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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Provides managers with actionable insight into a select set of innovation constraints and how to best deal with them This PDMA Essentials Book, the third in this series, provides a framework of individual, organizational, and market and societal constraints that guides managers in identifying specific constraints related to their innovation activities and provides them with corresponding tools and practices to overcome and leverage those constraints. Written by a team of international innovation experts, Leveraging Constraints for Innovation: New Product Development Essentials from the PDMA is presented in three parts. The first part, Individual Constraints, provides insights into how to: simultaneously solve social and commercial needs for greater creativity; apply a multi-stage approach to overcome knowledge sharing in teams; and anticipate and account for psychographic differences among customers during product launch. In the second part, Organizational Constraints, insights emerge that provide guidance on how to: identify and solve for sources of innovation constraints within the company; implement and manage virtual NPD teams; and effectively organize new service development in professional services. The last part, Market Constraints, examines how to: adapt firm capabilities to overcome constraints preventing consumers in low-end and under-resourced markets from purchasing new products; implement inclusive innovation strategies to address markets constrained by underdeveloped infrastructures; develop solutions for women and other disadvantaged market traders in emerging markets. This book: * Is a single comprehensive volume that covers the full spectrum of constraint-related strategies and techniques in a coherent, integrated fashion * Provides a set of frameworks, techniques, and tools that can be immediately implemented by individuals across firms * Offers how-to knowledge on specific tools and methods as applied to innovating products and services when facing constraints as well as for the development of new business models * Integrates problem- and solution-based knowledge to enable companies to develop sustainable growth strategies by leveraging constraints and restrictions toward innovation strategies, processes and offerings Leveraging Constraints for Innovation: New Product Development Essentials from the PDMA is an ideal book for all product development professionals, including marketers, engineers, project managers, and business managers in both startups and well-established firms, and from a broad range of industries from heavy manufacturing to the service sector.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
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Table of Contents
COVER
ABOUT THE EDITORS
INTRODUCTION
I.1 Why Do We Need This Book?
I.2 Thinking about Innovation Challenges: Failures, Barriers, and Constraints
I.3 The Standard New Product Development Process
I.4 Understanding Constraints and Their Impact on the Standard Product Development Process
I.5 Mapping the Book: Where to Find Specific Constraints and Corresponding Solutions
References
Part 1: INDIVIDUAL CONSTRAINTS IN NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
1 FROM SUSTAINABILITY CONSTRAINTS TO CREATIVE ACTION: INCREASING MANAGERIAL INNOVATION BY SIMULTANEOUSLY SOLVING SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL NEEDS
Introduction: From Constraints to Innovation
1.1 The Inherent Uncertainty of the Innovation Process
1.2 Innovation: The Tension Between Creativity and Implementation
1.3 Sustainability Constraints: Enablers of Innovation
1.4 From Innovation to Performance: Creating a Corporate Sustainability Agenda
1.5 Avoiding the Potentially Negative Effects of Adopting Sustainability Constraints
1.6 Conclusion
References
About the Authors
2 A PRACTICE-ORIENTED APPROACH TO OVERCOME KNOWLEDGE-SHARING BOUNDARIES IN INNOVATION PROJECTS
Introduction
2.1 Knowledge-Sharing Boundaries in Innovation Projects
2.2 Solving Knowledge-Sharing Boundaries in Five Stages
2.3 Conclusion
References
Appendix
About the Authors
Note
3 THE CONSUMER AS THE LAST CONSTRAINT: ADDRESSING PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS IN NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
3.1 The Consumer as Constraint: Why Firms Manage Consumers Insufficiently
3.2 What Are Psychological Constraints?
3.3 Being Constrained by “How I Am”
3.4 Being Constrained by “How I Think”
3.5 Being Constrained by “How I Feel”
3.6 Uncovering Psychological Constraints
References
About the Author
Part 2: ORGANIZATIONAL CONSTRAINTS
4 IDENTIFYING AND OVERCOMING ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATION CONSTRAINTS
Introduction
4.1 Systematic Identification of Organizational Innovation Constraints
4.2 Overcoming Innovation Constraints: The Innovation Think Tank
References
Further Reading
About the Authors
5 NEW SERVICE DEVELOPMENT FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: TIME COMMITMENT AS THE SCARCEST RESOURCE
Introduction
5.1 The Peculiarities of Innovating in Professional Services
The Key Role of Professionals in the Innovation Process
5.2 Understanding Time as an Innovation Constraint in Professional Services
5.3 Resolving Time as an Innovation Constraint in Professional Services: The Innovation Support Function
5.4 Conclusion
References
About the Author
6 BRIDGING COMMUNICATION GAPS IN VIRTUAL TEAMS
Introduction
6.1 A Lean Team Is Virtual in NPD
6.2 The Basics of Virtual Teams
6.3 Initiation and Structure
6.4 Communication Practices
6.5 Meetings and Protocols
6.6 Knowledge Management
6.7 Leadership
6.8 Conclusion: What Makes Successful Lean Virtual Teams
Appendix: Case Study Application of the VTM
References
Further Reading
About the Authors
Notes
Part 3: MARKET CONSTRAINTS
7 HOW TO DEVELOP LOW-END INNOVATION CAPABILITIES: ADAPTING CAPABILITIES TO OVERCOME CONSTRAINTS FOR CONSUMERS IN LOW-END MARKETS
