Assg. M3.3 - Generating Ideas and Concepts Introduction: Although a fully articulated product concept states "what will change, and how the customer stands to benefit," the ideas for product concepts begin with the combination of two or more "creative inputs that can arise from a range of approaches or methodologies. Your objective in this exercise is to consider the "ideation scenarios" in the table below and identify the approach likely used. (It's also possible you will note situations where "complementary approaches might work in tandem.) Sources of Tools/Techniques for Analytical Attribute Techniques External "Ready-Made" Concepts Internal Problem-Based Ideation -End Users/Lead Users - Internal Records Quantitative - Competitors/Other Manufacturers - Direct Input (Tech/Mktg Depts) . Gap Analysis - Supply Chain/Mktg Channel - Problem Analysis . Trade-Off (Conjoint) Analysis Intermediaries - Scenario Analysis - Qualitative - Inventors/Idea Firms/Consultants - Dimensional Analysis/Checklists Gov't/Educational/Research Institutions . Relationship Analysis/Analogy Trade/Research/Consumer Publications . Value Curve Creation Ref. Scenario Source or Tool/Technique Used? No. 1 "At our firm, we simply copy the competitors' new products. I mean, we let them do all the hard research and analysis. Once we know it's a winner, we try to bring out an improved version." 2 Our firm is really big into creativity. There's a staff suggestion box and each quarter we all submit a form with our ideas for innovations to improve the firm's performance. Lots of ideas come from those forms." "We are really research-driven. I can't believe the number of customer focus groups we run. We're always asking them what's wrong with our products." 4 We do the same thing, except we don't use customers. Instead, we get our designers to try and work out how they can make the product better. They look at every minor aspect of the product and try to work out how to change or improve each part." 5 "At our firm, we start with the market. At the end of the day, the product has to be a market success, which means it needs to hit consumer demand without too much competition. So, we look at what competitors are offering and what we can offer that's different." In terms of creating unique, superior value, which technique do you think would be most productive? Why? 3