By Vasundhara Jain
Why is a pen in the form as we see it today, the dominant design? This particular tool is so omniscient in our daily lives that we do not even bother to question at its dramatic emergence when it came to the fore and replaced the humble quill entirely. The pen was invented in the early 1800s but developed to its current dominant form in the late 1800s. Prior to that, the market was in a chaotic state and jumping from one product to the other from the animal skin and cured quill to the reed pen and then the last in the hierarchy, the quill pen. The fountain and the ballpoint pens replaced the metal quibs from the 19th century in the 20th century (Williamsburg, 2007). In their book, Fast Second, authors Constantinos C. Markides and Paul A Geroski propose that a product, to reach the status of being the dominant product in the market has to be reasonably priced, not be so over-burdened with features that its price viability is compromised, and fit easily into the consumers lifestyles.
On the contrary, the path to becoming the dominant design of a particular product or service, there are products that meet with a lot of resistance. According to James Utterback in his work The Dynamics of Innovation, strong competitors resist innovative threats and also avoid adapting to the futuristic vision of the new products, sticking to the comfort zone of their older technologies. Indeed, even those innovations, which would make-work more efficient, are resisted, as they would make the pioneers of the older technologies obsolete. The emergence of Internet and online processes brought about its introduction to the banking sector in India in the early 1980s. This up-gradation was widely resisted by the traditional banks strong employees unions that feared that the new technology would render them unnecessary and useless, as they did not possess the requisite skills to effectively fit in the new system. However, consistent efforts made the internet technology the prevalent dominant form of back-office work and data storage, replacing a major portion of file and paper-work and leading to inventions of new banking processes.
The following graphical depiction draws attention as it adds the dimension of patenting to innovation diffusion, with particular reference to pharmaceutical drugs. Patenting gives innovators the incentive to invent as their inventions would be paid off for certain. However, post the constricted diffusion process, when the product enters the competitive market, it faces the market forces of price, brand name and customer loyalty.
Source: Innovation Management and New Product Development by Paul Trott
Therefore the advent of a product to the status of becoming a dominant design in the industry is not dependent on its innovativeness and advancement in features alone. It maybe technologically advanced, but would have to capture the interest of its stakeholders and affected parties. It maybe a monopoly product initially, such as pharmaceutical drugs, but in a competitive environment, each innovative product has to prove its usefulness and viability.
Vasundhara Jain is currently pursuing Masters in Economics at the University of Warwick, UK. She has interned at the State Planning Commission MP, where she specifically studied how the banking system met the growth needs of the state. She has volunteered in different capacities at several NGOs, including ones for development of underprivileged children, and for HIV+ and rehab-seeking residents. . Her further interests including traveling, writing and playing squash. She blogs at www.vasujain.com, and can be contacted at vasu@vasujain.com.