Introduction
7.1 Why Are Low-End Innovations Important, and How Do They Differ from Standard Practice?
7.2 Which Constraints Do Low-End Innovators Face?
7.3 Adaptations: Methods and Processes to Develop Low-End Innovation Capabilities
7.4 Defining the Path for Developing Low-End Innovation Capabilities
7.5 Conclusion
References
About the Author
8 DEVELOPING SOLUTIONS FOR UNDERRESOURCED MARKETS
Introduction
8.1 The Traditional New Product Development Process
8.2 Factors to Consider when Designing for Underresourced Markets
8.3 A New Approach for Underresourced Markets: Obtain User Knowledge and Partner with Local Organizations
8.4 Lessons from the Field Study
8.5 Adaptation of NPD Processes for Underresourced Markets
8.6 Conclusions
References
About the Authors
9 OVERCOMING MARKET CONSTRAINTS IN EMERGING MARKETS: LESSONS FROM SOCIAL ENTERPRISES IN THE INDIAN HEALTHCARE SECTOR
Introduction
9.1 Market and Innovation Constraints in Emerging Markets
9.2 Inclusive Strategies of Social Enterprises
9.3 Conclusion and Outlook
References
About the Authors
10 AMBIGUITY AND MISDIRECTION? BRING IT ON! LESSONS ABOUT OVERCOMING FROM WOMEN MARKET TRADERS
Introduction
10.1 Innovation and Rule Breaking
10.2 Constraints Arising from Gender, Social Class, and Their Intersection
10.3 Five Practical Suggestions
10.4 Conclusion
References
About the Authors
Note
INDEX
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
List of Tables
Chapter 1
Table 1.1: Creating sustainability constraints
Chapter 2
Table 2.1: Self-assessment reflection questions (Stage 1).
Table 2.2: Self-assessment reflection questions (Stage 2).
Chapter 3
Table 3.1: Psychological constraints to innovation adoption.
Table 3.2: Types of “How I am” constraints to innovation adoption.
Table 3.3: Types of “How I think” constraints to innovation adoption.
Table 3.4: Types of “How I feel” constraints to innovation adoption.
Table 3.5: Survey instrument for the in-detail market study.
Chapter 4
Table 4.1: : Overview of empirical study
Chapter 6
Table 6.1: A comparison of standard and lean NPD.
Table 6.2: Establishing a new virtual team for product development.
Table 6.3: Managing an existing virtual product development team.
Table 6.4: Using collaboration tools to generate reusable knowledge.
Table 6.5: Leadership for virtual team engagement.
Chapter 7
Table 7.1: Innovation constraints and corresponding adaptions of standard NPD practice for low-end innovations.
Chapter 8
Table 8.1: Key factors to research in the specific underresourced market.
Chapter 9
Table 9.1: Market constraints in India's emerging healthcare markets.
Table 9.2: Inclusive strategies and the key takeaways.
Chapter 10
Table 10.1: Threats women market traders face.
Table 10.2: Five practical suggestions for emerging market adaptation readiness.
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Figure I.1: Three types of challenges companies typically encounter during their innovation efforts and corresponding solution forms.
Figure I.2: The standard staged and gated product development process.
Figure I.3: How constraints turn product development process activities from enablers into disablers of NPD success.
Figure I.4: Innovation constraints and corresponding solutions: Mapping the book.
Part 1
Figure P1.1: Individual constraints in NPD.
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1: Resulting uncertainty from idea creativity levels
c
1,
c
2, and
c
3. Notes: A manager's uncertainty limit is represented by horizontal line at uncertainty level of
a
. The positive and increasing relation between creativity and uncertainty is represented by line
ρ
.
Figure 1.2: Sustainability constraints as enablers of creativity and the decision to implement.
Figure 1.3: Effect of a corporate sustainability agenda on creativity and innovation. Note: Shaded area represents competitive advantage differential of better future expectations.
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1: Knowledge-sharing boundaries in innovation projects.
Figure 2.2: Hints for knowledge-sharing boundaries.
Figure 2.3: Overview of boundary types, boundary-crossing mechanisms and exemplary innovation practices. Adapted from Rau (2012).
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1: Structure of an innovation constraint.
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1: The key role of innovation champions in professional services.
