Disruptive technologies force innovation on the incumbents | Nissan Introduces New Dual Injector System
On the arrival of new technologies, incumbent firms are usually slow and unwilling to take notice. For the car industry electric powered cars have been extremely disruptive, no one has been better at jumping on this that Toyota, whereas GM was too busy listening to its core customers to see what was coming and has since paid a high price.
However, on the introduction of new and disruptive technologies incumbent technologies get a breath of fresh air, and are often drained of every single ounce of efficiency before their death. We have seen this type of behavior throughout history, one well documented example wass when steam engines were introduced to the shipping industry, which at the time was sail powered. Over the following years there were great improvements and innovation in sail powered vessels, until the efficiencies and cost associated with steam gave steam powered vessels the competitive edge.
In this example, the conventional gasoline engine gets a dose of innovation through the development of a dual injector system. The new injector system improves the fuel efficiency of the engine by 4% and also reduces the need for rare metals by up to 75%, what this means is an overall cost reduction of 60% in comparison to similar engine types. Quite impressive!
These latest innovations are part of the "Blue Citizenship" initiative of Nissan to protect our blue planet and be a better corporate citizen, one I believe all companies should be aiming towards. There are great benefits for organizations and the like focusing on more sustainable innovations.
Anyone have any other examples?
