Creativity and the Business Idea

Hisrich
Peters
Shepherd
Creativity
and
the Business Idea
Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin

4-2
Creative Problem Solving
 Creativity tends to decline with age,
education, lack of use, and bureaucracy.
 Latent creative potential can be stifled
(restrain) by perceptual, cultural,
emotional, and organizational factors.
 Creativity can be unlocked by using any of
the creative problem-solving techniques.

4-3
 Brainstorming
 Session starts with a problem statement.
 No group member should be an expert in the
field of the problem.
 All ideas must be recorded.
 Reverse Brainstorming
 A group method that focuses on the negative
aspects of a product, service, or idea as well as
ways to overcome these problems.
 Criticism is allowed but care must be taken to
maintain group morale.
Creative Problem Solving (cont.)

4-4
 Forced Relationships
 Developing an idea to solve a problem by
looking at product combinations.
 A five step process which focuses on idea
generation from relationship patterns
between elements of a problem.
 Isolate the key elements of the problem
 Find the relationships between these elements
 Record the relationships in orderly form
 Analyze the relationships to find patterns
 Develop new ideas from these patterns
 Problem statement ‘soap gets wasted on plastic rack’

4-5
 Collective Notebook Method
 Developing a new idea to solve problem by
participants of a group regularly recording ideas
at least once, but preferably three times a day.
 At the end of a month participants giving their
notebooks to a central coordinator who
summarizes all the material.
 The summary becomes the topic of a final
creative focus group discussion.

4-6
 Big-Dream Approach
 Developing a new idea by thinking about a
problem and its solutions without considering
any constraints.
 Then analyse each developed idea for feasibility
until an idea emerges as a workable form.

4-7
Illustration of Parameter Analysis
Parameter Analysis
Developing an idea to solve problem by focusing on
parameter identification and creative synthesis.
1.Identify and analyse parameters (characteristics,
feature) in the situation to determine their relative
importance. Then the relationships between parameters
are examined that describe the underlying issues.
2.Through evaluation of the parameters (characteristics,
features) and their relationships a solution (s) is
developed; this solution is called creative synthesis

4-8
Illustration of Parameter Analysis

4-9
Parameter Analysis
 Problem statement: Hair loss while
showering with soap?

4-10
The Product Planning and
Development Process

4-11
Product Planning and Development
Process
 Establishing Evaluation Criteria
 Criteria should be established at each stage of
the product planning and development process.
 It should be all-inclusive and where possible
quantitative in nature so that easy to analyse.
 Criteria should evaluate the idea in terms of:
 Market opportunity (demand/need for the market).
 Competition.
 Marketing system (compatibility with companies
experties).
 Financial factors.
 Production factors.

4-12
 Idea Stage
 Promising ideas should be identified and impractical ones
eliminated.
 Evaluation method – Systematic market evaluation checklist;
where each product idea is expressed in terms of its chief values
to firm, merits and benefits to consumers. Promising ideas are
selected and resources are not wasted on ideas that are
incompatible with the market’s values
 Determine the need for the new idea to market as well as its
value to the company. In order to accurately determine the need
for a new product, it is helpful to define the potential needs for
the market in terms of timing, satisfaction, alternatives, benefits
and risks, future expectations, price versus product performance
features, market structure and size, and economic conditions.
Process (cont.)

4-13
 Concept Stage
 Refined product idea is tested to determine its acceptance
without necessarily incurring the costs of manufacturing
the physical product
 Product idea acceptance can be measured through the
conversational interview with potential consumers or
members of the distribution channel when appropriate.
 Respondents are exposed to statements that reflect the
physical characteristics and attributes of the product idea.
 Features, price and promotion should be evaluated for
both the concept being studied and any major competing
products. By identifying any major problems marketable
product, or the concept can be dropped and not receive
any further attention.
Process (cont.)

4-14
 Product Development Stage
 Consumer reaction to the product/service is
determined.
 A consumer panel is given a product sample and
one or more competitive products
simultaneously
 Then preference are determined through
multiple methods such as multiple brand
comparisons, risk analysis, level of repeat
purchases, or intensity of preference analysis
etc.
Process (cont.)

4-15
 Test Marketing Stage
 Launch of a product in a selected area. This
increases certainty of successful product
commercialization.
 Actual sales reflect consumer acceptance.
 Positive test results indicate the degree of
probability of a successful product launch on
bigger scale and company formation.
Process (cont.)

4-16
 Commercialization Stage
Process (cont.)
Introduction Growth Maturity Decline
Strategic
sales
objective
Build sales Build sales Hold sales Harvest/manag
e for cash
Strategic
marketing
focus
Expand market Penetrate markets Protect market
share
Manage
Productivity
Brand
objective
Brand product
awareness/trial
Brand preference Brand loyalty Brand
exploitation
Product
(features)
Basic; emphasis
on reliability and
functionality
Differentiated Differentiated Rationalized
Promotion Creating
awareness/trial
Creating
awareness/trial
/focus on repeat
purchasers
Maintaining
awareness/focus
on repeat
purchasers
Cut/eliminated
Price High Lower Lowest Rising
Distribution Patchy Wider Intensive Selective

4-17
Story of the week......“Larry Ellison”
Occupation CEO of Oracle
Corporation
Net worth US$ 49.7 billion

Creativity and the Business Idea

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