Figure 5.2: The standard approach versus the adaptation.
Figure 5.3: Steps to create an innovation support function.
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1: A lean NPD virtual team model (VTM).
Figure 6.2: VTM practices for improved communication.
Figure 6.3: Example of dispersed NPD project forum.
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1: Creative thinking to solve low-end problems (example).
Figure 7.2: Capability development process.
Figure 7.3: Step 1 of the capability development process.
Figure 7.4: Step 2 of the capability development process.
Figure 7.5: Step 3 of the capability development process.
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1: (a) Typical approach in a developed market. (b) Common challenges in underresourced markets. (c) New approach for underresourced markets.
Figure 8.2: Biogas rice cooker: corroded parts.
Figure 8.3: Adaptation of NPD process showing links with local organization.
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 Societal goals and means typology.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
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E1
LEVERAGING CONSTRAINTS FOR INNOVATION: NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ESSENTIALS FROM THE PDMA
Sebastian Gurtner
Jelena Spanjol
Abbie Griffin
Copyright © 2018 Product Development and Management Association. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New JerseyPublished simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with the respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom.
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Cover Image: © Stock.com/antishockCover Design: Wiley
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gurtner, Sebastian, editor. | Spanjol, Jelena, editor. | Griffin, Abbie, editor.
Title: Leveraging constraints for innovation : new product development essentials from the PDMA / [edited by] Sebastian Gurtner, Jelena Spanjol, Abbie Griffin.
Description: 1st edition. | Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018023888 (print) | LCCN 2018028982 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119390282 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119390275 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119389309 | ISBN 9781119389309 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: New products—Management. | New products—Marketing. | Product Development & Management Association.
Classification: LCC HF5415.153 (ebook) | LCC HF5415.153 .G88 2018 (print) | DDC 658.8/101—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018023888
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Dr. Sebastian Gurtner joined the Bern University of Applied Sciences in 2016 as a research professor with a focus on healthcare and innovation management. He leads the team strategy and innovation at its School of Business and serves as head of the executive education program Management in Healthcare Organizations. His research focuses on the creation of value with innovation and in this context especially on low-end innovation, social innovation, and resistance against innovation. While his research tackles issues of several industries, the healthcare setting always receives special attention, as the challenges in healthcare are directly linked to the well-being of our society. He has published in a variety of peer-reviewed academic journals, such as the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Long Range Planning, the Journal of Business Research, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Medical Decision Making, and Health Care Management Review.
Dr. Jelena Spanjol is professor and head of the Institute for Innovation Management at the Munich School of Management, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany. Prior to joining LMU, she held faculty positions at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Texas A&M University. Her research examines innovation dynamics across micro-, meso-, and macro-levels. In her current work she explores how innovation is motivated by and addresses societal challenges. Her research has been published in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Marketing Letters, Journal of Business Ethics, Health Psychology, and in various book chapters. She currently serves on the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of Product Innovation Management and Creativity and Innovation Management as well as serving as an Associate Editor for the domain of innovation at the Journal of Business Research.
Dr. Abbie Griffin holds the Royal L. Garff Endowed Chair in Marketing at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, where she teaches the core MBA intro Marketing Management and Undergrad Capstone Marketing courses. Professor Griffin's research investigates means for measuring and improving the process of new product development. Her research has been published in Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, and the Journal of Product Innovation Management, among other journals, as well as in the book titled Serial Innovators: How Individuals in Large Organizations Create Breakthrough New Products. Her 1993 article titled “Voice of the Customer” was awarded both the Frank M. Bass Dissertation Paper Award and the John D.C. Little Best Paper Award by INFORMS and has been named the seventh most important article published in Marketing Science in the last 25 years. She was the editor of the Journal of Product Innovation Management, the leading academic journal in the areas of product and technology development from 1998 to 2003, and the Product Development and Management Association named her as a Crawford Fellow in 2009. She was on the Board of Directors of Navistar International, a $13 billion manufacturer of diesel engines and trucks, from 1998 to 2009. Professor Griffin is an avid quilter, hiker, and scuba diver.
INTRODUCTION
Jelena Spanjol
Professor and Head, Institute for Innovation Management, Munich School of Management, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, GermanySebastian Gurtner
Professor of Health Care Management, Strategy & Innovation, Institute for Corporate Development, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Bern, Switzerland
I.1 Why Do We Need This Book?
Since the seminal work of the SAPPHO (Rothwell et al., 1974) and NewProd (Cooper, 1979) studies in the 1970s and 1980s, much has been written about how to support and enable innovation and what factors are critical to ensure innovation success. A simple search on Google Books for “innovation success factors” results in over 197,000 hits. Despite these many writings, conclusively benchmarking a reliable set of new product success factors has become more difficult over the past two decades, as the marketplace is increasingly dynamic and global, thus turning previously differentiating success factors into basic competitive norms. In this information age where globalized co-creation and data-rich environments are on our doorstep, simply meeting current needs of existing customers no longer ensures new product market success.
