Have you ever noticed that products that used to be cutting-edge (and really expensive) inevitably seem to evolve into every-day items that compete on price? Think about how novel DVD players were a few years ago. Now, anyone can pick one up at a retail store for well under $100.

Commoditization is a challenge every product seems to face, and nowadays even service industries face the risk of commoditization, as well. Once-novel products, services, and experiences, over time, become copied, reinvented, and repackaged, to the extent that the novelty or innovative aspect loses its power... and thus, the associated price premium.

So how does an organization avoid its offerings becoming commodities? The answer is in creativity and constant innovation. Recently Fortune magazine highlighted this concept in its article Stay Globally Competitive: Be like Google, using Google as an example for leveraging creativity to avoid commoditization. Fortunately, the article offers that creativity (even in an organizational sense) can be learned. That's good, because innovation as an organizational need isn't going anywhere soon.

PS - As a bonus read, check out The Experience Economy for more insights on avoiding commoditization. Happy reading!

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