Thinking inside the box

Photo: Arne Hyckenberg

Then Shalit brought up the woes of KAPRO, a company that makes levels used by carpenters which was losing market share to low cost competitors.

KAPRO needed to add value to their product. And the ingenious solution was to add to the tool other levels that corresponded to angles that plumbers need for example when putting in a bathroom floor so water can run down the drain.

“This is what I call: ‘Thinking inside the box,’ where the innovation is made with available resources within the company. As a result revenues doubled and profits tripled,” says Shalit.

Shalit mentioned other examples of ‘Inside the box’ innovations like Viagra, which was originally designed as a heart medicine, or Zyban, an anti depressant, which became a popular anti-smoking drug.

“The element of luck is important but you can’t count on it,” he says.

One important message of Shalit’s presentation: Don’t listen to your customers. “If Henry Ford had done that, customers would have asked for faster horses,” says Shalit, paraphrasing the famous quote.

Another important aspect of innovation is what Shalit calls ‘multiplication.’

“You need to provoke with a new attribute to add new value,” says Shalit.

Examples: Gilette’s double bladed shaver, Volvo Penta’s marine motors with two propellers on the same shaft, bread loafs with different seed toppings, straws that spray drinks in your mouth, and of course the KAPRO level.

Shalit concludes: “Innovation is about breaking the mental fixedness, focusing, thinking in the box and being systematic by using available resources.”