Case study notes

Case study questions

Competitor products emerged (generic versions if you like).

To compete, it was necessary to develop the brand. This is something that has not happened.

What else could it do?

All sorts of clothing, shoes, coats, etc. Also, windsurf sales and kite surf sales.

What else could it be applied to?

3. It seems that Gore Associates is heavily orientated towards technology. What are some of the dangers of being too heavily focused on technology?

Myopic views such as not listening to customer views, too focused on technology.

Missing opportunities that may exist, which involve minor changes.

Also, marketing mix considerations need to be considered: price, distribution, promotion, etc.

Can lead to cumbersome slow decision-making.

Can lead to feathering one’s own nest rather than on meeting customer needs.

Difficult and unpopular decisions are avoided, which may lead to more serious problems.

This has been based on developing technology for niche markets and becoming the dominant supplier, often the only supplier of that technology to an industry. This usually leads to growth through further applications of the technology to other industries and other markets. It is a well-trodden path of a technology-push strategy. The strategy is now being challenged by competitors who are entering the markets and offering competing products often inferior but competitively priced. Gore will need to decide whether to try to compete on the price or to develop a brand for which consumers are willing to pay a premium.

CIM has four processes around the outside and the entrepreneur in the middle.

We can try to use this to identify key activities within the innovation process:

Natural sciences cycle

Many innovations are applications of existing technology; in such cases, this part of the framework may not be used. In the Gore-Tex case, the new science is the creation of PTFE, but this was back in the 1960s.

As with so many innovations, this is where most of the technical effort takes place. Gore has spent the past 50 years applying PTFE to many different applications and they keep finding new uses for the technology. The stretching of PTFE to create lots of tiny holes in it led to the breathable membrane – maybe other firms would have seen this as a fault and thrown the technology away. It is the curiosity in the R&D scientists which often leads to new product ideas.

During this phase, the technology is adapted to meet specific needs of customers. In this case, Gore simply provides the fabric in square metres to different manufacturers to incorporate into their products. There is little adaptation of the technology. What is important is the negotiations on licencing and using the Gore-Tex brand. Clearly, Nike, Berghaus and the others would want to use the patented membrane, but once the twenty years of the patent expires they no longer have to buy from Gore and indeed some firms do not. It is interesting that some big brands like Berghaus have their own breathable membrane, which they use in some of their products and they also continue to use Gore-Tex in other products. Clearly, buying the licence is a crucial part of the business model for all concerned.

As Gore is selling business to business, this part of the innovation cycle is limited for Gore, but there would have to be educational effort to explain the product to the end customer. Gore would probably work with its partners, Nike, Berghaus etc., to develop such literature and merchandise.

Sometimes this can be a single individual; in this case, it was the firm W.L. Gore. There may have been a project team involved and there may have been an individual project champion.

Case study notes

This case study explores the world of publishing and examines how a new product in this industry reaches the customer. While many publishers spend enormous sums of money promoting their bestsellers (Bloomsbury and Harry Potter is an obvious example), sometimes little money, if any, is spent on investing in the new publishing products and talents of tomorrow, that is, new authors. In effect, some publishers are simply printing books without the necessary promotion. This case study illustrates that in this relatively straightforward new product there are many factors, some very surprising, that influence the success or not of a new book. The roles of the publisher, the agent, the retailer, the buyer and the critic all influence success in this industry. While all publishers would like to have the next Harry Potter, this case study illustrates that this is unlikely to happen if they do not invest in new product development today.

What is of concern is that, increasingly, publishers are selecting fewer books to promote, and without promotion a book is only being printed. Promotion is an integral part of publishing. Indeed, most dictionaries define publishing as ‘to make widely known’. Printing a book and leaving it piled high in a warehouse is not making it widely known.

The future of publishing depends on new authors. To be innovative, publishers need to nurture and find new talent. This is effectively the research and development of publishing. Without this activity, publishers will soon find they have no new products to sell. Supporting a bestselling author is fine and necessary, but so is uncovering tomorrow’s J.K. Rowling. The case highlights that the market is increasingly dominated by the big retailers, who, understandably, adopt a short-term market pull approach. This leads to fewer titles being promoted and made available (despite increasing titles being printed) and stifles innovation. Consumers are not always able to communicate their needs; frequently, consumers do not know whether they are going to enjoy a story about a child and his wizard-like powers until they have read it.

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