Innovation failure – the flip side of success factors and enablers – while of great interest to firms, has received far less attention. The Google Books “failure” search results in fewer than half the number of hits as the success search. Moreover, our understanding of innovation challenges lacks a coherent typology or framework, which could help firms more systematically overcome them. This relatively less researched side of innovation management persists despite the importance of “failing to succeed” highlighted in management books.
In this introductory chapter, we:
Organize innovation challenges into three categories (failures, barriers and constraints);
Indicate why we focus on constraints to innovation and how firms can adapt their innovation processes and organizations to overcome them;
Briefly review the “standard” innovation process firms follow;
Outline and define the three different types of innovation constraints – individual, organizational, and market;
Depict where different types of constraints occur in the new product development (NPD) process, where the constraints must be addressed, and where they ultimately manifest if not appropriately dealt with; and
Overview the contents of the rest of the chapters.
In summary, the goal of this chapter is twofold: to provide the background information on “standard” NPD processes and constraints firms may run into such that this material need not be repeated in later chapters and to guide readers to the chapter(s) that may provide them the largest benefit, given their firm's current situation.
I.2 Thinking about Innovation Challenges: Failures, Barriers, and Constraints
Challenges to innovation are diverse, with each type requiring a different solution. Overall, however, innovation challenges fall into three major types: barriers, failures, and constraints (Figure I.1). Firms that stick to their standard NPD approach without managing failures, barriers, and constraints appropriately experience unsatisfactory outcomes, including increased development costs, consumer resistance, delayed adoption, and/or even regulatory interventions that entirely prevent market introduction.
Figure I.1: Three types of challenges companies typically encounter during their innovation efforts and corresponding solution forms.
Innovation failures are projects with unsatisfactory outcomes or with expectations that are not met somewhere during the NPD process (Figure I.1, top). Failures require iterating the unsatisfactory phase, with appropriate changes – in short, redos. For example, a product prototype that is not manufacturable must be sent back, perhaps as far back as concept development, and redesigned for manufacturability.
Slightly different are innovation barriers, which stop or heavily delay planned NPD processes (Figure I.1, middle). An innovation barrier requires a work-around or detour. Pilot manufacturing facilities that are not available in a timely manner because they are busy producing other products may require using a contract manufacturer as a work-around to keep the project on schedule.
Both failures and barriers are project-specific challenges – flaws in the process as applied (failure) or unavailable resources (barrier) prevents success in this project. Solutions to these challenges are one-time only and must be developed specifically to fix the problem in just this project.
Innovation constraints are a bit different, as they are challenges that apply to an entire set of NPD projects that have contextually different circumstances from “regular” projects. Innovation constraints thus restrict or limit the applicability of the planned, “regular” (i.e. standard) NPD processes in some way. Therefore, overcoming an innovation constraint necessitates a modification or adaptation of the standard innovation approach, as the constraint represents a nonstandard situation or context for innovation efforts (Figure I.1, bottom). However, and what differentiates constraints from failures or barriers, is that firms can put in place an adaptation to their current “regular” process to repeatedly address all projects that suffer from these constraints.
This book focuses on tools and techniques that overcome various types of innovation constraints. If done right, these adaptations can serve as catalysts to improve an organization's innovation efforts.
I.3 The Standard New Product Development Process
To fully understand what a modification entails, we briefly review the standard NPD process. A product development process is a “disciplined and defined set of tasks, steps, and phases that describe the normal means by which a company repetitively converts embryonic ideas into salable products or services” (see O'Connor, 2004; Watson, 2004). Key to this definition is the “repetitive” aspect of the process. To function effectively and repeatedly produce successful new products, the development process standardizes key developmental activities, processes, and structures.
Research and practice alike have long recognized that the development of new products and services should not be left to chance but actively managed. To understand how NPD works best, researchers have studied companies that most successfully manage the process from the idea for a new product up to its market launch. What the findings show – and examples of successful companies such as Procter & Gamble and 3M illustrate – is that one of the most successful ways of managing NPD is some form of cross-functional phased development process, such as the various forms of the basic Stage-Gate™ Process (Cooper, 1990; Cooper and Sommer, 2016). In this approach, the company rigorously defines and monitors NPD projects along a series of stages and gates. While generally staged and gated NPD processes can differ in how they are specifically implemented, one popular version is the Stage-Gate® process.
The “standard” Stage-Gate process consists of six stages and five gates, as shown in Figure I.2. The gates are the points in time when the potential of the project and progress made in a stage is judged by a defined set of evaluators according to a defined set of criteria. For example, at the gate following the stage “business case,” both technical and business experts evaluate the project in terms of technical feasibility and market potential. At each gate, the firm decides whether the project will move on to the next stage, iterate some aspect of development, or be canceled. This allows companies to reduce uncertainty early in the project life cycle, constantly monitor their project portfolio, and allocate resources only to those projects that promise the highest return.
