This is the worst possible excuse for killing innovation. In many ways, if you worry about cannibalisation, you are falling into exactly the same trap that makes Net Present Value project evaluation so flawed. Earlier this week, Ralph Ohr and Wim Rampen both pointed me to an article that illustrates this flaw perfectly. The article is called Innovation Killers, by Clayton Christensen, Stephen Kaufman and Willy Shih from the January 2008 edition of Harvard Business Review. They include this diagram:

This shows the problem perfectly. NPV analysis assumes that our current level of performance will remain stable and that is the probable future that is used to evaluate new innovative projects. However, the ‘do nothing’ option does not result in staying at the same level of profit and performance. If we do nothing, our performance will decline. We will be worse off because someone out there is figuring out how to destroy our market. If we try new things, and they work, we might stay ahead of them. If we don’t, they’ll knock us over. There’s no way around it.

This same flawed assumption is being made when people worry about introducing new ideas that will cannibalise their current product or service lines. Of course they will. But again, the do nothing option does not result in ‘everything stays the same’. The do nothing option results in someone else doing the cannibalising.

Halfway through the day, our host said this:

When we compare ourselves to our current competitors, we look pretty good. We’re innovative and ahead of the game. But that’s the wrong comparison. I’m not worried about the people already in our market. I’m worried about the people I’ve never heard of.

Exactly.

The simple fact of the matter is this: we must introduce innovations that take away our current market share. There’s no such thing as a cash cow – if you have a product that is dominating the market, but you’re not innovating around it, it’s not a cash cow, it’s already dead.

Cannibalise your current products. Kill your best performers, or someone else will kill them for you.