L2

Question 1

What is opportunity identification and how to do it?

Answer 1

New opportunities can come from many different sources:

• under-utilised resources;
• new resources;
• mandates originating external to the firm (e.g., new regulatory restrictions);
• internal mandates (e.g., from new corporate leadership).

Several ways in which firms can identify opportunities for growth in new markets as their existing ones become less desirable:

• Find another location or venue (McDonalds in sports arenas and Walmart)
• Leverage your firm’s strengths in a new activity center (Nike > golf & hockey).
• Identify a fast-growing need, and adapt your products to that need.
• Find a “new to you” industry (P&G in pharmaceuticals).

Many futurists advocate studying the emerging trends in society and deriving product opportunities from them.
E.g. trend of co-creation: Due to increases in e-commerce and online communities, it is easier for customers to communicate with each other, cooperate, and share information.
=> number of iPhone apps constantly growing. NikeID product “configurator” for custom shoes.

Question 2

What is a PIC, why make PICs, and what does a PIC usually contain (4)?

Answer 2

Product Innovation Charter

DEF:
PIC is a document designed to provide guidelines for innovation, developed by senior management.
Can be thought of as a kind of mission statement adapted to new product activities.

WHY?
Most people have no problem coming up with a lot of suggestions. But from a companies point of view it is important to manage the idea generation process.

CONTENT
A PIC often says something about core technologies, strategic goals, target groups, accessible distribution channels etc.

1) Background:
Key ideas from the situation analysis, reason for preparing a new PIC at this time

2) Focus:
At least one clear technology dimension and one clear market dimension. They match and have good potential.

3) Goal-Objectives:
What the project will accomplish in short or long term. Evaluation measurements

4) Guidelines:
Innovativeness, order of market entry, time/ quality/ cost etc.

Question 3

Why product portfolio analysis?

Answer 3

Newly chartered product must fit as part of the firm’s overall business strategy.
Product-portfolio approach - management allocates R&D and other scarce resources across several categories defined by STRATEGIC not only financial dimensions (NPV).

Some strategic criteria:
• Strategic goals (defending current base of products versus extending the base).
• Project types (balancing fundamental research, process improvements, and maintenance projects).
• Short-term versus long-term projects.
• High-risk versus low-risk projects.
• Market familiarity (existing markets, extensions of current ones, or totally
new ones).
• Technology familiarity (existing platforms, extensions of current ones, or totally new ones).
• Geographical markets (balancing sales or profits in North America, Europe, and Asia).

Whatever criteria are used, the objectives of developing the product portfolio remain the same:

• Strategic alignment;
• assessing portfolio value;
• project balance (too many high risk projects can be balanced by couple of lower risk);
• number of project (know you resources).

Question 4

What is creativity, how to measure creativity (4) and how to stimulate to creativity?

Answer 4

Def: Creativity is the everyday task of making nonobvious connections (inventing new ways to think).

Creativity can be measured using the standard MBTI® (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) Creativity Index, which uses an individual’s personality scores to assess his or her creativity.
It assesses individuals on four personality scales (intuitive- sensory, perceiving-judging, extraverted-introverted, and thinking-feeling).
OR
Torrance Test of Creativity (TTCT). Questionnaire-based investigation. Oral, written and drawn responses on 4 criterion:
Fluency (# of ideas)
Flexibility (large variety of ideas)
Elaboration (the development of the idea
Originality (not obvious/ infrequent ).

STIMULATE:

• create competitive teams and have them race to a deadline (one firm once faked the news of an impending competitive breakthrough to urge a scientific group to speed up);
• free time (Google 20% time on whatever creative projects researchers want to);
• devote funds (without higher approval) for projects proposed by personnel who did not have enough in- fluence to get funds through normal channels;
• diverse team (variaty of perspectives);
• loyalty and support within functional teams;
• encouragementf from top management.

Question 5

Is consumer involvement important for idea generation?

Answer 5

Yes.
End-users can be a source to new product concepts.
In fact, one of the success factors for product development is to listen to the voice of the customer.

The results of study indicate that

• ordinary users create significantly more original and valuable ideas than professional developers and advanced users.
• Ordinary users created the most valuable ideas
• Professional developers and advanced users created more easily realizable ideas

Question 6

What and why crowdsourcing?

Answer 6

Def: Crowdsourcing - Outsource the ”task” to a potentially large and unknown population in the form of an open call; obtain product ideas from customers efficiently.

WHY:
Monitoring customers interest.
Gathering new ideas.
Creation of new products.
Generate modest product improvements rather than new-to-the-world products.

+ Serves as a marketing tool.