Category: Innovation Perspectives
This is the eighth of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘How should firms collaborate with customers and/or value chain partners to co-create new products and services?’. Here is the next perspective in the series: by Matt Heinz Find mutual priorities and desired outcomes, quantify its value and potential to ensure prioritization and focus, then assign a project owner with specific deadlines to get the project off the ground, keep it on schedule, and get it done. Co-creation can be a powerful means of creating innovation on a variety of levels, but partnerships too often fail to get off the ground (let alone launched with results realized) because the two (or more) parties don’t agree on priorities, expected outcomes, or urgency. Without a basis that has all parties on common footing from square one, things won’t get done. That … Continue reading
This is the seventh of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘How should firms collaborate with customers and/or value chain partners to co-create new products and services?’. Here is the next perspective in the series: by Debbie Goldgaber Defining Co-Creation As a general rule, when you embark on a project it’s important to take a moment to define your terms. This is particularly important with the term co-creation, because it’s easy to conflate it with the more general concept of open innovation or open product development. Co-creation sounds like you might be asking your client and value-chain partners to help you create new products and services, by intervening in several or all steps of the traditional product development cycle. In fact, experts tend to see product co-creation a little bit differently, insofar as the focus is not on a … Continue reading
This is the sixth of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘How should firms collaborate with customers and/or value chain partners to co-create new products and services?’. Here is the next perspective in the series: by Mark Roser With some apologies to Braden, I reconfigured this question to focus on the notion of “when” do you really need to collaborate & co-create to achieve new products or services? When is it better to manage it all in-house? When is collaboration the right idea? Let’s start with the null hypothesis: projects that lie squarely within an organization’s “sweet spot” are better off developed in-house. In other words, for incremental improvements to a company’s existing product line it is better for division and group leadership to tell their internal teams to “just do it”. I assert that this internal-only decision is … Continue reading
This is the fifth of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘How should firms collaborate with customers and/or value chain partners to co-create new products and services?’. Here is the next perspective in the series: by Mike Brown Questioning Your Collaborative Innovation Efforts For various reasons, more companies are discovering strong insights and strategic inputs for innovation reside outside their own walls. While this realization can be challenging, establishing the successful strategic relationships necessary to do something about collaborative innovation is even trickier. Using consistent checkpoints and rich questions throughout the collaboration process can improve results. The following six keys for successful collaborative strategic relationships, whether with customers or value chain partners, will help gauge your readiness and pave the way for success: 1. Strategic relationships are about people; start by making sure your own people are ready. Begin … Continue reading
This is the fourth of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘How should firms collaborate with customers and/or value chain partners to co-create new products and services?’. Here is the next perspective in the series: by Mike Dalton Innovate with Your Eyes Wide Open – Five Upfront Actions to Improve Any Collaboration Henry Chesbrough put it best, “You cannot meet your growth objectives if you ignore all of the smart people out there who aren’t on your payroll.” Hearing that, you can’t help but think you’re missing out on something really great if you don’t have a portfolio full of outside alliances. No wonder open innovation has become a “best practice.” Unfortunately, so-called best practices lead many companies astray. In fact, one study showed that more than 70% of attempts to collaborate fail when partners venture outside of traditional … Continue reading
This is the third of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘How should firms collaborate with customers and/or value chain partners to co-create new products and services?’. Here is the next perspective in the series: by Mark Prus Collaborating With Your Consumers for Innovation… Good Idea? Bad Idea? I have been a Marketing Director, an Innovation Director, and a Market Research Director at a top tier consumer packaged goods company. So I guess I can answer this question from three different perspectives. If I wear my Market Research Director Hat, I want to believe that consumers have all the answers and if I design the proper research I can get at those answers. Alas, when it comes to Innovation that is not easily done. At our company Market Research was involved in very early stage Innovation work (to gain … Continue reading
