I Want Telescopic Eyesight
When my Grandmother had cataract surgery in the late sixties, it was debilitating, to say the least. She was hospitalized and they kept her in bed for what seemed a very long time. She never really was her old self again. Now a days, that surgery is an out-patient procedure with very little downtime, if any. About twenty years ago, optometrists had to look for something else to bill for. Enter Lasik surgery in all its different types and phases. That worked for a while. In fact, I still get a mailing from my Optometrist about every other month saying that now is the time for me to upgrade my eyes with some sort of surgery so I won't have to wear my contacts. If you wear contacts, you're getting the letter, too. right? OK, I'm a late adopter. My Doc is trying to upgrade me, yes. I certainly won't pay as much for my procedure as the folks twenty years ago, of course. So, if you think about it, you realize they're already thinking of the next step. In my mind, it's not just the next improvement to Lasik surgery. I want to have telescopic vision, just like my digital camera. And I'll bet somebody's working on it. What do you think?
What's happened here is that the eye surgery market has matured over time. Cataract surgery is now very mainstream. Lasik surgery is very mainstream. In order to make the margins they used to make, eye surgeons need to be looking to the next eye improvement like, maybe, telescopic eyesight. Or, they can change their focus to something else that is profitable. Soon (if isn't happening already) nurses will be doing Lasik surgery. The Doc's will need something new.
Geoffrey Moore lays out the whole scenario (Moore, 61). If you look closely, the same type thing is happening to your tech company. After a while, especially if you have an approved medical device, for instance, you focus not on the next new thing but on how to improve your manufacturing process. That's the next step for you if you follow the natural progression from early stage products to later stage manufacturing. Here is the fun part: if you put some effort into your research and development efforts, now, you are able to cycle back to early stage products and re-invigorate your profit margins while you do it. That's the opportunity for you. It's what's happening in eye products. Quit improving your product. Go back and re-think it. When you do, your profits will go up. That's a good thing.
Reference
Moore, Geoffrey. A. Dealing With Darwin. How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution. Portfolio. 2005.