Cheap and Easy Innovation : Is it Better Though?

A successful innovator is good at associational thinking. That is, good innovators make connections between seemingly unconnected inputs.

Successful innovators follow four time-tested approaches to gather stimuli so they can make these connections:

-- Questioning: asking probing questions that impose or remove constraints (e.g., what if we were legally prohibited from selling to our current customer?)

-- Networking: interacting with people from different backgrounds and who provide access to new ways of thinking

-- Observing: watching the world around your self for surprising stimuli

-- Experimenting: consciously complicating your life by trying new things or going to new places

What do you think? Do you think entrepreneurs can bring better innovations quickly, which are easy and cheap? Today, new websites can be launched and marketed for less than ten thousand dollars. New product prototypes can be manufactured and tested for less than hundred thousand dollars. The cost of producing has indeed shrunk manifolds. Savvy entrepreneurs can experiment with many product designs and business models at lowered costs before commercializing their products. Do savings in costs equate to savings in time though? And do cheap and easy equate to rapid user adoption?

For instance, can an established company such as McDonald's test out a new breakfast sandwich at a relatively low cost in specific markets? What about a startup such as Groupon that recently went public? On the success of their Daily Deals product, they recently introduced Deals Now at a presumably cheap investment. Would it have the same level of adoption?

References: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/11/making-innovation-cheap-and-easy/248718/