Case study

Dyson: Solving Customer Problems in Ways They Never Imagined

The impact of Dyson Ltd. on various industries belies its relatively brief history. In just 25 years, Dyson

has succeeded in causing revolution after revolution as it has reinvented the vacuum cleaner, the

household fan, the hairdryer, and the commercial hand dryer. It did this across a variety of mature product

categories thought to be anything but innovative, a tribute to the companys simple founding principles.

First, every Dyson product must provide real consumer benefits that make life easier. Second, each

product must take a totally unique approach to accomplishing common, everyday tasks. Finally, each

Dyson product must infuse excitement into products that are so ordinary that most people never think

much about them.

The Man behind the Name

James Dyson was born and raised in the United Kingdom. In 1979, he purchased what its maker claimed

was the most powerful vacuum cleaner on the market. He found it to be anything but that. Instead, the

vacuum did little more than move dirt around the room. This left Dyson wondering why no one had yet

invented a decent vacuum cleaner. He remembered something hed seen in an industrial sawmilla

cyclonic separator that re-moved dust from the air. Why wouldnt that approach work well in vacuum

cleaners? I thought no one was bothering to use technology in vacuum cleaners, said Dyson. Indeed, the

core technology of vacuum motors at the time was more than 150 years old. I saw a great opportunity to

improve. Dyson then did something that very few people would have the patience or the vision to do.

Through trial and error, he spent 15 years and made 5,127 vacuum prototypesall based on a bagless

cyclonic separatorbefore he had the one that went to market. In his own words, There were 5,126

failures. But I learned from each one. Thats how I came up with a solution. Dysons all-new vacuum

was far more than techno-gadgetry. Dyson had developed a completely new motor that ran at 110,000

revolutions per minutethree times faster than any other vacuum on the market. It provided tremendous

suction that other brands simply couldnt match. The bagless design was very effective at removing dirt

and particles from the air, and the machine was much easier to clean out than vacuums requiring the

messy process of changing bags. The vacuum also was easier to maneuver and could reach places other

vacuums could not. Dysons vacuum really worked. The major appliance companies and retailers of the

time had no interest in Dysons design. But Dyson gained distribution through a small mail-order catalog

with an unusual sales pitch: Your catalog is boring. Shortly thereafter, Dyson vacuums were picked up

by other mail-order catalogs, then by small appliance chains, and then by large department stores. By the

late 1990s, Dysons full line of vacuums was being distributed in multiple global markets. Today, Dyson

is the global leader in vacuum cleaners, with a line now dominated by lightweight, re-chargeable units.

The Dyson Method

Throughout the development of Dysons vacuums, a model for new products began to take shape: Take

everyday products, focus on their shortcomings, and improve them to the point of reinvention. Dyson is

known for saying, I like going for unglamorous products and making them a pleasure to use. While

taking this route, beyond finding solutions to the problems it is trying to solve, the company sometimes

finds solutions for other problems. For example, the vacuum motor Dyson developed sucked air with

unprecedented strength. But the flipside of vacuum suction is exhaust. Why couldnt such a motor blow

air at wet hands so fast that the water would be pressed off in a squeegee-like manner rather than the

slow, evaporative approach employed by commercial hand dryers? With that realization, Dyson created

and launched the Airblade, a hand dryer that blows air through a .2-millimeter slot at 420 miles per hour.

It dries hands in 12 seconds compared with the more typical 40 seconds required by other hand dryers. It

also uses cold aira huge departure from the standard warm air approach of existing commercial dryers.

This not only reduces energy consumption by 75 percenta major bonus for commercial enterprises that

pay the electric billsbut customers are much more likely to use a product that works fast and does the

job right. With highly observable benefits, the Airblade was rapidly ad-opted by commercial customers.

Meanwhile, guided by Dysons customer-centric approach to developing products, the Airblade evolved.

With the first Airblade, it was apparent that all that high-powered air is noisy. So Dyson spent seven years

and a staggering $42 million to develop the V4 motor, one of the smallest and quietest commercial

motors available. As a result, the Airblade grew quieter and lighteralmost six pounds lighter than the

original. Dysons innovation process led to variants of the Airblade, including the Blade V, 60 percent

thinner and much sleeker than the Airblade, and the Airblade Tap, a faucet that washes and dries hands

with completely touch-free operation. Despite the fact that the lions share of Dysons business comes

from vacuum cleaners, Dyson Ltd. does not define it-self as a vacuum cleaner company. In fact, Dyson

sees itself as a technology-driven company that develops products with the end user in mind. But rather

than using traditional market research methods, Dyson takes a different approach. Dyson avoids the kind

of focus group techniques that are, frankly, completely averaging, says Adam Rostrom, group marketing

director for Dyson. Most companies start with the consumer and say, Hey Mr. or Mrs. X, what do you

want from your tooth-brush tomorrow or what do you want from your shampoo to-morrow? The

depressing reality is that you often wont get many inspiring answers.

