Question

What is the difference between incremental innovation and radical innovation? Offer one example of a radical innovation. Explain why your specific example illustrates radical innovation.

Answer 1

The key difference between incremental and radical innovation is observed in two key factors. They are time and impact.

In case of incremental innovation, the innovation happens gradually over time. This means from change A to change B to take place, it takes (comparatively) longer time and thus such innovations are often felt to have little to no impact. An example of incremental innovation can be seen men’s grooming technology. If we look at a company like Gillette and see their products over the years, we can see clear example of incremental innovation where the razors changed over the years.

In case of radical innovation, industries experience a drastic change over short period of time. This results in the feeling that the impact is tremendous, even though if it had happened over longer time period we would not feel that way. An example of radical innovation can be seen smartphone markets. The smartphone cameras suddenly have become so mainstream that it has driven the digital cameras (Sony, Kodak, Fuji, Leica, etc.) nearly out of the market. This change has happened only within a decade while the camera companies had survived nearly centuries in the past. This is why it can be considered radical innovation.