Figure I.2: The standard staged and gated product development process.
I.4 Understanding Constraints and Their Impact on the Standard Product Development Process
Recognizing, understanding, and addressing contextual constraints impacting the effectiveness of the standard product development process is more challenging than addressing project-specific failures and barriers. An innovation constraint represents two challenges: First, it is a problem that is located outside the NPD process. Second, where the constraint needs to be addressed, and where its negative effects bear out, may be different points in the product development process.
Innovation Constraints: Located Outside the NPD Process
The standard NPD process consists of a series of activity phases, punctuated by decision events. In essence, the development process represents a flow. This flow's momentum can be stopped by a barrier requiring circumvention. It can also take on an undesired state (i.e. failure) requiring a redo. A constraint, however, does not impact the flow of the development process directly but rather changes the circumstances of the standard flow in some manner. For example, an emerging market's cultural peculiarities (such as the hidden role of women in the economy) do not impact the development process per se but make standard market research (focus groups, surveys) less effective in the discovery stage. As a result, constraints are more diffuse, which can make pinpointing and implementing a corresponding solution more challenging.
Differently put, a misalignment exists between the standard development process as a flow of activities and constraints as contextual characteristics in which this flow is embedded. To make a solution more evident, we must first distinguish the general types of constraints that might affect the NPD process. In this volume, we distinguish among individual, organizational, and market constraints. Accordingly, the book is structured into three sections reflecting these three types.
Our definition of the three innovation constraint types reflects the scope within which these contextual factors operate:
Individual constraints
are related to characteristics of important individuals in the innovation process, either people involved in the development process (e.g. managers and team members) or individual customers. For example, when individuals on an NPD team bring very different knowledge bases and perspectives to the project, it represents a possible constraint to knowledge transfer among those individuals.
Organizational constraints
relate to aspects of structures, processes, and resources that firms utilize and require to develop new products and services. For example, teams that are dispersed, rather than colocated, can potentially constrain the effectiveness of the NPD process due to communication and other disruptions.
Market constraints
relate to particularities of specific markets that are targeted for the new product under development. For example, cultural standards in emerging markets (such as the role of women in the economy) can constrain the discovery phase effectiveness.
Innovation Constraints: Chronological Disconnect Between Occurrence and Effect
A second challenge with innovation constraints is that they seldom present immediate negative repercussions within the development process. Instead, an innovation constraint in the ideation phase might not fully manifest its adverse effect until much later, for example, in commercialization. If the communication challenges of dispersed teams are not addressed in the discovery phase, demonstrating the business case will suffer. Similarly, if consumer attitudes and tendencies toward resisting new product adoption are not recognized and addressed in the testing and validation stage, launch performance will be diminished.
The chronological differences between constraint occurrence and constraint effect are shown in Figure I.3. When the constraint is not present, the normal activities in the NPD process function as enablers of NPD success (Figure I.3, top). When a constraint is present, the same activity can turn into a disabling activity, leading to lower process effectiveness and negatively affecting the output in subsequent stages (Figure I.3, bottom).
Figure I.3: How constraints turn product development process activities from enablers into disablers of NPD success.
By defining where the constraint occurs and how it impacts the NPD process, a corresponding adaption (or modification) of the affected NPD process activity can be identified. More specifically, a constraint (such as the cultural standards of the targeted emerging market) can turn process activities (such as standard market research) from enabling a successful NPD outcome (by uncovering needs and opportunities) to disabling or preventing it (by leading to misleading conclusions about the target market). The full effect of the constraint might not be evident until the testing or launch phase. However, the adaptation required to address the constraint fully is needed in the discovery phase.
I.5 Mapping the Book: Where to Find Specific Constraints and Corresponding Solutions
Our goal in this book is to provide managers with actionable insights into a select set of innovation constraints and how to best deal with them. To facilitate navigation through the book, we map out the subsequent chapters in Figure I.4, identifying the constraint and where its solution must be applied in the NPD process. Note that this does not indicate where the specific constraint manifests in terms of negative consequences. A full explanation of the adverse impact from the constraints is given in each chapter. Most important, the chapters describe in detail how to adapt the standard NPD process in order to address each identified constraint.
Figure I.4: Innovation constraints and corresponding solutions: Mapping the book.
While Figure I.4 provides a road map to the book, we also preface each section with a brief overview of the chapters in that section, for ease of referencing.
References
Cooper, R. G. (1979). The dimensions of industrial new product success and failure.
Journal of Marketing
93–103.
Cooper, R. G. (1990). Stage-gate systems: a new tool for managing new products.
