Innovation

Develop a culture of innovative thinking

Innovative cultures don’t happen overnight.  However, organizations looking to encourage innovation need to realize that culture can and should be deliberately designed and implemented.  Innovation is not about developing new products, but by developing people by providing them with the skills and tools necessary to be innovative.

Endeavor’s culture development and innovation methods are merged to help clients develop a culture for innovation, provide a means to accelerate the implementation of new concepts, and manage a portfolio of initiatives that balance long and short term initiatives, and technical and market risks.

After chartering the effort with a cross functional team, idea generation begins.  We believe that a robust “fuzzy front-end” process using several market inputs is critical for success.  Successful innovation requires the application of information to creatively solve end-user challenges.

Idea evaluation is the process by which potentials are either recycled or move forward in a stage-gate product development process.  Ideas that pass the appropriate gates are then made into prototype concepts that can be evaluated by potential buyers.  Through the use of advanced quantitative research techniques, our advisors are able to identify segments of high interest, develop pricing and versioning strategies and understand where you will take market share from.

Once a concept prototype is determined attractive, it is then produced.  For innovative cultures, this also includes the communication of success to other business units and the dissemination of the tools and process to other areas.

Examples of our competencies in this area:

Portfolio Management

In an innovative culture, it is rather normal for a lot of innovation proposals to come forward.  We use an integrated approach to selecting the proposals for development and monitoring them to ensure that the initial benefit case continues to be compelling.  The following illustrates this approach:

Customer Advisory Board

Co-creation of new or repositioning existing solutions is a best practice in new market entry.  For most organizations, this exercise represents an opportunity to introduce your products or services to a new target audience while developing a thorough understanding of their needs and buying process – which likely varies greatly from the current markets you serve.

Maximum Difference Scaling

Maximum Difference Scaling (MaxDiff) obtains preference/importance scores for multiple items (brand preferences, product offers, etc.).  The MaxDiff procedure requires respondents to select the most and least important concepts or features from pairs of concepts or features. This also provides insights into market segment prioritization.

Advanced Qualitative Research Techniques

Through the use of highly engaging techniques, end-user needs can be discovered.  Such techniques include identifying individuals who have previously solved problems (Lead User), observing the user experience (contextual observation) or voice of the customer research.

Fuzzy Front End Process Development

Based on benchmarking studies we have completed with APQC, we utilize best in class techniques to elicit needs and understand market dynamics.  Our support includes establishing the research tools, ways to develop insight and how to marry such with your existing stage-gate product development process.

Innovative Ideation

Logic is the bedrock of traditional leadership.  It is a system of reasoning that leaves emotion and ambiguity at the door.  In today’s increasingly competitive global economy, however, more than logic is needed to move beyond minor improvements to achieve transformational change.  We must disrupt complacency; non-traditional methods can lead to superior solutions.