Fee Steinhoff

Divergent innovation: Fostering and managing the fuzzy front end of innovation

Early phases of innovation are hardly ever being addressed in a systematic way. We tend to assume that ideas fall like raindrops from the sky. Within the concept of open innovation the number of input channels has been increased, but the assumption remains that new ideas pop up by chance or brainstorming. The process of generating new ideas in engineering, science and design is usually considered ill-defined, or even random. In contrast to this view we describe approaches of divergent innovation and search field analysis and three alternative methods that may be applied within: (1) futures-oriented approaches, (2) contextual approaches and (3) the resource-oriented derivation of product attributes from value propositions. We exemplify a divergent approach by showing a project to allocate potentially disruptive innovation for the telecommunication industry. Finally, we derive implications and guidelines for future market research within a divergent innovation approach.

Virtual customer integration in the innovation process: Evaluation of the web platforms of multinational enterprises (MNE)

Integrating the customer in the innovation process is believed to be a powerful means to reduce failure rates and to increase the revenue from new products. Although many companies have launched programs to enable such integration, the understanding of the mechanisms behind successful programs remains limited. Furthermore, the benefit of integrating customers in the innovation process has to be weighed against the costs. Virtual customer integration has been discussed as a way to limit these costs and bring the benefits of potentially unlimited scalability. Using a sample of the Euro Stoxx 50 companies, we shed light on the various types of virtual customer integration platforms, their limitations, their benefits and the mechanisms that have to be put in place to make them succeed. Results indicate that only a limited number of platforms go beyond the sourcing of ideas. Especially the integration of the customer in the execution phase of the innovation process remains largely limited to digital goods.

Love at First Encounter --- Start-Up of New Applications

Whereas most research on usability focuses on known applications we explore the first encounters. Starting up new applications expectancy, impression management, initial dialogues and acquaintance, and ritualizing operations have to be handled. We present the research approach and document short histories of learning and fascination. Focussing on business users of mobile services we conducted diary research and expert interviews, reviewed design guidelines, and conducted a pattern-driven and resource-oriented innovation workshop. We present insights and results from the synthesis of guidelines, and ideas translated into experience prototypes.

User-Centered Radical Innovation at Deutsche Telekom Laboratories

The necessity of appropriately dealing with the specific uncertainties in innovation development is undisputed, in both the worlds of daily business and of scientific research. Pursuing great opportunities at the price of a higher risk radical innovation projects present a particular challenge to management. In the context of radical innovation user orientation must be considered in a balanced way. Positive effects may depend upon the type of users focused on and the methods used. User characteristics like for instances technical competence or lead user criteria are considered to be important resources for radical innovation management. The paper describes the concept of user-centered radical innovation and how it is applied within Deutsche Telekom Laboratories – the corporate R&D centre of Deutsche Telekom. The concept is based on tools tailored to three innovation phases: initiation, business modelling and market driving.

Strike While the Iron Is Hot: User Centricity Adapted to the Agile Innovation Development Process

The increasing demand for more agility and flexibility in innovation development projects also sets new requirements for market and user experience (UX) researchers. In this chapter, we discuss several challenges and issues inherent in the liaison between agile innovation development and the claim for user centricity. We outline one specific approach to agile market and UX research in the project field User Driven Innovation at the Telekom Innovation Laboratories. By introducing two different types of user researchers, the UX consultant and the UX tester, who are deployed in different stages of an innovation project and who operate in different working modes, we offer a hands-on solution based on experience for the issues described. Two short case studies exemplify more agile and flexible methods that are tailored for fast but yet profound market and UX research. We argue that Rapid Ethnography and the Customer Advisory Board are ideal for the new requirements mentioned. In conclusion, we list critical success criteria for user integration in agile innovation development projects.

Product Innovativeness in Success Factor Research – Influencing Factor or Contingency Factor?

The overriding goal of the innovation profitability analysis is to make the innovator aware of what level of (intangible) capital expenditure the exploitation of an innovation on the market warrants. The innovation profitability analysis should also be a project, investment, planning and control plan, as well as a profit and loss forecast (Hauschildt 1994, p. 1018 et seq.). Based on the function of profit and loss forecasting, there is a close connection to innovation success factor research. Success factor research looks for the relevant criteria that make the difference between the success and failure of an innovation: For what specific reasons is one innovation successful in the market while another fails?

Conjoint-Based Measurement of Benefits of Product Functions and Generation of Target Prices1

A significant function of the innovation profitability analysis is the determination of success: Expenses and revenues as well as their net balance as the innovation output should be recorded (Hauschildt 1994, p. 1018). In order to be competitive as a company, expense control must already come into play in the very early phases of the innovation process so that the target customers can be offered a suitable product at an acceptable price. As a result of heightened price consciousness in many markets, the question “What will the product cost?,” which focuses on the objectivity of technology and the economy, is being replaced in product development by the question “What may the product cost?,” which focuses on the subjectivity of the perceptions of target customers. This question must be asked early in the process: A large part of the product costs (some estimates claim 70–80%) are determined in the early phases of the value chain (research and development (R&D) as well as design, thus in the core phases of the innovation process), such that little leeway remains for cutting costs in the production phase (Serfling and Schultze 1996, p. 29).