5 - Innovation Processes Flashcards
What is required to sustain competitive advantage in organizations?
Organizations must continually innovate to create new products, services, and processes.
What drives customer acquisition and growth?
Successful innovation.
What can happen to a company’s value proposition without innovation?
It can be imitated, leading to competition solely on price.
What are the four important processes in managing innovation?
- Identify opportunities for new products and services
- Manage the research and development portfolio
- Design and develop new products and services
- Bring the new products and services to market
What sources can generate ideas for new products?
- Internal research and development
- External sources such as research laboratories, universities, suppliers, and customers
Why should organizations not be too inwardly focused in their search for new ideas?
They can miss valuable insights from external sources.
What do leading-edge customers provide for companies?
Ideas for new products and capabilities.
What should companies ask customers for regarding product innovation?
The outcomes they want, not specific features.
What is the objective of managing the research and development portfolio?
To decide which projects to fund, defer, or kill.
What are the five types of projects in managing the R&D portfolio?
- Basic research and advanced development projects
- Breakthrough development projects
- Platform development projects
- Derivative development projects
- Alliance projects
What characterizes a breakthrough development project?
It creates entirely new products based on new applications of science and technology.
What is a platform development project?
It develops the next generation of products in a given category.
What is the main goal of derivative development projects?
To enhance specific features of the platform product for targeted market segments.
What does an alliance project enable a company to do?
Acquire a new product or process from another firm.
What is the first stage in the design and development process?
Concept development.
What does the product planning stage involve?
Testing the product concept through model building and financial planning.
What do the design-build-test cycles in product development achieve?
They modify product design and production processes to meet performance characteristics.
What does the stage-gate model provide in product development?
Discipline to review projects and allocate resources efficiently.
What phases are involved in clinical trials for pharmaceuticals?
- Phase I: Safety and dosage
- Phase II: Clinical effects
- Phase III: Extensive testing against control groups
What is the cost range for Phase III trials in drug development?
$20 to $70 million.
What model do software companies traditionally follow for development?
The structured waterfall process.
What is the recent trend in software development processes?
An iterative approach incorporating changing customer requirements.
What two key processes did Microsoft use in developing Office 2000?
- Milestones
- Daily Builds
What is the milestone process in software development?
A process where development work is broken into stages, enabling testing throughout rather than deferring it until the final product.
Each milestone encompasses design, coding, and testing of a subset of functionality.