Pre$-$Assignment

$($Setting the Basis$)$

The $$Design Thinking and Management of Innovation II$,$ III$$ course is executed in the style of an interactive workshop. The pre$-$assignment, the midterm assignment and the final case in $$Design Thinking and Management of Innovation II$,$ III$$ form a coherent case study which is the backbone of the whole course. The assignments build upon each other. They are worked on in groups, which stay together throughout the whole course. The aim is that each group has applied the methods taught during the course to one particular case. As a starting point, you shall work on this pre $$ assignment on your own. The fact, that every participant brings an individual idea to the course will generate a bigger and more diverse number of ideas at the start of the course. The pre $$ assignment is the introduction to the coherent case study of the course.

The January $2024$ course will focus on innovation ideas which shall find their application in the context of the W$$rth Group. In this context, you chose an innovation idea that you personally would like to work on during the entire course. You will present this idea to the group of peers that you will work together with during the course. As a group, you will choose one innovation idea at the beginning of the course and you will work on this idea through the complete course.

$-$ Think hard about the customer need, that you try to address with this idea. You should be able to express this idea in one sentence with a maximum length of two lines.

$-$ Think hard about the fact, that you need to demonstrate a solution to this need within the duration of this MBA program. Keep in mind that the time and the resources available will be extremely limited$.$

$-$ Ensure, that there are no identical or similar offerings available already. This is done via an extensive internet research. You need to document at least $10$ distantly related product or service offerings and you need to reflect why the value proposition of your idea is superior. If you find a closely related product you need to revisit your idea and potentially find another one.

$-$ With this in mind you need to argue why your idea delivers a new and unique product or service.

$-$ You need to think why it would be difficult to copy your product$/$service idea. You need to revisit your idea if you find, that it could be easily copied

$-$ Once you are satisfied with all that you need to argue the benefit promised by your product$/$service idea to a potential investor. You know the key parameters from other lectures. Here are a few reminders:

$2$

$-$ Would the required investment make sense in terms of payback?

$($Investability$)$

$-$ Would it deliver profits on an acceptable level?

$($Profitability$)$

$-$ Would you already know means to market and sell the product?

$($Marketability$)$

$-$ Are there any risks such as legal or certification hurdles?

$($Riskability$)$

$-$ Would you have a supply chain to deliver it$?$

$($Produceability$)$

$-$ Is the market attractive and would it grow?

$($Growability$)$

Take your time to think intensively about all that and put your personal view on your product idea into a spider diagram covering all the aspects mentioned above. The layout of the spider diagram should be like the one shown below. $10$ means very good and $1$ means not so good.

With all this in mind you can formulate the written pre$-$assignment. Finally, you formulate the executive summary $($see syllabus!$).$

Format: $-$ Arial, $12$ pts$,$ single spacing, i$.$e$.$ the format of this document

$-$ Maximum $3$ pages plus $(1)/(2)$ page executive summary

Due Date: Sunday, $1$st course weekend $($Printed and as PDF File$)$

$012345678910$NewUniqueCustomer ValueInvestabilityProfitabilityMarketabilityRiskabilityProduceabiltyGrowabilityName Of The Idea

$3$

Points to be gained:

Customer need including the two lines tag line $5$ pts

Plan to realize a demonstrator within the program $5$ pts

Comparison to distantly related products $5$ pts

Spider Diagram and Supporting Arguments $5$ pts

Total: $20$ pts

$(10\%$ of $200$ pts$)$