Week 11 Reading Reflection

1)      What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?  

The biggest surprise from the reading was the fact that a lot of prominent companies like Sun and Nokia have a hard time constantly innovating. Much of these companies were at the top of their fields for a while but, I just assume they fell off the wagon because of poor management and better competitors.

2)      Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the use of the word aping. I had to look it up to actually understand what it meant and even longer to fit this unfamiliar word into the article’s flow to understand the author’s direction.

3)      If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Two questions I would like to ask the author are: What occurs when someone copies another’s innovation strategy? The author wasn’t all clear with the consequences of taking another’s strategy. Failure might be likely if so, because of incompatibility yet, in the same industry that risk is lessened. Simply put, I want to know what will happen if I copy my more successful rival’s innovative strategy.

How important is market feedback for an innovative strategy?  Novartis’ absolute shutoff of market data is quite alarming since that is the lifeblood of many a company. If such a large and successful company and get away with not consulting it, is it all that important? Does it actually matter what type of industry you are in and the possibility to substitute certain parts of one’s strategy in favor of genuine technological innovation?

4)      Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

In my opinion, I think the author was wrong about the importance of crowdsourcing. He talked about it in grey terms in which it could both be a boon or a harmful endeavor. Many independent firms have actually began using crowdfunding to create products that have since flourished such as the Oculus Rift that I have next to me. Crowdfunding is by far the future of financing for both independent and well-established companies.