Better mouse trap fallacy

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a famous poet in the mid-19th century when the U.S. was entering the industrial stage. His expression‎ "a better mouse trap" has widely been used as a metaphor of innovative power. When South Korean President Park Geun-hye was making a speech at the Trade and Investment Promotion Meeting in the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday, she quoted Emerson, "Build a better mouse trap, and the world will beat a path to your door." Simply put, it means that a better mouse trap will bring more money.

That was a good quotation but what came next ruined her speech. President Park said, "American company Woolworths invented a very effective mouse trap with a pretty shape," to emphasize the importance of making the best quality products and services. However, the mentioned mouse trap that Woolworths Limited made was an icon of a failed innovation. In management studies, it is called "better mouse trap fallacy."

Whether Emerson actually mentioned "a better mouse trap" before he died in 1882 is uncertain because mouse traps were first commercialized after his death. The expression‎ could be an addition to posthumous editions of his books. Anyway, inventers took his words as they were and started modifying mouse traps. As a result, a mouse trap is the item with the most patents in the U.S.. Most of them seemed to be successful, but it was a failed innovation over all.

Woolworths invented a pretty mouse trap that looked as cute as children toys unlike the conventional ugly ones. At first, the product hit the jackpot in the market, but later its limit started coming out. Whereas it was easy to dispose conventional mouse traps after they caught a mouse, Woolworths' mouse trap was too pretty to throw away but it was too disturbing to use them again after getting rid of a dead mouse. This mistake in Park's speech was made as soon as Cho In-geun resigned as Park's speech writer, which he was for over 10 years. Despite the mistake, the message was safely delivered. Hopefully, President Park's "creative economy" does not end up following the example of Woolworths' mouse trap.

송평인기자 pisong@donga.com