Business Horizons
33 (3): 44–54.
Cooper, R. G. and Sommer, A.F. (2016).
The agile–Stage-Gate hybrid model: a promising new approach and a new research opportunity
.
Journal of Product Innovation Management
, 33 (5), 513–526.
O'Connor, P. (2004). Implementing product development. In K. B. Kahn, ed.,
The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development
, 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 59–72.
Rothwell, R., Freeman, C., Horlsey, A. et al. (1974). SAPPHO updated – project SAPPHO phase II.
Research Policy
3 (3): 258–291.
Watson, W. M. (2004). Process ownership. In K. B. Kahn, ed.,
The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development
, 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 73–80.
Part 1INDIVIDUAL CONSTRAINTS IN NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Individually arising innovation constraints are imposed by or come to life through individuals who effect new product development (NPD) success. Those individuals can be customers of the new product or service, employees in the company who spend their time developing new products and services, or managers within the firm who make decisions about projects or manage innovation teams. While other types of individuals also may potentially influence new product success (e.g. suppliers and other external stakeholders), internal innovation employees and customers are the most common and account for the largest part of success or failure of new products. This first part of the book focuses on overcoming individual constraints exhibited by innovation managers (Chapter 1), members of product development teams (Chapter 2), and customers (Chapter 3), as illustrated in Figure P1.1.
Figure P1.1: Individual constraints in NPD.
In the standard innovation process (see the introduction), several gates determine when and how decision makers evaluate an innovation project and decide if it will proceed to the next stage or if it will be terminated. While ideally those decisions are based on rational predetermined decision criteria, in reality decision makers frequently use intuition or rely on personal biases to make decisions, especially in situations with high uncertainty and complexity, as is the case for NPD decisions. In the end, it is the interplay among risk, uncertainty, and decision maker characteristics that influences the decision-making process and leads individuals to select one project over another.
Chapter 1 in this part analyzes the role of uncertainty and creativity in decisions for NPD projects. The chapter considers constraints due to individuals in the firm and their managers who must combine knowledge and resources in new ways to create an innovation. In general, both research and practice agree that successful NPD needs highly creative and committed individuals as well as facilitation. Research highlights that individual innovative behavior in the workplace is determined by individual characteristics, exchange with and support from supervisors, and organizational commitment. It is the task of the organization to make sure that the creative potential of its employees is realized and that no constraints hinder the birth and growth of innovative projects.
Communication and knowledge-sharing boundaries are critical constraints that can prevent NPD teams from working creatively and efficiently. Chapter 2 tackles these constraints, specifically focusing on NPD teams that consist of individuals with different backgrounds and expertise. Based on a systematization of knowledge-sharing boundaries, the authors present a five-stage solution on how to make knowledge sharing work, despite the interdisciplinarity and heterogeneity of individuals on NPD teams.
Arguably the most crucial group that directly affects NPD success is customers, because they ultimately choose to adopt or reject an innovation. Customer constraints at the individual level differ from constraints in the market in aggregate, which are dealt with in Part 3 of this book. Chapter 3 builds on research that has found that, for individual customers, usage intensity of the product category, income, individual innovativeness, and susceptibility to normative influence determines whether an individual tries a new product or not. It is not people's demographics or position in society that drives their intention to adopt a new product or service as much as their psychographics, or values and attitudes, such as product involvement, individual innovativeness, and opinion leadership. Not all potential customers are created equal; it is their individual differences that can constrain the success of new products and services. Chapter 3 thus takes a deep dive into the personality of customers and depicts identity-related, cognitive, and emotional constraints that prevent individuals from adopting new products and services. After explaining the roots of these constraints, the author shows how to identify them and provides ideas about strategies that help to overcome those trait-based constraints.
1FROM SUSTAINABILITY CONSTRAINTS TO CREATIVE ACTION: INCREASING MANAGERIAL INNOVATION BY SIMULTANEOUSLY SOLVING SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL NEEDS
Goran CalicMcMaster University, Hamilton, ON, CanadaMaryam GhasemaghaeiMcMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
Introduction: From Constraints to Innovation
In this chapter, we aim to advance the following proposition: Simultaneously solving social and commercial needs – sustainability constraints – results in greater product innovation. The common belief is that this position is false, because the simultaneous attention to both of these needs necessarily constrains the idea set, from which a manager can draw, to only those ideas that simultaneously do more good than harm to the environment and society (i.e. those that are socially sustainable) and those that are profit generating (i.e. those that are commercially successful). Such product ideas are rarer than are those that meet only the social or the commercial criteria. One would expect that this constraint would have negative consequences on product innovation by decreasing the number of opportunities available to a manager, but we argue that the opposite is true. In doing so, we present a straightforward yet counterintuitive way to enhance managerial innovation.
