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•6 The 100 Greatest Business Ideas of All Time

‘In 1982 Intel introduced its 286 chip which was capable of processing 2.66
million instructions per second, or MIPS, at a cloc k speed of 12 million cycles per
second, or megahertz. Today’s Intel Pentium II processors are capable of consider-
ably more than 600 MIPS at 450 megahertz, and the sharp upward development
trend is expected to continue.’

This is true as well. The Pentium 4 now goes at 3 gigahertz, six or seven times the
old 450 mentioned in the quote. MIPS are not such a relevant measure nowadays be-
cause of the different ways that processors use to obey instructions. Suffice it to say that
the speed of development has not faltered. Come on BMW/Rolls Royce, match that.

Ask yourself

• When did you last review the channels through which your products and
services get to market?

• Check that your competitors are not introducing new ideas in this area.

Idea 3 – Small is beautiful (Honda)

There are many examples of selling innovation that illustrate the point made in the
introduction – lots of plans are unsuccessful and lots of successes unplanned. One
such is the strategy taken by Honda in trying to break into the US motorcycle market.

The move to the USA was made at a time when there were severe costs con-
straints imposed by the parent company at home. For this reason the USA pioneers
could not get hold of the generous budget to attack a major new market, which the
team felt that it needed. In fact they were so limited that they took a minimal-sized
team to Los Angeles and stocked a warehouse with 50 units of each model in the
existing Honda range. The other part of the Japan-imposed strategy was that they
should concentrate on the top-end bikes with a higher margin and an easier