Entrepreneurs in the innovation\/technology sector frequently encounter the expression \u201creinventing the wheel.\u201d<\/strong> Typically, critics who use this phrase expand on it as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we examine these criticisms, it becomes clear that, from a business perspective, they boil down to three main considerations\u2014implying that there is a problem with one or more of them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n These three topics are indeed very important in business. Anyone with business training can evaluate their impact on an activity and judge whether the activity is positive or negative for the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, suppose you are a laptop manufacturer<\/strong>. A laptop basically consists of the following parts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You already get all of these parts from other manufacturers. You consider making your own motherboard<\/strong> since it\u2019s a significant cost item, and you analyze:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given this analysis, entering motherboard sector seems utterly irrational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, no problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now let\u2019s add 3\u20135 more points:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re the entrepreneur of the year yet clearly something is wrong. So where is the problem?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem lies in ignoring the two deeper aspects behind \u201creinventing the wheel\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Future Impact<\/strong> means evaluating the long-term benefits or harms of an activity, in addition to the three short-term business concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Product\/Technology Continuity<\/strong> means: without developing a technology at a fundamental level, it is impossible to advance it.<\/em> You have to catch hold of a technology at some point and engage in its development. Otherwise, you can\u2019t progress, because you lack the foundational know-how needed to improve it. Knowing how to use<\/strong> a technology is not the same as knowing how to develop<\/strong> it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your plan is simply to compete on price, cost, and availability<\/strong> in the short term, then no\u2014you don\u2019t need to reinvent the wheel. By optimizing your distribution network, production process, and supply chain, you can succeed that way. Indeed, many companies operate on this model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if you want to be resilient against market turbulence, to be globally competitive, to grow, and to make serious profits, then yes\u2014you must sometimes disturb your comfort and engage in reinventing-the-wheel type activities. Otherwise, it won\u2019t work\u2014you already see that it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2013, while developing a local industrial mobile robot<\/strong>, we initially used off-the-shelf wheels for our prototype. Even though we generally embrace the \u201creinvent the wheel\u201d principle, I personally didn\u2019t want to bother with wheels at the time. After all, these wheels were robust, high-traction, used in mobile factory vehicles, and widely accepted as a good choice. No brainer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we ran into a problem: when our robot turned, the wheels slipped, throwing off our location calculation system. As a result, the robot couldn\u2019t move with the precision we needed. After some R&D, we discovered that the issue was indeed the wheels (at first we suspected our custom propulsion system). Working with our mechanical and mechatronics engineers, we experimented with different wheel materials. Once we confirmed the right material, we worked on shapes and tread designs. Finally, we produced a wheel that barely slipped even on the slickest factory floors\u2014and thanks to that, our robot worked properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end, we really did have to reinvent the wheel.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introduction Entrepreneurs in the innovation\/technology sector frequently encounter the expression \u201creinventing the wheel.\u201d Typically, critics who use this phrase expand on it as follows: When we examine these…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-girisimcilik"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.193.70.38\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.193.70.38\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.193.70.38\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.193.70.38\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.193.70.38\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/18.193.70.38\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1240,"href":"http:\/\/18.193.70.38\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions\/1240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.193.70.38\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.193.70.38\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.193.70.38\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.193.70.38\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\n\n\n\nThe Three Core Points<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nA Deeper Analysis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nThe Real Issue<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nConclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nNote: A Personal Anecdote<\/h3>\n\n\n\n