What’s Now? Chapter 9 – New Product Planning at Gatorade

As you know from chapter 9, identifying and developing new-product ideas — and effective strategies to go with them — can be key to a firm’s success and survival. So what do you do if your main product is a sports drink first developed 50 years ago by a team of scientists at the University of Florida after a request from the football coach (the football team is nicknamed the Gators — hence the name Gatorade)?

After years of focusing on new flavors and packaging, Gatorade is using technology to personalize its contribution to athletic performance. Read more about Gatorade’s “smart cap” bottles in this article, “How Gatorade Plans to Reinvent Sports Drinks – Again” (Fast Company, February 2016).

Read the article to learn more about Gatorade. Which type of the three types of innovation (continuous innovation, dynamically continuous innovation, or discontinuous innovation) discussed in chapter 9 best describes Gatorade’s “smart cap” and associated product line falls? Explain your answer.