that describes Kodak's new embrace of design and innovation and, later in the blog post, describes a number of innovative product offerings from Kodak, such as the EasyShare One (the first consumer digital camera with built in Wi-Fi) and the EasyShare V570 Dual Lens camera. Kodak has also announced a deal with Skype to let people voice-chat with friends and family as they share the pics in their photo albums online through the Easy Share Gallery.

Kodak appears to have innovated its way out of a deep, dark strategic hole:

'The bottom line is that the company is building a new lineup of camera products that are like nothing else out there. Where everyone else is merely getting higher-resolution and more compact, Kodak is going beyond that- exploring blue oceans and coming up with new categories of products and services. How long it takes for the other manufacturers to start copying these things is anybody’s guess.'

Technorati tags: Kodak, innovation

"

(Via Business Innovation 2005.)

Ford Motor Company and Blue Ocean Strategy

Ford Motor Company and Blue Ocean Strategy: "

After watching a 10-year decline in its share of the U.S. auto market, Ford announces a dramatic restructuring project. Based on Blue Ocean Strategy, the goal of the secret Piquette Project is to stop Ford's sales decline and truly differentiate future Ford cars and trucks from a crowded field of fierce competitors.

Ford's announcement was the top business news story in the nation for January 23, 2006. In an excerpt from the Detroit Free Press, columnist Tom Walsh writes:

The Piquette Project now has a brainstorming room on the second floor of Ford world headquarters in Dearborn and an eclectic team of people that includes Camilo Pardo, designer of the Ford GT; renowned architect Bill McDonough, and retired Ford manufacturing executive Jay Richardson. Tim O'Brien, a Ford vice president who previously headed the company's real estate and environmental units, is the team leader.

Like Starbucks did by creating new spaces in coffee -- an example cited in 'Blue Ocean Strategy' -- Ford aims to create and dominate a new segment of transportation product.

What will it be?

Follow this link to read the entire Detroit Free Press article or download it in Word format here .

"

(Via Creating Blue Oceans.)

How Can French Fries Save The World And Lead Us To Blue Oceans?

How Can French Fries Save The World And Lead Us To Blue Oceans?: "

What would you say, if you were a leading fast-food company, at the prospect of having the combination of powerful sensory branding, a massive environmentally friendly image boost and the ability to turn waste into a complementary offering, all in one? Does this seem too good to be a viable blue ocean? Well, it may not be as far fetched as you may think.

Vegetable oil is a viable (though not yet practical) source of automobile fuel. A man named Joshua Tickell gained visibility for its use in 1997, when he drove his Veggie Van across the U.S. using leftover vegetable oil from Kentucky Fried Chicken and other fast food chains. Vegetable oil can be used in converted diesel engines.

In America alone, there are 18 billion liters (approx. 4.5 billion gallons) of waste vegetable oil generated every year by restaurants. So here is the opportunity: Instead of removing or recycling this waste, why not offer an eco-friendly fuel source via add-on gas stations at fast food outlets? The retail infrastructure is already in place, and this way motorists and cars can both tank up together. And here is the kicker: Exhaust from a car burning vegetable oil gives off a pleasant French fry smell! Thus the blue ocean scenario is complete.

"

(Via Creating Blue Oceans.)

Fortune Innovation 2005: Blue Ocean Strategy Podcast

Fortune Innovation 2005: Blue Ocean Strategy Podcast: "

In case you weren't able to attend the Fortune Innovation Forum 2005 you can now access a series of podcast interviews with various speakers from the Forum via the Business Innovation 2005 website. The highlight of these interviews is with W. Chan Kim, professor of strategy and management at INSEAD and author of Blue Ocean Strategy.

Site editor Dominic Basulto explains that during the course of the five-minute interview W. Chan Kim:

(1) Provides examples of companies leveraging blue ocean strategies, such as Cirque du Soleil and Southwest Airlines.

(2) Explains a four-step framework for moving from a 'red' ocean of cutthroat competition to a vast, untapped 'blue' ocean where the competition is irrelevant.

(3) Provides insights into how MBA-level strategy courses are taught at INSEAD, Harvard and Wharton.

Download the podcast here.

"

(Via Creating Blue Oceans.)

Creating Blue Oceans: How Simple Can You Get?

Creating Blue Oceans: How Simple Can You Get?: "

Ah simplicity, the spice of life.  But how so?  Simplicity is at the core of Blue Ocean Strategy.  First, in an increasingly complex and turbulent business environment Blue Ocean Strategy distills the strategic challenge into a handful of essential questions, followed by a series of simple, logical steps and a visual platform for expressing strategic intent.  Such simplicity of focus is often a breakthrough eye-opener for executives, who usually see a much more convoluted and blurry picture.

Second, daring to strip away non-essential features and making simplicity itself a primary component of your offering also leads you toward blue ocean market space.  The following article from the November issue of Fast Company entitled ‘The Beauty Of Simplicity’ illustrates this point through specific examples, most notably that of Google’s search engine and Apple’s iPod.

I'm snuggled under the covers with Jon Stewart and the remote. The 'Evolution/Schmevolution' skit is funny, but it's been a long day, and I'm fading fast. The promise of technology is that I'm one click away from slumberland. I hit the power button. The picture disappears, but the TV is still glowing a creepy blue that will haunt my dreams if I don't make it go away. I try the tv button. Nothing. The cable button. Nothing. What the %$*&?? I kick off the blankets and trudge over to turn off the miserable box at the source. I can't help but wonder, as I lie there, now wide awake, how it is that all the things that were supposed to make our lives so easy instead made them more complex. Why is so much technology still so hard?

