Certainly the increase in external pressures upon any firm such as competition or a declining demand for its products suggests that something needs to be done as quick as possible so that a counterattack could be possible. This is certainly when disruptive innovation comes into action, and as it can be seen in the article Britannia industries will employ it on its biscuits and their distribution. Indeed important as they account a total of 85% for the business earnings.
It is also very important to highlight that Britannia Industries before doing or developing any business strategy such as innovation, they had to make sure that what they had and what they were employing their resources at the moment was not a factor of concern. This is why being aware of costs became not a big part of the task but an important one because by this means their target or strategy would be better acquired or developed. When this was set in place it comes what really made the drastic change from 20% decline to 7% and what is believed is going to turn the numbers positive.
Disruptive innovation, it was essential after years of providing the customers with the same exact product with no or little changes. It is very interesting that just as Britannia Industries most of the big firms do not invest the sufficient on research and development with the excuse that their product won’t go away quickly because there is no close substitute or an actual existing and dangerous competition to it, and they only take action when these pressures actually get them. Returning to topic the changes not in brands but actual products will make customers want to try them, experience their different design and tastes compare to those of the competition. Essentially this plus the modifications in channels of distributions now reaching rural areas that were not reached before.
Essentially as everything else there are some drawbacks like the fact that the expected big profits from this new innovations will not come that fast but instead take more time as new markets and customers are being experimented.
Bibliography:
Buhshan, Ratna, and Chaitali Chakravarty. “We Have a New Culture of Competitiveness Now: Varun Berry, Britannia Industries.” The Economic Times. N.p., 2 June 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.