After watching the video and gaining a deeper understanding of exploration and exploitation I feel that it is very hard for companies to successfully engage in both exploration and exploitation. The companies that I feel engage in both are Keurig, and the car industry. Keurig I believe engages in both by expanding to other avenues other than just the coffee K-cups. They now have tea and lemonade as well as other beverages. Not only are their K-cups changing but they are also making coffee makers that can make a whole pot of coffee instead of just a cup. They can make lemonade or tea in large quantities. Also their coffee makers can simply make a cup or pot of hot water. They are exploring other avenues than what they originally went into business for while also continuing to keep and make better their original product. The car industry as a whole I believe has taken on both of these roles as well. While continuing to leave the bulk of their focus on cars that run on fuel they are starting to focus more on cars of the future that run on electric batteries. This fits hand in hand with the“being greenâ€phenomenon that is occurring right now. I believe that by focusing on making the traditional cars that run on gas better, such as offering Wi-Fi on board, Sirius radio, and other advanced features they are keeping cars on the cutting edge of technology while continuing with the original idea for what the car was intended to do. I believe that they are also engaging in exploration by looking into the electric cars that do not use fuel yet still have most of the same features as the traditional cars of today.
The benefits of companies that are able to do both of these things simultaneously is being able to advance in the industry and not be left behind by competitors. By not being left behind you are able to compete and not be obsolete. You are also able to learn what your customers want and by giving them what they want are able to be successful as far as customer satisfaction is concerned. You are also able to keep the original product just continue to make it better as technology advances. Also you are able to bring ideas to the table and create new products or services to bring to your customers and so in this way you are always bringing out new ideas to keep customers happy.
Some companies fail to engage in exploration because they do not try to discover what is new. They are stuck in the mind frame that since they are successful they do not need to change and do new things within the company. By having this state of mind they fail to make the changes necessary to keep them competing with competitors. This leads to them becoming obsolete. Two companies that have failed to engage in exploration and have failed are, Polaroid and Blockbuster. Polaroid failed to stick with the times and did not keep up with the latest and greatest in technology. This made a turn for the worse when pictures of better quality and cameras with greater technology were released. Polaroid continued being successful until they failed to innovate and took success for granted. Blockbuster was another company that failed to make changes with the latest technology. Instead of branching into other avenues such as the DVD and Blu-Ray market they stuck with VHS tapes and ended up out of business because they failed to explore other things other than what they had done for years. They were stuck in the thought process that being as successful as they were, meant they would be successful forever.
The last time I explored or did something innovative was when I came up with an employee satisfaction survey for my boyfriends company to distribute to employees. We seemed to have very high turnover but in a convenient store setting most of the time this is a hard fact of life. Within our twenty stores we had over one hundred employees. It seemed that we could never be fully staffed. This was an issue for us since we paid our employees very well. I came up with an employee satisfaction survey that we could distribute once or twice a year to our employees that asked important and relevant questions. It also had a section for suggestions. We took these surveys and looked at each and every one of them to determine what we could do to better serve our employees. By making several suggested changes we have already seen a decrease in turnover as well as increased employee satisfaction and moral. This was our way of bringing our stores up-to-date with the times while keeping our goals the same for our business.