Generating

Ideas

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 Techniques For Generating Ideas

Brainstorming Focus Groups

Library and Internet Other Techniques

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 Brainstorming
(1 of 2)

• Brainstorming
– Is a technique used to generate a large number of ideas and
solutions to problems quickly.
– A brainstorming “session” typically involves a group of
people, and should be targeted to a specific topic.
– Rules for a brainstorming session:
• No criticism.
• Freewheeling is encouraged.
• The session should move quickly.
• Leap-frogging is encouraged.

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 Brainstorming
(2 of 2)

• Brainstorming
– There are two reasons brainstorming generates ideas that
might not arise otherwise:
• Because no criticism is allowed, people are more likely to offer
ideas than they would in a traditional setting.
• Brainstorming sessions can generate more ideas than a traditional
meeting because brainstorming focuses on creativity rather than
evaluation.
– In most meetings, one person suggests an idea, and immediately the
rest of the group begins evaluating it. This happens because most
people are better at criticizing ideas than they are at suggesting new
ones.

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 Focus Groups

• Focus Group
– A focus group is a gathering of five to ten people, who have
been selected based on their common characteristics
relative to the issues being discussed.
– These groups are led by a trained moderator, who uses the
internal dynamics of the group environment to gain insight
into why people feel they way they do about a particular
issue.
– Although focus groups are used for a variety of purposes,
they can be used to help generate new business ideas.

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 Library And Internet Research

• A third approach to generating new business ideas is to

conduct library and Internet research.
• A natural tendency is to think that an idea should be
chosen, and the process of researching the idea should
then begin. This approach is too linear. Often, the best
ideas emerge when the general notion of an idea—like
creating casual electronic games for adults—is merged
wit extensive library and Internet research, which might
provide insights into the best type of casual games to
create.

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 Other Techniques

• Customer Advisory Boards

– Some companies set up customer advisory boards that meet
regularly to discuss needs, wants, and problems that may
lead to new ideas.
• Day-In-The-Life Research
– A type of anthropological research, where the employees of
a company spend a day with a customer.

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 Encouraging New Ideas

• Establishing a Focal Point for Ideas

– Some firms meet the challenge of encouraging, collecting,
and evaluating ideas by designating a specific person to
screen and track them—for if its everybody’s job, it may be
no one’s responsibility.
– Another approach is to establish an idea bank (or vault),
which is a physical or digital room for storing ideas.
• Encouraging Creativity at the Firm Level
– Creativity is the raw material that goes into innovation and
should be encouraged at the organizational and individual
supervisory level.

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Protecting Ideas From Being Lost or Stolen

• Step 1
– The idea should be put in a tangible form such as entered
into a physical idea logbook or saved on a computer disk,
and the date the idea was first thought of should be entered.
• Step 2
– The idea should be secured. This may seem like an
obvious step, but is one that is often overlooked.
• Step 3
– Avoid making an accidentally or voluntary disclosure of an
idea, in a manner that losses the right to claim it.

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 New-Product
New-Product Development Strategies

Customer-centered new product development focuses on finding

new ways to solve customer problems and create more customer
satisfying experiences.

• Begins and ends with solving customer problems.

Sequential new-product development is a development approach

where company departments work closely together individually to
complete each stage of the process before passing it along to the next
stage.
 New-Product
New-Product Development Strategies

Team-based new-product development is a development

approach where company departments work closely
together in cross-functional teams, overlapping in the
product-development process to save time and increase
effectiveness.

Systematic new-product development is an innovative

development approach that collects, reviews, evaluates, and
manages new-product ideas

• Creates an innovation-oriented culture

• Yields a large number of new-product ideas
 Product Life-Cycle Strategies
Product Life Cycle

• Product development: Sales are zero and investment costs mount

• Introduction: Slow sales growth and profits are nonexistent
• Growth: Rapid market acceptance and increasing profits.
• Maturity: Slowdown in sales growth and profits level off or decline
• Decline: Sales fall off and profits drop
 Product Life-Cycle Strategies
Fads are temporary periods of unusually high sales driven by consumer
enthusiasm and immediate product or brand popularity