By Roberto Perez-Franco
While it is true that supply chains are key for sustained innovation in a company, it is also true that all innovations are not the same. A given supply chain can work perfectly for developing and launching a given innovative product, and yet—if applied like a cookie-cutter—the very same supply chain can spell disaster for a different innovative endeavor.
To illustrate this pitfall, let’s look at the fictionalized predicament of a company that we will call PixelArtist when it tried to expand into the wearable electronics market. As a first-rate innovator with a legendary supply chain, the success of PixelArtist’s expansion seemed all but guaranteed. But the company stumbled when it tried to apply an established supply chain strategy to the new venture.