The marketplace for new products, with continuous changes in consumer preferences, presents managers with a constant stream of potential opportunities. Those opportunities are captured through innovations that meet specific consumer needs and wants. Yet innovation can proceed only if managers discover creative ideas (Stage 1) and subsequently implement those ideas as better procedures, processes, or products (Stage 2). Thus, new product innovation first requires discovery, then it requires action.
Before continuing, we must emphasize that enhancing product innovation may not result in better performance (e.g. greater profitability, higher market share, better solutions to problems, more benefits for managers). Innovation is inherently uncertain. Product offerings that are dramatically different from past products can result in inordinate losses or gains. How managers can reduce the likelihood of negative outcomes is briefly covered in Section 1.4 of this chapter.
Because pictures are good at conveying relationships, we rely on simple graphs to present the intuition behind the argument that simultaneously solving social and commercial needs will increase product innovation. The graphs are not only an alternative method of presenting the same arguments. They have the potential to provide the reader with insights beyond those explicit in the text.
The remainder of the chapter is organized as follows. In Section 1.1, we define innovation as a two-stage process – creativity as the first stage and implementation as the second stage. In Section 1.2, we link the two concepts and discuss their point of intersection. In Section 1.3, we present arguments supporting a positive relationship among sustainability constraints, creativity, and implementation. Here we also introduce some guiding questions managers can consider in order to include both social and commercial criteria in decision making. We introduce the corporate sustainability agenda, a strategy for turning sustainability constraints into performance, in Section 1.4. In Section 1.5, we cover situations when sustainability constraints reduce innovation. Section 1.6 concludes the chapter.
1.1 The Inherent Uncertainty of the Innovation Process
The innovation process begins with creative problem solving. A creative process generates ideas that are original and useful and have the potential to revolutionize or change the direction of a field. Such ideas are also characterized by uncertainty and nonobvious utility to the individual, as they are generally new and untested approaches. That is, the manager generating the idea is ignorant of a creative idea's utility until the idea is implemented.
Although newness is closely related to creativity, an idea does not have to be completely new to be considered creative; it must only be creative in the context to which it is applied. The application of an existing product to a new market is consistent with this conceptualization of a creative idea. In the context of business, a creative product need not be new. An imitation product can also be creative. Entrepreneurial competition involves businesspeople who follow the leader with cheaper or similar products. An entrepreneur who successfully “follows” an originator and offers a similar product still discovers an opportunity in the marketplace (e.g. better location, better price). For instance, if the follower's profits are the result of a product shortage, the manager foresaw the future fact that consumers would want more of the product than anyone, including the originator, expected. Yet creativity alone is not enough for innovation to occur.
Researchers have examined the possibility that creativity and implementation are two distinguishable elements of the innovation processes. Evidence from this line of work suggests that creative ideas are likely to be met with resistance, skepticism, and hesitation. Thus, although creative ideas may be desirable, their very nature is likely to generate reluctance about their implementation. Successful innovation requires both the generation of creative ideas and their subsequent implementation. In the next section, we discuss this interaction.
1.2 Innovation: The Tension Between Creativity and Implementation
Maximizing the conditions that increase creativity is unlikely to translate directly into a maximization of implementation. In fact, the maximization of some factors that increase creativity may result in the inhibition of implementation.
Restructuring of knowledge has been linked to creativity. Such restructuring results in a movement away from an “either/or” and toward a “both/and” way of thinking about the world. Because a movement toward a more flexible thinking style increases the availability of alternative perspectives, “right” and “wrong” are no longer fixed. When managers begin to permit the simultaneous existence of multiple perspectives, the environment can be interpreted in many more ways. Such a representation of the environment allows for the possibility of more creative solutions. However, such representations will also increase uncertainty, not necessarily in the sense that managers are less capable of implementing the creative idea but in the sense that more viable alternatives exist. More options mean much more information is sought out before a course of action is taken; and when a course of action has been taken, it is less fixed, and managers remain open to the perception that other choices may have been superior. This is the inherent tension faced by managers during the implementation process. In a quest to become more creative, people usually also become more indecisive. The relationships among creativity, uncertainty, and implementation can be represented graphically, as shown in Figure 1.1
Figure 1.1 plots the tension between creativity and implementation. The continuously increasing line, ρ, is the creativity of a generated idea in relation to its perceived uncertainty. This graph represents the fact that managers are more uncertain about creative ideas than they are about conventional ideas. The slope of the curve represents the strength of the relationship. That is, a steeper curve would mean a stronger positive relation between creativity and uncertainty. The representation also demonstrates that the greater the uncertainty in an idea, the faster uncertainty tends to increase. In other words, small gains in creativity of conventional ideas increase uncertainty less than do small gains in creativity of creative ideas. The straight line at uncertainty = a represents an uncertainty limit on implementation, which is the uppermost boundary of uncertainty a manager is willing to face. Uncertainty above a will preclude action. Conceptually, ideas found on or below the uncertainty limit are sufficiently close to the current way of doing things that management is willing to commit resources and take the necessary risk to implement an idea. For example, an automotive industry manager attempting to reduce carbon dioxide emissions may invest in hybrid powertrain technology (a product innovation that can be represented by c2 in Figure 1.1) because it combines ideas that are more conventional (i.e. the internal combustion engine, which can be represented by c1) with ideas that are more creative (i.e. full-electric powertrain, which can be represented by c3). In this example, the hybrid technology product innovation would fall on the manager's uncertainty limit. The same manager may reject the idea of a full-electric powertrain because the idea's future success is highly uncertain and above the manager's uncertainty limit. It is important to note that we focus on the manager's cognitive process as it pertains to the generation of ideas and the decision to act on those ideas. We avoid discussion about external inhibitors of innovation, such as the firm's or consumer's reluctance to accept a novel product.
