Start-Ups are out-innovating big companies more than 2-to-1 today. We studied 30 supermarket categories over 4 decades – everything from beverages to hair care. We looked at who developed successful major innovations in each of these categories by decade. Major innovations were defined as $100 million or larger new businesses (in 2010 real dollars).
The results were startling. In the 1970s and 1980s most major innovations came from large companies (with revenues of $2 Billion or more in 2010 real dollars). During the past two decades, an increasing number of innovations have come from small companies and start-ups, while major innovations from large companies declined.
There are a number of reasons for this – the main ones are highlighted in our book, The GameChanger Manifesto. [1]