Instead, Dysons uses an approach it calls interrogating products to develop new technologies that

produce real solutions to customer problems. After identifying the most obvious shortcomings for

everyday products, it finds ways to improve them. Founder Dysons philosophy is so focused on solving

customer problems that he even developed the James Dyson Awardthe top prize at an annual contest

that challenges college students to design something that solves a problem. Once a problem-centered

design is in place, the company then tests prototypes with real consumers under heavy nondisclosure

agreements. In this manner, Dyson can observe consumer reactions in the context of real people using

products in their real lives. This approach enables Dyson to develop revolutionary products, such as those

in its air treatment line of fans, air purifiers, humidifiers, and portable heating and cooling devices. It all

started with the Air Multiplier, a fan that moves large volumes of air around a room with no blades. In

fact, the Air Multiplier looks nothing like a fan. By using technology similar to that found in

turbochargers and jet engines, driven by the power of its small digital motors, the Air Multiplier draws air

in, amplifies it 18 times, and blows it back out in an uninterrupted stream that eliminates the buffeting and

direct air pressure of conventional fans. The development of the Air Multiplier came about because of

Dysons approach to developing new products. If you ... asked people what they wanted from their fan

tomorrow, they wouldnt say get rid of the blades, explains Rostrom. Our approach is about product

breakthroughs rather than the approach of just running a focus group and testing a concept.

The Next Big Thing

About three years ago, Dyson Ltd. shocked the world when it announced plans to enter the automotive

business. Specifically, it planned to design and produce zero-emission, all-electric vehicles (EVs) with the

ultimate goal of developing fully self-driving vehicles. Reactions to this announcement varied, but most

experts and observers were skeptical and critical. After all, this venture was unlike any that Dyson had

previously pursued. For starters, automobiles are hardly products that are so mundane, most people

never think much about them. In fact, the announcement came at a time characterized by more

innovation in automotive design, propulsion systems, control systems, and even ownership models than

perhaps ever before. Add the fact that no new automobile company had been successful in starting from

scratch, penetrating the mass market, and sustaining business long term in well over 50 years. The

barriers to entry in the automotive business far exceed those in the industries where Dyson currently

competes. Observers also scratched their heads as there were no readily apparent applications of Dyson

technologies to the automobile industry. None of that has deterred Dyson. The company has committed

more than $3 billion to get the business rolling and has begun construction of a manufacturing plant in

Singapore with the express purpose of producing its EVs. In fact, Dyson is moving its main headquarters

from the United Kingdom to Singapore, signalling the importance of this new venture. Dyson is also

invested in the development and production of its own batteries to power the vehicles based on a new

solid-state technology that promises batteries that are smaller, safer, lighter, longer-lasting between

charges, and quicker-charging. And recently, as it applied for patents, the company revealed preliminary

designs for both an EV and battery. It now asserts with confidence that Dyson will begin selling EVs in

2021.

What the outside world seems to overlook are the similarities between Dysons self-driving EV project

and its previous product development projects. It all started with another James Dyson observation on the

status quo of an industry. All I could see and smell were these huge clouds of diesel exhaust coming

out, says Dyson. That led to the exploration of developing Dyson air filtering technologies for

application in vehicle emissions. While emissions filtration showed promise, that project eventually led to

the companys first and only acquisition of an outside companySakti3, a small startup that was

developing solid-state batteries. Most experts agree that the entire future of EVs and rechargeable de-

vices rests on better, more efficient batteries. Dyson simply acquired a technology it did not already have.

Beyond batteries, many core Dyson technologies could play significant roles in the development of self-

driving EVs. Dyson Ltd. has done more to advance electric motor technology than perhaps any other

company today. True, Dysons current consumer products motors are far too small to power a vehicle.

But proprietary elements of Dyson motor designs are likely relevant to developing better, more efficient

motors for cars. For example, Dysons technologies could do for wet windshields what the Airblade does

for wet hands. And then theres the Dyson robot vacuum, one of the most advanced on the market.

Seventeen years in the making, Dysons robot uses artificial intelligence, sophisticated sensors, and

panoramic cameras to operate autonomously and learn its environments so that it can do its job without

sucking up any stray socks or getting stuck behind furniturecapabilities on par with self-driving

capabilities of to-days most advanced vehicles.

With each step toward developing its new EVs, Dyson makes it more clear that it means business. When

pressed for details about its electric car, James Dyson indicates that it wont be a sports car, it will likely

be pricey, and it will have at least level 2 autonomy (hands-off). He also ads that Dysons first EV may

not look much like any car the world has ever seen. But its previous entries into new product categories

didnt look much like vacuum cleaners, fans, hand dryers, and hair dryers either. At Dyson Ltd.,

innovation never ends. The company not only continues to demonstrate that it can come up with winning

products again and again, it is expanding throughout the world at a rapid pace. Dyson sells products in

more than 50 global markets, emerging economies as well as developed nations. Dyson does well in both

economic good times and recessionary periods. From a single vacuum cleaner to EVs in just over 20

yearsthats quite an accomplishment.

Answer the following questions:

1.What are Dysons goals and objectives?

2.Does Dyson have a business portfolio? Explain?

3.How can you analyse the business portfolio of Dysons products using the BCG matrix?

4.Identify the Growth strategy(s) that were implemented by Dyson? Discuss your answer?