Innovation is hard work, but it’s also important to have fun along the way.  It’s in the spirit of combining hard work and fun that we decided to create the Myutiq Innovation Word Game. We’ll use this game to explore innovation in multiple ways through the use of words.  So, I took a walk this morning and came up with 25+ words.  That seems like a good start. Whether we’ll play weekly or more frequently is yet to be determined… but come back from time to time and engage with us about the meaning and opportunity behind our innovation word game.

Today’s word:  The first word I’ll throw out is commodity. Ha – the exact opposite of innovation!  But even great innovations move toward commodities over time.

Definition:  The definition of commodity, from a search on wikipedia:

A commodity is a good for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market.

Word Thoughts: The key here is “without qualitative differentiation”.  Keeping tuned in to the value customers place on your products and services and proactively evolving your value-adds is how you maintain qualitative differentiation.  Take a hard look at what’s happening in your company today, and ask yourself:  Are customers going out of their way to do business with you? Do you find your company often competing primarily on price? If the answer is no to the first question and/or yes to the second, that’s a clear sign you need to work aggressively on your value-adds or you risk becoming a commodity business.

Word Game Exercise: To test your level of differentiation, or how close your business is today to becoming a commodity business, answer these questions:  Within the last six months, have you had to reduce pricing on your products (even if it’s “promotional”) to maintain market share?   How many contracts within the last six months did you have to compete primarily on price?  If you’re finding yourself competing on price more than 50% of the time, you have work to do.