Module 14•Unit 3 of 5•12 min

Enhancement vs. Distinct Value

Not all opportunities are created equal. A crucial distinction separates two very different kinds: Attribute Enhancement (AE) and the Distinct Value Opportunity (DVO). Confusing them leads teams to pour effort into small gains while breakthroughs pass them by.

Attribute Enhancement

Improving an attribute customers already value and measure - faster, cheaper, lighter, longer-lasting. It moves you further up the current S-curve. Necessary and incremental, but it competes head-on with everyone else on the same dimension.

Distinct Value Opportunity

Offering a new dimension of value that did not exist on the old scorecard - changing the very basis of competition. It starts a new S-curve and can create a whole new market. This is where breakthrough and category-defining innovation live.

Why the DVO is the prize

Attribute enhancement keeps you in the race; a distinct value opportunity lets you change the race. Because a DVO competes on a dimension rivals are not even measuring, it can escape crowded competition entirely. But DVOs are harder to see - they almost always come from unarticulated or latent needs, not stated ones.

AE or DVO?

Classify each opportunity, then reveal the reasoning.

Making a phone’s battery last two hours longer

The first smartphone replacing buttons with a full touchscreen and app store

A razor with a sixth blade instead of five

Netflix shifting from mailing DVDs to instant streaming

Discuss

Look at your current roadmap. How much of it is attribute enhancement (better versions of the same thing) versus genuine distinct value? Is the balance right for your ambitions?

Try this at work this week

Sort your next five planned features into AE and DVO. If all five are AE, you are optimising the current S-curve while a competitor may be building the next one. Ask what a distinct value opportunity would look like for you.

Sources

Global Innovation Institute (GInI), Foundations of Innovation - Attribute Enhancement vs. Distinct Value Opportunity.
Christensen, C., The Innovator’s Dilemma, 1997.
Kim, W.C. & Mauborgne, R., Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005.

Unmet vs. Unarticulated Needs

Latent Needs & Blue Oceans