Innovation and Failure

Dave Rolenc

• 2 min read

   Innovation is important to society, routinely improving quality of life. Many innovations that seem like good ideas often fail to gain momentum. Innovative products can fail for the most seemingly apparent reasons, reminding us that innovation alone does not guarantee success. Market demand, price point, and other factors can overshadow the innovative nature of a product.

The Segway

  The Segway is a two-wheeled self-balancing scooter developed by Dean Kamen (Sloane, 2012). Kamen forecasted a sales rate of 10,000 scooters per week but instead sold 24,000 total in the product’s first five years on the market (Schneider & Hall, 2011). What went wrong?

The Segway - Source (Sloane, 2012)

Where's the Market?

   One problem with the Segway was that it did not solve a problem or pain point (Sloane, 2012). Instead, it was a clever and innovative novelty with little supporting infrastructure for parking or charging and with a market unwilling to pay the $5000 price tag for that novelty (Sloane, 2012). Any innovation needs to have a market for it to be successful. The Segway simply did not have an excited market ready to pay for it, so it failed despite the innovative nature of the technology.

Force 1-Social

   When society does not view an innovative product as essential to purchase, it will be hard for it to succeed. A good sociotechnical plan considers the technology involved and how to address any social roadblocks to widespread acceptance.

Force 2- Political

   A new and innovative product may not make sense without political support for infrastructure changes. For example, there are plenty of gas stations and roads to support traditional gas-powered vehicles. Electric vehicles will have difficulty overtaking traditional vehicles until the infrastructure supports them as conveniently as traditional vehicles.

Conclusion

   Bringing innovation to the market requires market research to determine whether people see the product as essential to solving a problem or pain point. The Segway failure may have been predicted earlier by developing the product with less secrecy and doing more basic market research.

References

Schneider, J., & Hall, J. (2011). Why most product launches fail. Harvard Business Review, 89(4), 21-23.

Sloane, P. (2012). A lesson in innovation - Why did the Segway fail. Innovation Management, 5.