It is innovation's biggest paradox: We demand more and more from the stuff in our lives--more features, more function, more power--and yet we also increasingly demand that it be easy to use. And, in an Escher-like twist, the technology that's simplest to use is also, often, the most difficult to create.

Continue reading 'The Beauty of Simplicity' here.

"

(Via Creating Blue Oceans.)

Chan Kim interview: Podcast #1

Chan Kim interview: Podcast #1: "

During the FORTUNE Innovation Forum, we had the unique opportunity to go backstage for live interviews with some of the speakers. In this five-minute podcast, W. Chan Kim, a professor of strategy and management at INSEAD and the author of Blue Ocean Strategy (#25 on Amazon's business bestseller list):

(1) Provides examples of companies leveraging blue ocean strategies, such as Cirque du Soleil and Southwest Airlines;

(2) Explains a four-step framework for moving from a 'red' ocean of cutthroat competition to a vast, untapped 'blue' ocean where the competition is irrelevant; and

(3) Provides insights into how MBA-level strategy courses are taught at INSEAD, Harvard and Wharton.

MP3 audio file available for download

EDITOR's NOTE: Check back later today for a downloadable version of the MP3 audio file. (We should have the problem solved by the afternoon - I've already played the MP3 file using RealPlayer on my PC. The total show time is 5:39)

"

(Via Business Innovation 2005.)

One Minute Summaries: 1970 - Up the Organization - Townsend

One Minute Summaries: 1970 - Up the Organization - Townsend: "

• How to stop the corporation from stifling people and strangling profits

• The list of 'no-no's' includes:

• Reserved parking spaces
• Special quality stationery for the chief executive
• Bells and buzzers
• Company shrinks
• Outside directorships and trusteeships
• The company plane

As you view these concepts, share your thoughts with Gabor George Burt, leading expert on Blue Ocean Strategy and Value Innovation, via the email address above. 

1. Which of the concepts do you see reflected in Blue Ocean Strategy, and in what way?
2. Which of the concepts have you applied in your company and with what results?
3. Submit your own One Minute Summary. Our list is by no means definitive.  What concepts do you NOT see on our Best Of list, which do you think deserve a place, and why?

"

(Via Creating Blue Oceans.)

Blue Ocean Strategy and Avant-Guide

Blue Ocean Strategy and Avant-Guide: "

Avant-Guide is a pioneering travel-lifestyle media company whose strategic development is being shaped by Blue Ocean Strategy, under the direct guidance of Gabor George Burt. The latest example of Avant-Guide’s trailblazing, lifestyle-driving products is the recently launched Avant-Guide Communiqué. The Communiqué  is a twice-monthly summary of avant news bits and insider intelligence delivered electronically to top tastemakers around the world. Click here to see a sample, or click here to subscribe.

"

(Via Creating Blue Oceans.)

Being Reasonable: The Blog > Prof. Chan Kim and LAPD Chief William Bratton on Making the Competition Irrelevant

THIS IS A FEED FROM FORTUNE'S ONGOING CONFERENCE ON INNOVATION (1 DEC 2005)

Being Reasonable: The Blog > Prof. Chan Kim and LAPD Chief William Bratton on Making the Competition Irrelevant: "         Wednesday, November 30, 2005 Prof. Chan Kim and LAPD Chief William Bratton on Making the Competition Irrelevant W. Chan Kim, co-author, Blue Ocean Strategy and William J. Bratton, Chief of Police, LAPD at the Fortune Innovation Forum Kim: Don’t think you know better than anyone because of your personal expertise. Made an assumption that, as a professor, I know better. Ever since I wrote the book, I got feedback from readers - they told me what they think is right or wrong. The correspondence gave me pieces of wisdom I had missed. Because I didn’t know better. Blue Ocean Strategy: Red Ocean about competing head-on, win/lose strategy. Blue Ocean about untouched, vast, swimming alone. Most companies practice Red Ocean strategy: beating the competition, exploiting existing demand. Blue Ocean Strategy creates uncontested market space, makes the competition irrelevant, creates and captures new demand. It’s about differentiation and low cost. It’s about value innovation. Cirq"

(Via .)

Business Innovation 2005: The Fortune Innovation Forum is cleared for take-off

Business Innovation 2005: The Fortune Innovation Forum is cleared for take-off: " « The future of the R&D tax credit | Main November 29, 2005 The Fortune Innovation Forum is cleared for take-off Currently, there's less than 24 hours to go before the kick-off of the Fortune Innovation Forum in New York. Should be an exciting event filled with a long lineup of A-list speakers - as well as a stellar list of equally-distinguished participants, some of whom have already contributed original content to this blog. Thanks to the blogosphere, I've already had a unique chance to interface with these individuals and to hear their ideas about innovation in Corporate America. Anyway, I'll be live-blogging the event from New York City's Time Warner Center over the next two days, so if you have photos, blog entries or commentaries that you'd like to send my way, please feel free to contact me during the event. There's already a team of veteran bloggers assembled, ready to post commentary about the event in real-time: as these blog postings enter the blogosphere, I'll try to"

(Via .)