In home building, there are no secrets
from competitors. Competitors see new plans as soon as they hit
the street. They watch construction details as homes are built.
They shop as prospective customers. You share tradesmen. What
possible advantage can you have that can't be copied or even
improved upon by a sharp competitor? None.
There's no question that innovations of
a leading builder will be adopted by others; it's just a matter
of when. The leading builder has a competitive advantage only
during this window of time, then it closes. So if advantages
can't be sustained over the long term, what is the basis for
creating a competitive advantage? This is the home builder's
challenge.
Today's advantage only buys time to create
the next one. While other builders are responding to the latest
innovation, the winning builder is already stepping up to the
next level. A step ahead is all it is. Constantly opening new
windows of opportunity is the only sustainable competitive advantage.
"When product advantages are not sustainable
over time, the winners will be those who create a series of short-term
competitive advantages" reports Jay R. Galbraith in the
book "The Organization of the Future." Winning builders
will move quickly to use their resources to match and surpass
current advantages, including their own.
Creating an organization with the capability
to create a never-ending series of advantages is not an easy
task. A place to start is by recognizing that a builder's business
success rests squarely on their competency to create better innovations,
make more improvements, and implement the changes faster than
other builders. None of these things happen by chance. Nor is
it something that can be turned on when the market turns down
and times get tough.
1995 NHQ Winner Doyle Wilson Homebuilder,
Austin, Texas has a formal Opportunity For Improvement (OFI).
The firm aggressively seeks daily feedback from buyers, contractors,
superintendents and sales representatives, and documents improvement
ideas on a form. Within 48 hours, an idea is assigned to an OFI
improvement team. All employees are trained in working together
as teams, to analyze improvement opportunities, justify a course
of action, and how to put the changes into place. The OFI improvement
process is a routine part of the business that has been repeated
over one hundred times per year for the last four years.
It is management's job to create an innovation
process such as this. Leaders must define innovation as a part
of the company vision and communicate its importance to the organization.
Innovation must be nurtured with training and reinforced with
reward systems. Managers must develop methods to create and capture
innovative ideas, then to deploy teams and resources to put the
best ideas into action. All of these elements go to create a
culture that sustains a builder's competitive advantage.
It's a good sign when your innovations
create enough of an advantage that competitors find it necessary
to copy. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Yes,
you will have an advantage for the time being. But more importantly,
it indicates that you are the winning builder, the one with a
more effective innovation process that can sustain a competitive
advantage and always be a step ahead.