Taiwanese firms' innovation strategies
There are numerous typologies in the literature on innovation and international new product development that attempt to describe what firms do. There's Miles and Snow's (1978) typology: prospector, defender, analyzer and reactor. There is also Merle C. Crawford's (1980) typlogy, which focuses more specifically on firms' innovation strategies:
Inventive: The firm seeks technological leadership vis-à-vis product packaging, positioning etc. It tries to be first to market with the product.
Adaptive: The firm chooses to wait and let others lead, and then to quickly adapt or modify the product. By means of innovative imitation it seeks to be second but best.
Economic: The firm builds strength by producing what others have created, but by doing so more economically. It tries to be the low-cost producer, particularly in the early maturity phase of the life cycle.
Innovative Applications: The firm utilizes established technology, but applies it creatively to new uses.
When looking at these, you'd be tempted to conclude that a firm actively pursuing an Inventive innovation strategy is more "innovative" than firms pursuing other, less-glamorous innovation strategies. Not so: you just have to think of Sony's now-famous Walkman, the outcome of utilizing established technology, but applying it to new uses (Innovative Applications), to see that being innovative often has more to do with using what we have than what we don't have.
So what innovation strategies do Taiwanese firms pursue in multiple country-markets? I interviewed individuals with considerable input into their firms' innovation strategies: There was no particularly common innovation strategy that they perceived their firms as pursuing -- a mixed bag. (What they actually do is another matter of course!)
Other things that became evident while doing this research:
Gaining access to senior individuals in Taiwanese firms is extremely difficult and frustrating (there is a complex, deliberate, superficially benign, protective web/cloud/haze of individuals blocking your way). Be prepared!
None of the individuals I interviewed said that their firms had a formal document that guided their firms' innovation strategies as they operate in multiple country-markets.
No formal innovation strategy? That must cause some heated arguments between the accountants and marketers when trying to develop new products for international markets.
Taiwan
product development
Inventive: The firm seeks technological leadership vis-à-vis product packaging, positioning etc. It tries to be first to market with the product.
Adaptive: The firm chooses to wait and let others lead, and then to quickly adapt or modify the product. By means of innovative imitation it seeks to be second but best.
Economic: The firm builds strength by producing what others have created, but by doing so more economically. It tries to be the low-cost producer, particularly in the early maturity phase of the life cycle.
Innovative Applications: The firm utilizes established technology, but applies it creatively to new uses.
When looking at these, you'd be tempted to conclude that a firm actively pursuing an Inventive innovation strategy is more "innovative" than firms pursuing other, less-glamorous innovation strategies. Not so: you just have to think of Sony's now-famous Walkman, the outcome of utilizing established technology, but applying it to new uses (Innovative Applications), to see that being innovative often has more to do with using what we have than what we don't have.
So what innovation strategies do Taiwanese firms pursue in multiple country-markets? I interviewed individuals with considerable input into their firms' innovation strategies: There was no particularly common innovation strategy that they perceived their firms as pursuing -- a mixed bag. (What they actually do is another matter of course!)
Other things that became evident while doing this research:
Gaining access to senior individuals in Taiwanese firms is extremely difficult and frustrating (there is a complex, deliberate, superficially benign, protective web/cloud/haze of individuals blocking your way). Be prepared!
None of the individuals I interviewed said that their firms had a formal document that guided their firms' innovation strategies as they operate in multiple country-markets.
No formal innovation strategy? That must cause some heated arguments between the accountants and marketers when trying to develop new products for international markets.
Taiwan
product development
Labels: innovation, taiwan
posted by Gordon Graham at 11:10 PM
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