Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

THE INNOVATIVE ORGANIZATION 349
existing ones. 14 One output was the Blackbird computer for
high - end gaming. A key question used to screen proposals is
whether this product has the potential to fundamentally change
the competitive landscape or create new consumer demand. The
program ’ s target is to develop two new products each year.
Achieving that goal means that many more have to enter the
pipeline. The IPO review board spent about $ 100 thousand on
each of twenty products to get them to the point of getting customer
feedback. Seven of eight proposals will pass to the prototype
stage, four will go from prototype to limited launch, and two
will be commercialized.
Skunk Works
Another tactic is to create or allow a separate organization to
develop a concept. Termed a skunk works , it is a development program
that operates outside the firm, perhaps in a different location,
in order to protect it from a culture and processes that may
inhibit its progress. A skunk works is helpful when a project has
potential, at least in the eyes of some, but cannot get official support
and funding, perhaps because it is off - strategy, it is perceived
as technologically deficient, or the market is considered inadequate.
The firm may tolerate a skunk works with a modest or no
budget.
Tide was developed in a skunk works that operated under
the radar for years. The fl ash memory product, developed at
Intel in the early 1980s with little management support, was
also created in a skunk works. Intel at the time was focused on
funding a different, established memory product and microprocessors,
and they did not believe that fl ash memory had as much
potential, a belief that turned out to be wrong.
The skunk works model has a role to play but should be used
sparingly and when other options are precluded. A skunk works
will often fi nd it diffi cult to access the knowledge, capabilities,
and assets that are spread throughout the organization. Also, it