Nespresso: when the simplicity of the product hides the complexity of the innovation process

One of my favorite questions when I teach innovation is to ask participants how long it took for Nestlé to succeed with their Nespresso coffee machine. So what’s your answer? One year? Five year? Well no. The answer is 21 years! Based on a technology licensed from the Battelle Institute by Nestlé in… 1974, Nespresso only became profitable in 1995 after much ups and downs. 21 years were needed to make a success of the Nespresso innovation.

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Workshop on Innovative business models in the digital economy

On December 18th, the Innovation and regulation in digital services Chair created by Orange, Ecole Polytechnique, and Télécom Paris Tech organizes a workshop on innovative business models in the digital economy: Chinese and European Ways.

The digital economy is now in search of new business models. More and more frequently, new services are offered even if the sustainability of their operation is not ensured: innovators are seeking formulas that will put in front of the production costs of these services, revenue that the market will accept to generate.
Moreover, on activities in increasing numbers, different business models are often tested. We see competition arising between business models: the competition has shifted from services to business models that can make consumers solvent. The innovation concerns now the business models as well as the products themselves. Product innovation, process organization and market design must from now on combine in innovative business models.
This workshop has two aims: firstly, to address innovation in terms of business models, analyze this emerging market of business models, and attempt to characterize the business models involved in the digital economy, and secondly, produce this analysis from two types of markets responding to different logics, the European market and the Chinese market.
This cultural comparison around the business models should provide an interesting field not only for studying the innovation processes at work on business models, but also to better identify structures that could allow their classification.

The workshop takes place in Paris. Registration is free here.