Cross Pollination
Innovation Alphabet
Cross Pollination
In a nutshell
Do not fear, we are not in a botany class: cross-pollination is also a valid concept in management. The basic idea is to bring together employees with diverse skills so that they can influence each other through their own, distinctive knowledge and skills. Diversity is a business reality today, but “strength lies in differences, not similarities.”
Application fields
• Same techniques, different industries: Mercedes-Benz has tried to implement in the automotive industry the subscription models applied for years by Telcos for smartphone rentals. The “Mercedes-Benz Collection” is a program that allows subscribers to switch between different types of vehicles depending on their needs or lifestyle.
• Behavioral economics: It is the intersection of psychology and economics. It deals with the influence of psychological, emotional, cultural, and social factors on economic decisions, using the tools available to the psychological sciences. Behavioral economics has introduced the irrationality factor into the economic sciences, previously not considered by classical economics.
• Marketing & Sales: Today this is a combination that is taken for granted, but it should not be forgotten that these are two different departments. The fact is that, by now, they work symbiotically, consequentially: if a marketing team develops messages designed specifically to attract and engage customers, a sales team strives to turn engaged customers into paying customers.
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Industries
• RedBull and GoPro
Two companies that, in 2016, forged a multi-year partnership in terms of content creation, global distribution, and product innovation. Part of the agreement is that Red Bull gets a percentage of GoPro’s profits, and in return, GoPro gets exclusive rights to film Red Bull events.
• Topshop and Stranger Things
In 2017, Topshop turned its flagship store in Oxford Circus into the set of Stranger Things for 11 days, promoting the purchase of clothing inspired by the U.S. television series, with no Demogorgons to prevent it.
• Nike and Apple
Since the early 1990s, these two brands have collaborated to create innovative products, including fitness trackers, fitness apps, and sneakers, combining exercise and technology.
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Check out more of the Innovation Alphabet:
Gamification
Gamification
Gamification is actually adding a game-like element to make more fun and engaging something that’s not necessarily a game. It’s all about turning a task that might be boring or difficult into a more enjoyable and motivating activity. You can also earn points, badges, and rewards for completing certain actions or challenges. Are you ready to play?
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Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence
A smart business means efficiency: Business Intelligence represents the ability to collect up-to-date data, present it in easy-to-understand formats, and deliver it in a timely manner to employees. Making data-driven decision-making and management processes leads to competitive advantage, reduces inefficiencies, and improves productivity and service at all levels.
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Artificial Scarcity
Artificial Scarcity
We often tend to desire what we cannot have. Or what we are in danger of losing: Artificial Scarcity is a strategy that flaunts a limited number of items that do not correspond to actual availability. The goal is to stimulate the perception in consumers that the stock of items is about to run out and thus create a need based on the “fear of being cut off” or the intention to buy the item in order to resell it at a higher price.
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Subscription Model
Subscription Model
A subscription model is a business tool that generates revenue by charging customers a fee at regular intervals. The company provides products or services to subscribers on a subscription basis, usually monthly or annually. In this way, loyalty has become more important than acquiring new users.
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Holacracy & Flat Organization
Holacracy & Flat Organization
A “flat organization” breaks down the traditional hierarchy and removes its negative connotation, while “holacracy” is the business tool that facilitates its formation. Flat organizations place more emphasis on communication and collaboration, aspiring to a distributed decision-making process that gives each employee a voice. But this is a model that is difficult to implement.
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Mass Customization
Mass Customization
Mass customization is an initiative adopted by companies to embrace the increasingly diversified needs of customers. By offering customizable products and services, consumers feel engaged and can bring their creativity into play. Brands gain from this a boost in perceived value and the opportunity to fuel a positive word-of-mouth marketing.
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Coopetition
Coopetition
If you can’t beat them, join them. Coopetition is a business strategy that defines cooperative and competitive relationships between competing companies in the same young or high-growth market. The goal is to travel a stretch of road together to lower initial research and development costs. Once the desired results are achieved, the companies will return to being enemies as before.
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MVP
MVP
To the disappointment of all sports fans, this is not an article about Michael Jordan. In the language of business, MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product and indicates the version of a new product that has enough features to attract customers. In this way, a team can gather the most feedback with the least effort, improve the prototype, and validate its sale.
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Agile
Agile
Agile is an approach to software development designed to respond to change. Teams quickly analyze the context in which they operate, identify uncertainties faced, and figure out how to adapt to always move forward. Interaction between individuals comes before processes and tools; collaboration with the customer is more important than negotiating contracts.
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Bounded Rationality
Bounded Rationality
The best solutions always come to mind when it is too late. This is because human beings tend to make decisions on the basis of satisfaction rather than optimization. Bounded Rationality means that we are unable to think clearly and linearly, we proceed by trial and error and forget all the possible variables that affect the process. But we are also flawed.
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