SLU Innovative Ideas Campaigns Active Learning Discussion

Adrianna is the CEO of a luxury office furniture company, Luxury Designs. The company purchases and manufactures its own furniture and has been in business for over forty years. However, over the past five years, sales have been steadily declining. Adrianna is leading a meeting with top management to discuss possible innovation solutions. She believes that the company is not doing anything “radical enough” to deal with the current market for office furniture (DuBrin, 2019).  Adrianna also mentions that many businesses are transitioning to more “open office” plans and are no longer interested in luxury furniture items for their space. Seth, the director of new product development, advises that he and his team are working on some new and exciting designs to help pull consumers back in. Adrianna then suggests that the company needs a “disruptor,” in other words, something that totally rattles and changes the game for the industry. For example, smartphones disrupted landlines, Uber and Lyft disrupted taxi companies, etc (DuBrin, 2019). Diane, the CFO, suggests, “Maybe we should run a one-time disrupter campaign, and pay a big bonus for the best idea. We have to figure out how to encourage a few disrupters” (DuBrin, 2019). While Adrianna appreciates this idea, she believes the company needs to go beyond a one time ploy to sustain business and bring customers back (DuBrin, 2019). 

What do you recommend that leadership at Luxury Designs do to facilitate having a disrupter within the company?

I think Diane’s idea was a solid one. Collecting ideas from other members of leadership or the team could prove to be very beneficial in designing this disruptor. Perhaps gathering input from previous customers could also be helpful in ensuring Luxury Designs breaks through the market. If the wheels continue to turn without any major progression, bringing in an outside designer or an outside source to help with innovation may assist in getting some fresh eyes on the situation. 

What thought should Adrianna and the other members of the leadership team at Luxury Design give to going beyond the confines of the office furniture industry in order to be a disrupter?

Going completely out of the norm may be beneficial and may be successful in bringing in customers. However, if the team goes outside of their product, they will no longer be “Luxury Designs.” They will be a new company with a new product. If that is the goal, by all means, the team should go for it. From reading the case, it does not sound like the leadership team is looking to completely overhaul the entire company and the products it sells. There is also a possibility that this idea will completely backfire. They could seek to manufacture their “disruptor” product and could end up losing more business. If this happens, Adrianna and her colleagues could be facing an even bigger problem than the current one. It’s a major risk and one that should be heavily discussed before moving forward.

In what way is this case about creativity and innovation?

This case is completely about creativity and innovation. The company is slowly losing money and the initial thought is to come up with a product that puts Luxury Designs back on the map. In order to do this, it requires the entire team to be creative and think outside of the box. Without any sort of creativity, the company will likely continue to decline. I hope Adrianna takes into consideration the creative minds of everyone within the company, rather than just the leadership teams. Often times, the best ideas come from those who are working in the field daily. The more creativity, the better in this situation.