your new product: good concept or great product innovation?

Your New Product: Good Concept or Great Product Innovation?

(How to Identify the Golden Goose among the Ugly Ducklings)

Chris MarocchiPresident: Klear Strat, LLC

What This Discussion Is About

• This presentation is NOT about product development.

• It IS about how we get from ideas to concept to product development.

Concept Evaluation

Product C

Product B

Product A

Product Launch

Product Development

Scenario

• Your company sells products.• Your products are good.• Your company is profitable.• A recession hits, and profits shrink.• Your company’s strategic planning team

decides the company needs to pivot its strategy for growth.

New Products vs. New Markets

We need to first evaluate how to grow by examining the product-market expansion grid.

Market Penetration Product Development

Market Development Diversification

Existing Markets

New Markets

New ProductsExisting Products

Question

• You decide to develop a new product. But how do you determine which product to develop?

• What is so hard about determining this Golden Goose?

The Problem Defined

• How do we identify and prioritize the right mix of new products to develop?

• Many stage/phase-based processes tell you what to do AFTER you have determined which product to develop.

Product C

Product B

Product A

The Challenge

• Multiple Sources of Input– Internal Stakeholders (Executives, Parent

Company/BOD, Sales force, Engineers, etc.)– External Stakeholders (Customers, Shareholders,

Vendors, etc.)• Lack of a Reliable Process• No Crystal Ball X

Where To Start?

• Understand the Market• Innovate Concepts• Select a Process for Evaluation of Concepts• Move Forward with Confidence

Step 1 - Understanding the Market

Stefan Thomke – How Can a Company Balance Creativity and Innovation With the Need for

Process and Structure?

"the key, underlying principle of the problem" and then the "beautiful, elegant solution that works.”

Step 2 - Innovate Concepts

How do we generate product ideas through innovation?• Product Concepts:– Existing (from internal/external sources)

• Need to consolidate concepts

– Non-existing• Ideation: Brainstorming + Wycoff’s Play Theory Thinking

– Divergent – Support, Wander, Associate, Morph, Inquire– Convergent – Sort, Order, Adapt, Refine, Select

Product A

Product A

Product A

Product A

Product A

Product A

Product A

Product A

Product A

Product A Product

A

What the Experts Say

Venkatakrishnan Balasubramanian –Dimensions of the framework for conceptualizing an

idea

The two views of the business model for the idea and the business strategy of the enterprise combine to give five important dimensions that an innovator can use to think through and conceptualize the idea.

1) Competitive Advantage 2) Business Alignment 3) Customers 4) Execution 5) Business Value

Step 3 - The Evaluative Process

• Processes:– Subjective Approach• Just Do What Your Boss Asks• Arbitrary Selection/TIATWASWS

– Objective Approach• Weighted/Scored Analysis• Nail It, Then Scale It• Good to Great• Optimizing the Stage-Gate Process

Weighted Analysis Scorecard

• Strategic Assessment• Identify criteria• Weight criteria• Score each criterion• Add up score and compare with other ideas

Nail It Then Scale It

Innovation = The intersection of science and industry.

Science Industry

INVENTION INSIGHT

INN

OVATIO

N

Good to GreatThe Hedgehog Concept = the intersection of what you can

be the best in the world at, what you are deeply passionate about, and what drives your economic engine.

Stage Gate

Adding a Discovery Phase

Step 4 – Move Forward With Confidence

1. Strategy is in place.2. You’ve listened to the market.3. You’ve brainstormed ideas for concepts.4. You’ve introduced a process to evaluate the

concepts.5. Now you’re ready to move toward product

development with confidence that your product will be successful in achieving the goal of profitable growth.

Case Study – The UPS Stores• Follows a process that is a

combination of the optimized stage-gate process and weighted scale analysis.

• Pros – brings objectivity into the evaluative process, and the analysis provides rationale for the go/no-go decision.

• Cons – Insufficient resources to adequately evaluate the quantity of concepts, interference from executive staff in the process.

Case Study - Apple

• Apple used a market research approach combined with usability experience studies.

• At first, they tried a product-centric approach with Motorola, which failed.

• When they brought the project in-house and based the product on what the market wanted, they succeeded.

Case Study – CB Richard Ellis

• In an off-site strategy meeting, we conducted a brainstorming session driven by the Hedgehog concept.

• The participants were divided into 3 teams for brainstorming.

• Ideas generated were then categorized and consolidated.

BEFORE

Case Study – CB Richard Ellis

The intersection of 3 areas.What product enhancements should we pursue?• Improved customer

experience/footprint• Portfolio data/reporting• Improved analytics• Axis Community• Sustainability module

AFTER

Conclusion

• Optimal new product introductions will start with a thorough understanding of the market.

• Ideation and a consolidation of existing ideas will provide a pool of concepts to consider.

• Select a process for evaluating and scoring the concepts based on how well a new product will align with corporate goals and strategy.

• Prioritize projects based on the outcome.

Contact Us!

Chris MarocchiPresident, Klear Strat, LLC

chris@klearstrat.comKlearstrat.com@klearstrat