The Psychology Of Innovation

With new product failures exceeding successes, is it surprising that the rate of failure is not declining over time? As innovators, are we learning from our failures? John T. Gourville, of the Harvard Business School, may have part of the answer. He argues convincingly that the answer may be the psychological costs created when new products force consumers to change their behavior. Essentially, he argues that new products must not only provide a significant perceived benefit (i.e.- less costly, faster, stronger, etc.) but also provide minimal behavioral change.

An illustration of this idea is the differnce in adoption between the dishwasher and the microwave oven. The microwave reached 60% household penetration in 15 years while the dishwasher required almost half a century. The behavioral change from using a conventional oven to using a microwave oven (i.e. -open door, press button and cook) was minimal compared to the change in behavior required to use dishwasher.