Where to Focus our Innovation Efforts

Running Head: WHERE TO FOCUS OUR INNOVATION EFFORTS
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Where to Focus our Innovation Efforts
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WHERE TO FOCUS OUR INNOVATION EFFORTS
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Where to Focus our Innovation Efforts
QUESTIONS:
1. What insights did you gain from reading the responses to this case?
Technological advancement has birthed many uncertainties in the world. It has made it
difficult for marketers to predict what consumers want. Competitive advantage has been a
challenge for organizations to maintain since it is hard to know what their competitors will do.
Businesses should emulate companies that have proven themselves proficient at inventing new
markets and continuously keeping up with the shifting patterns of consumer preferences in
established markets (Prahalad & Hamel, 2006). Getting the big picture of dimensions along
which technology is improving helps managers to understand where to focus their Research and
Development efforts and to anticipate the move of competitors. There are steps involved that can
help an investor in getting the big picture of technology advancements and how they can
prioritize investments. The first step is to identify the dimensions by tracing the history of
technology to date. After researching the past, determine the dimensions affected by each
significant change. If you go further back, it is easy to see the aspects along which the
dimensions have changed. The second step is to evaluate the utility curve for fidelity to avoid
making poor investment decisions. The curve helps investors to notice where there is the biggest
opportunity for improvement. The last step is to evaluate which technology-development
investments to finance to generate high income. After listing the dimensions with the most
significant opportunities for growth, score each aspect in a scale of one to five. The scores should
be categorized according to the importance to customers, room for improvement, and ease for
development.