Page 77 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

64 grow from within

and to help farmers manage the business aspects of
farming more effectively.
4. Customers. Customers are the individuals or
organizations that use or consume the firm’s offerings to
satisfy their needs. Customer innovation involves
discovering new customer segments and/or uncovering
unmet or unarticulated needs. Virgin Mobile USA
became a successful late entrant in the U.S. cellular
services market by focusing on Americans under 30, a
previously underserved segment in the industry. Virgin
offered a compelling value proposition: simplified
pricing, entertainment features, stylish phones, no
contractual commitments, and the irreverence of the
Virgin brand. Within three years of its 2002 launch,
Virgin had attracted more than 4 million subscribers in a
highly competitive market.
5. Customer experience. Customer experience includes
everything that a customer sees and feels while
interacting with a company across all points of contact
and at all moments across the buying cycle. Customer
experience innovation involves rethinking the interface
between customers and the firm. Companies like
Starbucks, Wawa, and Amazon have focused on
customer experience innovation for years. A 2004
BusinessWeek article describes how the design firm IDEO
helped health-care provider Kaiser Permanente redesign
its patients’ experience. Kaiser created more comfortable
waiting rooms, a lobby with clearer directions for
patients, larger examination rooms, and special corridors
where medical staff could collaborate. Kaiser
understands that patients not only need to be treated but
also need to have a better experience as they undergo
treatment.