˟The Over-serving/Under-serving problem of the Incumbents

One of the problems of the current Market (del Incumbents) is that in it, at the same time, the Customers are Over-served and Under-served.

In other words, with current products, Customers are

over-serverved in terms of technical performance,
but they are
UNDER-SERVERD FROM THE POINT OF VIEW
OF THE QUALITIES REALLY USEFUL TO THEM

The problem of the Incumbents is that they, with the over-serving, provide to the Customer, products with features that they need little or nothing (but which are paid for at a high price).

<see From frivolity to sustainability >

 And that, moreover, the same products lack quality that really serve the Customer to solve its real problems.

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An example of over-serving of the product is the Automobile: for most of the time it is not used (by those who do not use it as a work tool). And it is also structured to carry at least 4 people plus luggage.

This of the Automobiles (of the current conception) is the classic case of products offered by the Incumbents that allow Startup to create new Disruptive innovation products that displace their products.

<see A Fork of the Automotive Market >

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The problems of over-serving: the Automobile is therefore paid much more than the service it provides to the Customer (even if it is used to go to work, it is nevertheless parked for at least 8 hours).

But the current Automobile also has other decidedly negative qualities: if I have to move within a metropolis, because of its mass (and the rules to which it is subject) it is not faster than a bicycle. And, nowadays, it’s hard to find a place to park it (while the bike is where I want it).

In the current Market situation the Customer is therefore led to choose offers that allow him to avoid the problems of cost and the negative qualities of the Automobile. That is to choose Disruptive solutions which can be:

● at a first level [not fully disruptive] solutions such as Uber, which allows to save on the cost of the Automobile (among others: purchase, maintenance, fuel, fiscal expenses and insurance), and allows you to avoid looking for a parking space, to go home even when I have drunk, to carry out activities during the journey, etc …

● at a higher level [really disruptive] solutions (based on Web Social networks) that facilitate multi-modal Mobility, the co-ownership of the Car (blockchain contracts, taxes and “pay per use” insurance, devices in the car that allow you to share costs and attribute responsibility for problems, etc.).

And solutions based on urban electric vehicles that exceed the concept of “electrified car”. <see .LiteMotive: the new future of Mobility >

Keep in mind that public transport is not a solution, since it is certainly under-served: in “door to door” movements it takes too long (and often you have to integrate the paths with long stretches on foot).

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The problem of the Incumbents is that they are structured to create over-served products because thanks to the “Advanced Marketing” forms they have thrived in the last few decades “inducing” in the Customers – by leveraging the over-served performance of their products – a purchase of impulse of products that did not have much use for them (the under-serving was masked by an “image” created ad hoc by Marketing).

<see Business problems: the difference between original and current Marketing>

 And so today the Incumbents are not able, due to intrinsic limits to their Companies (mindset, structures, etc.), to change course.

<see The Company Immune System: why the big Companies cannot develop real innovation>

The Incumbents manage to survive by creating protective barriers for their products thanks to “collaboration” of  Public institutions, but always with greater difficulty. And they are attacked by the Follower of the Sustaining Innovation (“Chinese”) and by the Startups of the Disruptive innovation.

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In summary, the customers today choose new generation products because those of the Incumbents are:

● over-served and therefore have problems like: high price, often the “technologies” inserted in the product are difficult to use, the product is dimensioned in a non-functional way to the context in which it is used (for example the current cars in the urban context), etc …

And because they are

● under-served from the standpoint of other qualities. In general it deals with “human qualities” (see the case described by C. Christensen of the Intuit product that worked because it took away the stress of having to think in terms of “payment of taxes”).

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Airbnb is a significant case of overcoming the Over-serving/Under-serving, as most people do not need the quality of the Hotel’s Over-serving (cleanliness, professionalism, etc.) which cost much more than what offers Airbnb. And with this solution they eliminate the Under-serving problem of the Hotels by choosing a solution that allows them to be better in contact with the Culture of the place, makes them feel in a family situation, etc.