Bundling and Unbundling
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We see some interesting examples lately of the use of TRIZ principles in the business world that we'd like to highlight for you and get you thinking about the potential application of them in your business.

Dow Corning, one of the world's largest producers of silicone products faced a business dilemma not unlike that faced by many others. How do you balance the cost of customer technical service for a product against the price and the amount of this service needed or desired by different customers? How do you compete with the world of global Internet pricing on products from all over the world? Their interesting solution to this contradiction was to create a totally separate business entity called Xiameter (www.xiameter.com).

You can order products at the current lowest spot market price, you don't get to vote on delivery terms, no specify special packaging AND you get no technical support in using the product. This separates the needy users from the sophisticated users. The web site even has different product designations for the identical "normal" Dow Corning products (and tells you what they are) and offers to supply a certificate of equivalence if you need it. This is a clear illustration of the use of the TRIZ separation upon condition principle.

We see the same thing in some of the new startup airlines (Allegiant Air is the latest example, Ryannair in Europe is another) where the price of the basic ticket is incredibly low, but if you want to check a bag, sit in a particular place, or eat airline food) you pay extra.

At the other extreme, unless you are living in a isolated island, you are witnessing the knock down drag out business fight between your cable company and your phone company to provide your TV, Internet, and phone service. Here in Tampa, the battle between Verizon and Brighthouse Cable is truly intense and both have said that at the end of the war there will be only one line coming into your house and it will be "theirs". Special pricing, getting lower steadily, is offered for those willing to give all their business to either company. In this case, bundling, rather than unbundling products and services is the key. This illustrates the TRIZ principles of useful complexity addition.

Take a look at your business models. Could they benefit from either of these approaches? Maybe each may be appropriate for different products or services within your organization. Might not the same thinking apply to some of your internal processes? Should human resources policies be the same everywhere? Might there be areas of your organization that gross simplicity makes sense and highly sophisticated policies and procedures in others? Think about these two principles across your organization and how they might provide competitive advantage or a significant reduction in costs.