After Steve Job's death, we posted a few times in our blog about where Apple heads next with innovation. Many people have asked the same questions. Their recent lackluster performance continues to raise concerns, and the iPhone 7 due this summer is supposed to "fix" this concern.

We stated and continue to believe that the innovation issue for Apple is going to be the need to change its innovation archetype, and that is risky.

Since the beginning, Apple has used the Visionary Leader innovation archetype.  Due to Steve's untimely death, we felt they were likely to no longer be able to follow that approach. Indications are that they are not even trying and have moved to the most common archetype, Systematic Innovation.

This is not really a surprise since shifting from Visionary Leader to Marketplace of Ideas is a huge shift and Collaborative Innovation is also way outside their culture. The Systematic archetype seems the most logical.

"There is nothing in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and he who considers price only is that man's lawful prey."

We remember first seeing this quote by John Ruskin in a Baskin Robbins Ice Cream store decades ago. It stuck with us. We were reminded of this quote by several recent events.

Over the years as we have spoken to and worked with executives in many companies, one of the common questions we are asked is how not to compete on price. Our answer forever has been that to not compete on price you have to understand what customers can buy from you they can't get from anyone else, or at least don't believe they can.

This takes an effort to learn, but keeps you from needing to compete on price. And if your answer to the question is truly "nothing," then the actual answer is the same as they can get from others but at a lower price. And if you can't be profitable at that lower price, then either your company, or one or more competitors will cease to exist. Why would anyone want to pay more for the same thing?

All that being said, a common push back we hear from executives is that purchasing has all the power in companies and they only want to talk about price. Firstly, that is rarely true and if it is, in our experience those companies are in for trouble and you might want to serve their competitors instead.

Our best example of that is Ford vs General Motors. For many years it was common to be a supplier to only one of the so-called Big Three automakers as they wanted a supplier that could help them get an advantage. Thus, suppliers wanted to serve General Motors as they were the far larger company.

In the early 1990s General Motors appointed Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua head of their procurement function. One of his first actions was to demand substantial (up to 25%) price reductions from GM's suppliers. Many of the best ones moved to Ford. Over time, Ford surpassed GM as the premier auto supplier in the U.S.

Why do purchasing people focus so much on price? Simple: the management maxim which says "what gets measured, gets managed." Too many purchasing people, still today, are measured on how much money they save the company year over year by price reductions. Nobody looks to see, at what cost.

Two recent examples come to the fore, one private sector and one public sector.

Chipotle suffered a 30% drop in sales during December of last year as a direct result of food contamination. That slide continues. They are closed all restaurants for several hours in early February to have an all hands meeting to discuss "food safety." PR tactic we believe. It is fairly clear, in our opinion, that the root cause problem here was the food supplier.

How much money did Chipotle actually save buying from the low bidder? Well none, or negative. How much of a bonus did the buyer get for his/her good work in finding the lower cost supplier and saving Chipotle so much money? (Unknown). And has anyone in procurement lost their job over this? (Again unknown).

However, it's pretty clear that you will continue to get more of the behavior you reward. True with kids, dogs, and employees. How are you rewarding your purchasing people? How much power do they have in vendor selection?

Our second example is Flint, MI. They have declared a state of emergency and the National Guard is helping pass out bottled water since their municipal water supply is contaminated with lead. How did that happen? Simple, two years ago the State changed water suppliers to save money. How much money have they actually saved? None or negative. Who's been fired over this? Not sure anyone has. Though several people have recently resigned. Who's going to pay for this? The taxpayers of Flint for sure and probably of Michigan as well.

How much is it costing your firm to reward purchasing for the wrong things? How are you dealing with customers who try to commoditize your products or services?

What can customers buy from your company they can't buy, or don't believe they can buy from anybody else. The only way to stay out of the commodity trap is to have a useful answer to that question. And remember it is not about what you do, it is about what the customer is buying.