Design-Driven Innovation: Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically Innovating What Things Mean

Author:Verganti, Roberto [Verganti, Roberto]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
Published: 2009-08-11T14:00:00+00:00

Companies in Other Industries

Among the most interesting interpreters in the design discourse are companies in other industries that address the same life context that a firm is targeting. In citing Artemide, I mentioned other companies that also look at how people live in their homes, including manufacturers of furniture, TV sets, audio systems, personal computers, and game consoles, as well as broadcasting firms.

In the bicycle industry, interpreters from other industries might include manufacturers of sport apparel, portable music players, and street food; music producers; and firms providing wireless services and tourist services. These companies are not competing with bicycle manufacturers. However, all are conducting research on how people live, move around, and work out in the streets, and all help create people’s outdoor experiences.

Every company, in any context, is surrounded by these kinds of interpreters. When we want to develop design-driven innovations, therefore, an interesting question is, What other companies in other industries are targeting the same people in the same life context? Which kinds of other products or services are these people using, or could they use? All these interpreters have some knowledge of the meanings and languages we are investigating. And they would probably be eager to share it and to understand our interpretations, as they confront the same problems and have the same interests.

Philips, for example, has developed several collaborations with firms in other industries, such as Artemide, Alessi, Cappellini (furniture), Levi Strauss, Nike, Douwe Egberts (coffee), and Beiersdorf (personal care). These collaborations, which can take the form of workshops, concept products, or even products launched in the market, allow Philips to explore breakthrough opportunities, exchange insights, and test its vision with companies that it esteems as forward-looking interpreters.11

Developing a scenario with noncompeting firms also makes it more likely that a coherent way of living will occur in the market, because the actors will create products and services that fit together both functionally and symbolically.

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