Figure 1.1: Resulting uncertainty from idea creativity levels c1, c2, and c3. Notes: A manager's uncertainty limit is represented by horizontal line at uncertainty level of a. The positive and increasing relation between creativity and uncertainty is represented by line ρ.
Given the graph in Figure 1.1, a manager interested in enhancing innovation could attempt to (i) increase her uncertainty limit (an upward movement of a) and/or (ii) increase average idea creativity (a rightward movement along the creativity line). Neither alone would enhance innovation. In the next section, we explore how sustainability constraints can result in increases to creativity and implementation together.
1.3 Sustainability Constraints: Enablers of Innovation
Social and commercial needs may seem desirable in isolation, but they are often contradictory when combined. The need to address these demands simultaneously leads to a risk of unintended consequences, since a solution to one criterion (social or commercial) could be detrimental to that of the other criterion. For instance, a restaurateur may choose to reduce her environmental impact by restricting food sourcing from global to local suppliers. However, profitable local sourcing can turn out to be more complex than the manager first thought. Local sourcing reduces the total number of ingredients available to a chef, which makes the production of some dishes impossible. This could result in a less appealing menu. Furthermore, local sourcing can add operational complexity by fragmenting the supply chain from one, or few, global supplies to many small, usually less managerially sophisticated, suppliers. Small suppliers are less likely to deploy total quality management (TQM) or just-in-time (JIT) systems than are large multinational firms. As such, sustainability constraints can result in a decision-making context that pushes a decision maker to think creatively and take risks. Combining interrelated yet seemingly contradictory elements, such as social and commercial needs, can increase both creativity and implementation.
Sustainability Constraints: Enablers of Creativity
Sustainability constraints may be especially effective at enabling creativity. A number of studies find that constraining a task increases the number of creative inventions generated by participants. In several studies of creative imagery, the number of creative inventions increased significantly as the task became more constrained. The greatest number of creative inventions was obtained when component parts and the interpretive categories were randomly constrained at the beginning of the experiment. In 1080 trials of the experiment, 49 objects were classified as creative when the category and parts were randomly restricted. When the participants could choose the parts, 17 creative inventions were generated; when they could choose the category, 31 creative inventions were generated. Similarly, it can be expected that a chef restricted to fewer ingredients resulting from a move to local food sourcing may produce more creative dishes. Indeed, Noma, a two-Michelin-star Danish restaurant known for its creativity, came about because of René Redzepi's desire to create the ultimate local-seasonal cuisine. Mr. Redzepi regularly dispatches his cooking staff to collect seasonally available ingredients found within a short walk or drive of the restaurant. While seasonal availability and the short distance are both factors that are in line with sustainable sourcing, they limit ingredients and impose tremendous constraints to creating a high-class menu. Furthermore, studies of entrepreneurial funding success find that entrepreneurs who adopt both a social and a commercial orientation developed more creative product ideas, which resulted in higher funding success.
The preceding examples suggest that the probability of generating a creative idea is greater whenever an individual is forced to think within constraints, as would be the case when a manager is asked to simultaneously meet both social and commercial needs. The simultaneous attention to both of these needs constrains the idea elements from which an individual can draw to only those found at the union of these two categories. It also constrains the outcome categories to those that are both profitable and socially beneficial. Such constraints increase the likelihood the manager will attempt to reframe the problem space in search of new possibilities, potentially identifying new, previously unnoticed, alternatives.
Figure 1.2 summarizes the innovation-enhancing effect of sustainability constraints. In the figure, graph (a) is the manager's status quo state of mind, with an uncertainty limit of a1 and a creativity level c1. Simultaneous consideration of social and commercial needs facilitates the generation of new, creative ideas. This change in creativity is represented in graph (b) by a movement along the creativity curve from point c1 to point c2. This alone is not enough to enhance innovation if the creativity level of the new idea is above the manager's uncertainty
