Myth 1: Growth and innovation needs a lot of investment to be done right

Substantial investment is not essential for success. Recall Quibi, a company that went from raising a great deal of money to irrelevance in a very short period of time. Their goal was to disrupt Netflix by optimizing micro content mobile devices. And yet, equipped with an experienced executive team from eBay and Disney, along with a budget of 1.75 billion US dollars, Quibi failed.

The mistake? They didn't distinguish between ‘Explore and Exploit’. In innovation you can't pick the winners. What you do is you create the conditions for winners to emerge.

Let’s contrast this with a success story: Laurastar. Laurastar is a Swiss company specializing in high-end steam irons. By embracing Strategyzer's approach of investing in multiple ideas through exploration and iteration, Laurastarr invested in three teams to explore potential value propositions and business models in parallel. Three different potential business models were tested to result in the most viable one.

By focusing on health and mass-market distribution, Laurastar created Iggy, a handheld device that not only steams clothes but also purifies fabrics. The key to their success was not an exorbitant budget — it was a business model shift.

Myth 2: Growth and innovation requires R&D or technology

Tendayi Viki challenged this prevailing belief. He presented research findings that revealed a consistent zero correlation between R&D investment and returns over nearly two decades.

Innovation goes beyond technology or product advancements. Instead, it's about creating value for customers and the company through strategic business model innovation. By shifting their business model to focus on emerging customer needs, Laurastar exemplified how businesses can achieve innovation success without relying solely on technology.

The conversation also addressed misconceptions surrounding intellectual property protection in business model innovation. While intellectual property has its place, the emphasis should be on delivering value to customers rather than solely protecting ideas. You really need to think about how you're making products people want. However, success extends beyond simply creating desirable products. Crafting a robust business model is crucial for sustained profitability. Many companies excel in product creation but falter in value creation, delivery, and monetization. For SMEs, business model innovation isn't about new groundbreaking inventions, but finding the right business model for their product.

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“At Strategyzer, we believe that business model innovation is the biggest unexplored possibility for large and small companies because very few people master it.”

Alex Osterwalder

CEO and co-founder of Strategyzer

Myth 3: Innovation is harder in SMEs

Attendees highlighted the advantages of SMEs, such as agility, speed, and closer customer connections. The discussion emphasized the critical role of leadership support, organizational design, and innovation practices in fostering a culture of innovation within SMEs. Real-world examples showcased the effectiveness and enthusiasm found in smaller, family-owned companies, demonstrating that SMEs are well-equipped to drive innovation when supported by the right culture and focus.

Designing an exploration culture

Through their experience with many organizations, The Culture Map has helped Tendayi and Alex identify the three key characteristics that drive how well an innovation culture can actually manifest.

• Leadership support: organizations need to provide innovators with a lot of support in terms of leadership so that they can actually do the work. Large companies have limited access to decision-makers.
• Organizational design: The level of hierarchy and structure in an organization, and the way the key functions collaborate. As you may have experienced, large companies can be filled with bureaucratic hurdles, in some cases restricting close customer connections.‍
• Innovation practices within the company

SMEs have superpowers

By leveraging these superpowers of less hierarchy, easy access to decision-makers, and closer connections to customers, SMEs can drive impactful innovation. In this webinar, ​​Alex shed light on Strategyzer's commitment to democratizing innovation.

Our mission is clear: to dispel the myth that innovation is solely the domain of large companies and make it accessible to all through affordable program licenses. Recognizing these budget constraints of SMEs compared to their larger counterparts, Strategyzer now offers affordable programs designed for SMEs.

Strategyzer is here to help you with tools and insights to not just deal with these challenges but turn them into opportunities for innovation success. Think of us as your trusted guide in the world of corporate strategy and innovation.

We hope you gained some interesting insights from this discussion. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter below to stay up to date on future events.