The development of an effective measure of innovation and its success or failure is quite murky and tends to be self-serving depending on which interest one has in mind. Innovation, per se, is a messy process i.e. hard to measure and hard to manage (Rigby et al, 2009).
Businesses would naturally measure innovativeness and its success primarily on financials i.e. return of investment (ROI), production cost efficiency (including cost of labor, raw materials and other overhead costs), savings, profitability, appeal to consumers/customers and how appeal is translated to $$$.
The other side of the coin tends to favor the consumers and thus would define measures of innovativeness based on how these new products and services well address a valid consumer hurdle.
In other words, there are two schools of thoughts in measuring innovativeness. On the one hand is commercial viability, on the other hand is consumer relevance. Now, whether one is indispensable of the other is another story.
Having said that, this blog will be a survey of innovative products or services in the market and will try to measure innovativeness from the perspective of the consuming public. This is in line with the goal to champion consumer welfare through marketing innovations.
So, apart from being able to address a valid consumer hurdle, how do we further operationalize or dimensionalize measure of innovativeness from the perspective of the consumer?
From the various literatures I came across, I developed a three-point criteria to measure innovativess of a product or service. These are as follows:
- Newness or novelty. Is the product/service unique? Is there a similar product/service that has been introduced in the market?
- Relevance to consumer. Does this product/service or service address a pressing consumer hurdle? What is the consumer insight behind the product/service? What is the product’s/service’s reason for being?
- Timeliness. Is the product/service ahead of its time? Is the market ready for this kind of product/service?
While these are quantifiable measures, the approach I will be employing will be very subjective. I will be evaluating the product/service through a qualitative review and may employ some consumer interviews and interview with the marketeer should I feel the need to supplement the review with such.
To help us have a better grasp of this framework, let us take Google.com for example.
Case Study: The Google Story
Imagine yourself, surfing the web, looking for some articles on the net regarding your favorite tennis player, Roger Federer? Or maybe, you are looking for the most fancy restaurant to bring your date in Paris? Or it could be as simple as searching for that ravioli recipe you just saw on TV?
We are lucky that along the progress of the internet are several innovations like the introduction of search engines in the like of Google.
Google.com
Google.com is a project of Stanford University students Larry Page and Serge Brin working on the Stanford Digital Library Project (SDLP). The project aims to develop a single technology that will serve as a universal digital library.
Hidden under code BackRub, Page and Brin finally decided to put up the company that is now known worldwide as Google Inc.
Google today is probably the most popular search engine in the world.
So imagine the World Wide Web without Google. How would you collect information regarding Roger Federer in just a single click? How would you be able find that fancy restaurant in Paris or that ravioli recipe you saw on Rachel Ray?
Google.com simply addresses these questions.
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