When I studied Marketing many years ago, we looked as case studies of some of the steam train and gas light companies that had become obsolete, almost overnight, with the advent of electricity.  Of course we also examined those that reinvented themselves and became a continued success. These days there are entire masters degrees dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship, but back then we used these case studies to challenge our  thinking about keeping company offerings relevant, valuable to the clients, sustainable, and of course, profitable. 

I was reminded of these case studies recently when I visited a highly innovative company that has shifted its focus and kept itself not only relevant but thriving after twenty years.

The Managing Director of this company showed me around his facility, where he proudly demonstrated how the business had changed from a small, cottage printer, to now providing services to four niche markets, mostly in Australia. His goal for the future is to further expand his markets and services and to have his product distributed around the globe – and the business certainly seems to be on track for this.   Most of the services it provides leverage the business’ foundation and experience in printing, in particular, the move to digital printing. Hence many of their offerings are digitally based or supply products and services for those operating digital machines including computers and photo labs.

Innovation has meant that this company is more sustainable, with more growth and with much less competition. This dynamic environment also means it’s a place great people want to work.

Are these not good reasons to be innovative?

One of the things I uncovered in talking with the managing director is his belief that achieving individual and company objectives requires a clear standard of employee character, conduct and behaviour. This company calls these the rules of the game”.  It has a list of around 30 rules of the game” which impact significantly on the way the company d"s business. The rules” set expectations and guidelines for what is important in day to day work interactions with one another, with clients and with business partners.  The rules” cover topics such as innovation, fun, commitment to action, courage, continuous improvement and truth.  They are a mix of values and behaviours which each and every member of the team signs up to when they join the company.  The company also has a rigorous culture of accountability with a mixture of KPI's, performance appraisal and customer and employee surveys to track progress on these rules”.  Most importantly, the managing director sees the rules” being used by all as a basis for making decisions.

I started this article focusing on innovation and you may wonder why I am now talking about rules: this is because it’s the ‘rules’ (or expectations and guidelines) - call it culture-­ that allow the company to be innovative and entrepreneurial.   

The Key Learnings

Several things struck me about why this company is successful:

1.      Outwardly Focussed

The company is outward-looking for opportunities.

Many companies focus internally on productivity and quality - this is not necessarily a bad thing, (far from it), but on its own you soon run out of scope to improve. Also, clients care more about what you can do for them and less about your own productivity gains. This company is ever vigilant about finding opportunities in the marketplace.  The managing director stresses that they are not afraid to ask for new product ideas.  They ask their customers, suppliers, (and yes), competitors and companies in similar industries overseas.  It has its own Research & Development Laboratory where investment is made in the development of new products and the enhancement of its current suite of products and is relentless in the pursuit of innovation and improvement.

In case you think that everything they touch turns to gold, let me set you straight: senior management understands that only one in ten well-thought out products will be successful, so they have the philosophy that when it’s appropriate it’s important to learn from the project, scrap it and start work on something else. 

They understand that striving to be perfect and being afraid of failure are bigger risks than daring to take a chance and through chance, sometimes striking gold!  

2.      Providing Solutions not products

This company is not product driven, but solution driven. In each of their niche markets, it d"sn’t just offer a product, it offers a complete solution. 

This d"s not mean a simple up-selling to a range of other products, (which other suppliers also stock) – it means far more.  Let me give you an example.  A customer may outsource a large volume print and postage function to this company.  Often the electronic transfer of data from one organisation to another (with very different systems) can prove very tricky. This group, however, work with their clients and often even write and install software that ensures the seamless downloading of the data from their customer files onto their system. 

Another aspect of their solution is that they offer the customer options and they order to suit their systems.

One of the most important aspects of the solution,” says the managing director, … is that we provide the customer with control over the product so that ordering suits the customer and the solution delivery is consistent.” 

Return to the homepage