Instructor ’ s Manual : Powell Flutes

Students often see innovation or creativity as beyond them. No doubt many educators hear “I’m not creative” or “I don’t know how to come up with ideas” from their students. This manual explains how the case can help students innovate by (1) articulating the need or problem, (2) plumbing the depths of personal experience, (3) staying focused on the objective and (4) assuming away obstacles. While this is a practical approach, Clayton Christensen’s concept of “disruptive innovation” provides some theoretical context that is interwoven in the case. Questions for discussion are posed along with brief answers offered by the case.


Subjects
This is an interdisciplinary case and could be used in a general management course. It would also be appropriate for: • Operations: How to achieve technological innovation in a stodgy industry producing a device that impacts the production of art; • Marketing: How to identify and quantify customer needs and understand a product's value equation, the establishment of a "fighting brand" and how to use technology and operations to address market opportunities; • Entrepreneurship: How to innovate products and technology in an arts industry where the art itself places constraints on innovation.

Learning Objectives
Through this case, students will gain knowledge about an approach to innovation that shifts emphasis from the natural tendency of incremental thinking to conceptual breakthroughs. Further, they will begin to understand that innovation is available to them based on their personal experience and maintenance of an open mind, while always keeping focused on the objectives, not the obstacles. Obstacles will eventually be Journal of Arts Entrepreneurship Education 3(1), 2021 overcome by working backwards from the desired results.

Theory Discussion
Clayton Christensen formalized the concept of disruptive innovation in the early 1990s.
In the December 1995 issue of Harvard Business Review, Christensen, along with Michael E. Raynor and Rory McDonald, reviewed and updated the concept. 1 They wrote: Disruption describes a process whereby a smaller company with fewer resources is able to successfully challenge established incumbent businesses. Entrants that prove disruptive begin by successfully targeting…overlooked segments, gaining a foothold by delivering more-suitable functionality-frequently at a lower price. Incumbents, chasing higher profitability in more-demanding segments, tend not to respond vigorously…When mainstream customers start adopting the entrants' offerings in volume, disruption has occurred.
Graphic models are available that demonstrate Christensen's work. For example, Julia Kylliäinen published a blog article detailing the "Innovation Matrix." 2 On the Y axis, Kylliäinen suggested that an innovative product is either incremental or radical, and on the X axis an innovation is characterized as either sustaining or disruptive to a market.
Here is my interpretation of that matrix: In the flute world prior to Powell's introduction of its Sonaré brand, incumbent businesses generally offered either a professional flute or a student flute. A few companies, such as Yamaha, offered both, and many of the student flute makers offered what is referred to as a "step-up" flute, an instrument priced between the student and professional models. The bulk of the market was in the student and professional segments; the step-up market was trivial in comparison. Both student and step-up models were typically offered with student-quality headjoints, and professional flutes were offered with hand-cut, high-quality headjoints. 3(1), 2021 In 2003, Powell recognized that the value equation for the flute headjoint was extremely strong, whereas the value equation for the flute body was weak. Based on this insight Powell introduced its Sonaré model by marrying a professional headjoint to a student flute. This new hybrid instrument disrupted the step-up market. While Powell's pricing was slightly higher than existing step-up flutes, its primary competitive advantage from this innovation was higher value-a better-quality product offered at a competitive price. Powell's radical product conception greatly expanded the step-up flute market. When 12 competitors copied Powell's innovation and began to cut into Powell's market share, this confirmed the disruptive nature of Powell's hybrid flute according to Christensen's definition above.

Journal of Arts Entrepreneurship Education
Because flutists spend years learning how to play their instrument (how to blow transversally across the headjoint, where to place fingers on keys, etc.), a radicallydisruptive product may not look like a traditional flute and would likely be rejected by flutists. An example of just such a disruptive product is a music synthesizer that creates the sound of a flute electronically. While it is serviceable in certain conditions, it lacks the sonority and range of a traditional flute. Scores for movies and Broadway shows have been performed with a synthesizer replacing the flute, but music unions have strenuously fought against this type of substitution.
An earlier characterization of innovation (authored by Rebecca M. Henderson and Kim B. Clark) distinguished architectural from modular innovation. 3 They defined modular innovation as "innovation that changes only the core design concepts of a technology." They regarded this as distinct from architectural innovation, which they defined as "the reconfiguration of an established system to link together components in a new way." In the Powell flute case, the piccolo with stainless steel keys would be an example of modular innovation since the basic piccolo design was unchanged. The tube was the same design and dimensions as it was before, and the keys performed the same function in the same position. What was different was the keys' material. The change to stainless steel resulted in keys that would not tarnish, an art deco aesthetic and keys that were stronger so that they stayed in adjustment longer.

Epilogue
Powell's qualitative position in the professional flute market came to the attention of a French clarinet company acquiring leading brands of wind instruments. In 2016, I sold Powell Flutes to Buffet Crampon, the world's leading maker of clarinets. Buffet discontinued the stainless steel keyed piccolo, which had a negligible impact on sales and was at best a breakeven proposition. To replace this model, Buffet developed a piccolo using proprietary technology to produce a resin-infused body with keys produced in China. It is now sold under the Sonaré brand. Using Buffet's strong, worldwide distribution system, Sonaré sales increased. They maintain the close relationship to a single supplier of flute keys in China.

Further Reading
Operations