This is a long but worthwhile post from a VC taking aim at the overuse of the word ‘disruption’ when it’s linked to strategy. About half way down the piece is a quote which is worth repeating. It’s from an HBR article written by the former president of PepsiCo:
…most of PepsiCo’s major strategic successes are ideas we borrowed from the marketplace–often from small regional or local competitors.
For large companies that find it hard to innovate internally, it’s worth keeping an eye on smaller ones that are more nimble.
Constantly scanning innovation both in your sector, and in adjacent sectors, is a valuable capability but one that very few organisations invest in. I recall that Texas Instruments used to employ a guy called Gene Frantz who described his role as looking for lunatics within TI with ideas that could spark new directions for the company.
Back to the article that sparked this post – it goes on to close with another great original quote:
Without a strategy you might predict the market and the technology exactly and still lose to someone who does have a strategy.