*Exploring the Different Types of Innovation for Firm Competitive Advantages DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.111820*

marketing, and service innovation initiatives so the firm can achieve its return on investment (ROI). **Figures 4** and **5** reflect how the different types of innovation fit into the PLC curve. It is implausible, and not uncommon, though, that the firm can achieve ROI on the first have of the PLC. However, there is much benefit that also is achieved from the second half of the PLC and not exploiting the second half of the PLC is not extracting full potential from the product innovation. Therefore, firms should also strive to invest in innovations beyond product innovation. Architectural innovation also provides many opportunities to extend the life of different products; these products can be combined to offer different benefits to the market. For example, desktop photocopiers have become multi-functional; they offer many different functions, such as photocopying, scanning, remote printing etc. In addition, there have become more standalone and mobile compared to the initial innovation that was more standalone, serving the corporate environment and single functional. To understand how products diffuse across the market, one needs to understand the PLC as well as the different categories in the diffusion curve.

**Figure 4.** *PLC.*

The PLC curve shows how the product goes through the different phases, infancy, growth, maturity and decline. This is the Foster S-Curve. Note that when one mathematical integrates the S-Curve, the area under the curve is obtained; this is the diffusion curve. The area under the curve is the market. The market can be categorized into different sections, namely early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. Moreover, innovation is not a linear process. Understanding the diffusion curve is important because it is how a product diffuses across the market because competition changes across the diffusion curve. By understanding how the product diffuses through the market, one can obtain a better understanding of how the different types of innovation complement each other. Let us consider each of the different categories in the diffusion curve.


*Exploring the Different Types of Innovation for Firm Competitive Advantages DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.111820*

e.Laggards: In this phase, the product is in a declining phase; the product has already been replaced by other products, either by yourself or another market entrant. Therefore, in this phase, sometimes product innovation is about adding in the bells and whistles to grab onto the last phase of the PLC. This typically happens when the product is being replaced through technologically destroying innovation. So, it is about trying to survive so that you will find product, process, marketing and service innovation here. Many firms will, however, abandon innovation here and have already moved on to other NPD initiatives.

In this section, we discussed how the different types of innovation fit together and complement each other. Note, however, that organizational innovation is not really part of the PLC or diffusion curve apart from a new entity or partnership that is being established for transformational innovation initiatives.
