Concept Generation Flashcards
Where are the 2 areas in which information can be found:
Internally or Externally
Give some examples of where information can be found internally:
Baker & Hart, 1999
- Customer services
- R&D
- Production
- Marketing and sales
Give some examples of where information can be found externally:
Baker & Hart, 1999
- CUSTOMERS
- Competitors
- Scientists
- Universities
Why are customers an important part of new product developments?
Cooper et al, 2002
- Understanding customer experiences means product success can be understood more fully
Kristensson et al, 2004
- Customers can provide valuable ideas for new products
What are the issues with using customers to generate new ideas?
Fornell & Menko, 1981
- Customers generally do not come up with anything new, and more so just suggest features of competitors products.
This could be due to them lacking the knowledge of what is actually possible
Discuss what you would do to involve customers to get involved with the NPD process?
Fornell & Menko, 1981
Conduct a problem analysis
- Identify heavy users
- Gather a set or problems associated with the product or its category
- Sort & rank problems in terms of their severity or occurrence
What methods could you used to involve the customers in the NPD process?
- Crowdsourcing
- Observation (Ethnography)
- Focus groups
Discuss the pro’s and cons of using focus groups to explore problem analysis:
Robson 2002
- Efficent and cost effective
- Group dynamics aid idea generation
- Ability to explore unexpected avenues
- More enjoyable for many
Discuss the pro’s and cons of using ethnography to explore problem analysis:
- A number of different roles can be assumed by the observer
- Meaningful knowledge cannot be generated without observation as not all knowledge is articulable
Discuss the pro’s and cons of using crowdsourcing to explore problem analysis:
Howe, 2006
- Cheap pool of labour, as it is everyday people creating content and solving problems
- Can provide new insight into customer preferences
What is problem analysis?
The process of understanding real-world problems and user needs and proposing solutions to meet those needs
What are the benefits of offering suggestion programmes in a firm?
Gorski & Heinekamp, 2002
- Promotes creativity
- Distributes and records the knowledge base
- Ensures the right idea gets to the right person
- Fosters teamwork and enhances communication
What are some forms of suggestion programmes?
Gorski & Heinekamp, 2002
- Suggestion box: Easy to implement, Submitter has no input
- Kaizen: Incremental ideas, continually improving
- Employee-driven ideas: Employees own idea through to implementation