Turning a new technology into successful industry leadership over a growing number of customers requires continuing business model innovation. This article spells out some of the things to look for.
Many business leaders and engineers look for the potential for higher performance by solving problems with new technologies. At first, only technical achievements occur. Finally, practical benefits become available.
At that point, adventuresome customers begin to toy with the results. Many have small applications.
But the bulk of potential customers are skeptical and want to see more proof.
Many promising technologies stall at this point. How can more progress be made? It usually takes a different business model. Let's look at an example.
In 1991, TriQuint Semiconductor had learned how to make high quality, low cost gallium arsenide semiconductors, which was an emerging technology in the electronics industry.
The company made major strides beginning in 1991 to improve its business model: Expertise was bolstered in that year by having merged together three pioneering firms in the field, Gazelle Microcircuits, Gigabit Logic, and TriQuint. But there were still few established uses for this new technology.
Rather than try to provide for all potential applications, the company decided to specialize in two applications, high performance wired optical networks and wireless communications. For optical networks, TriQuint looked at how to speed up traffic. For wireless communications, TriQuint anticipated that the new, higher frequencies that regulators made available would require better electronics to provide clearer signals.
This dual focus led TriQuint to become the leader in applying its technology to those applications. Developing knowledge about the end market issues was critical to TriQuint's success because these circuits are designed to optimize certain kinds of communications performance. By being the first to focus on many of these problems with its technology, the company was able to make quick progress in learning and creating products that provided helpful solutions.
This example is a good model for what many technologists must do:
1. Specialize in one or two applications where there is high potential for benefits and lots interest among potential customers, where success will enable you to apply effective expertise into other large applications.
2. Add the expertise needed to understand what's needed for those applications.
3. Learn everything you can about what must be done from the customers' perspectives before they will want to use your offerings.
4. Develop new offerings in conjunction with your most enthusiastic customers.
5. Have continuing conversations with less enthusiastic potential customers to find out how their needs differ.
6. Continually explore what business model adjustments are needed to succeed in the initial target applications and future, related ones.
Copyright 2008, Donald W. Mitchell All Rights Reserved
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