Running head: IDEA GENERATION AND EVALUATION 1 Idea Generation and Evaluation New Product Development - MKTG 572 Nonlapan Burimsittichai D40385448 Keller Graduate School of Management Professor Dr. Deborah Helman January 22, 2017 IDEA GENERATION AND EVALUATION 2 Idea Generation and Evaluation Idea generation Techniques for the ideas generation There are various techniques that CB can apply to come up with the best ideas that would allow the supply of their products into the American market and later the global market. They include the following: In-house brainstorming: CB could apply the method of brainstorming to come up with the best idea on the best products that would fit the American market. In-house lateral thinking could be effective since the parties involved understand the market and could easily carry out research over the internet. Perspective shift: this is another method that can be used to generate ideas. This incorporates the aspect of carrying out research on what other dealers do to succeed in the market, especially for the products that CB wants to venture in. Concept porting: this is a method in which CB could generate idea by taking up a concept that that has been tested and worked in the past in a different area to the area under consideration (Wooten & Ulrich 2014). This would mean that the idea generated would have fewer chances of failing. The best idea generation method Of all the discussed methods of generating ideas above, the best method to apply for CB operations could be the use of internal brainstorming. This is because internal brainstorming IDEA GENERATION AND EVALUATION 3 could be done by those who are well conversant to the organization as well as its operations. Brainstorming enhances better research plans about the products and thus success could best be reached through its application. Who to select to perform the ideation The ideation could best be done by the people who are well conversant with marketing, CB operations as well as those who can comfortably carry out a research about the company's prospects. In this case, a group of internet researchers could be involved to ensure that research is kept at the helm of all activities. Some CB representatives could also be useful as any move requires the involvement of the top management (Hooshangi & Loewenstein 2016). Also, the involvement of some of the product managers could be wise as they have a deeper understanding of the products that they deal with and their average demand. How concepts will be generated from the ideas and how In this case, CB could come up with the concepts based on what is readily available in the company. This calls for concepts such as those of not bringing in new materials in the company as the new products will only require the existing raw materials. This could be done upon the subject of the ideas in a brainstorming meeting that could see the practicality of the ideas discussed and agreed upon. IDEA GENERATION AND EVALUATION 4 Idea Evaluation How to evaluate the generated ideas so as not to lose the excellent ideas This could best be attained by having in place various groups of the company discussing on the demand of the various products that have been prospected. Also, determination of the ability and readiness of the customer to produce the new product could be determined to derive the priority list. Criteria for ranking the ideas according to their potential The best criteria that the CB Company could apply are the determination of the readiness of the customers to take their new supplies to them. This calls for the determination of the demand for the various cocoa products in the country as well as the determination of their prices in the various shelves of the customers. The highest demanded idea carries the day. Who to conduct the evaluation and why The evaluation could best be conducted by including all the customers to CB aboard. This is because the various customers deal in different products though from the same raw materials (Luo & Toubia 2015). It could be losing sense to use customer representatives from only a few customers as this could be assuming that the customers manufacture similar products which is not the case. Criteria to choose on the concepts to choose for further development In this case, the concepts selected should be the ones that meat a condition that respects the current production capacity of the company. This means that for a concept to be considered IDEA GENERATION AND EVALUATION 5 for further development, it has to be possible to be implemented using the existing level and type of raw materials (Chulvi, et al. 2013). Also, the concept ought to be implemented by utilizing the already existing space of the company as well as the existing staff members. Who to conduct the concept evaluation and with what tools All the group participants need to be included in the evaluation of the concepts at hand. The various groups could be challenged to engage in a brainstorming meeting which could take the ideas from the various stakeholders. The marketing representatives also need to be included since the end bit of it cannot succeed without their input. The tools that could be applied include the use of material summaries which would assist in comparing the various concepts. Assigning the various members of the team some responsibilities could also be a useful tool in bringing a significant contribution in the concept evaluation. IDEA GENERATION AND EVALUATION 6 References Wooten, J. O., & Ulrich, K. T. (2014). Idea generation and the role of feedback: Evidence from field experiments with innovation tournaments. Available at SSRN 1838733. Hooshangi, S., & Loewenstein, G. (2016). The Impact of Idea Generation and Potential Appropriation on Entrepreneurship: An Experimental Study. Management Science (Forthcoming). Luo, L., & Toubia, O. (2015). Improving online idea generation platforms and customizing the task structure on the basis of consumers' domain-specific knowledge. Journal of Marketing, 79(5), 100-114. Chulvi, V., Gonzlez-Cruz, M. C., Mulet, E., & Aguilar-Zambrano, J. (2013). Influence of the type of idea-generation method on the creativity of solutions. Research in Engineering Design, 24(1), 33-41. [Hide comments] Thanks Nonlapan - the first section is much clearer than the second - some good ideas here but many errors in the second section - what product will you go forward with for Part 2? The following are some areas your report should address. Idea Generation (50 points) What techniques will you propose to CB to generate ideas that can be developed into viable concepts? Of the many methods for ideation offered in contemporary literature, which represents the best for CB in this situation, and why? Who might be selected to perform the ideation, and why? Why might you not select certain groups to perform the ideation? Having screened the ideas to a select few, how are concepts generated from the ideas, and when? Idea Evaluation (50 points) Once the ideas are generated, how might they be evaluated to maximize the number that has the greatest potential and to minimize the probability of rejecting excellent ideas? Enumerate the criteria that might be applied to appropriately assess the ideas and to eventually rank them according to their potential for CB. Who would conduct the evaluation and why? Focusing on the select few concepts, what are the evaluative criteria that might be used to isolate the one or two that should be recommended for further development? Who would conduct the concept evaluation and with what tools