HBR Innovation: Post #5--Is it Real

Is it Real? Can We Win? Is it Worth Doing? by George Day (originally published in December 2007).  Many companies avoid the risk of taking on major innovative projects. Thus, most corporate innovations (85-90%) are minor and rarely lead to significant growth. However, such an approach may spell stagnation and, worse, irrelevance.   The author has developed a risk matrix chart based on two dimensions—how familiar is the company to the market and how familiar the product is. The gradation on the Y axis about the product is from low to high: “same as the current offerings”; “adjacent to current offerings”; and “new to the company.” The gradation on the X axis about the market is from low to high: “same as present [corporate market]”; “adjacent to present [corporate market]”; and “new to the company.”