Crafting a Deployment Strategy
Promotions
To simulate purchase or trial...
Walk into any Best Buy, Target, Walmart or other chain with a large electronics department and there is a sample station for the latest gaming system. I remember as a kid waiting and watching for my turn to play, which really never came. The limitation of this type of promotion is you have to go look for it, willing going into these stores and looking for this technology.
What Xbox did in Munich was allow everyone in the vicinity to experience their new product, the Kinect, whether they were looking for it or not. Kinect is an accessory to the Xbox which allows the user to use their entire body as a remote control. In this promotion the person's shadow was projected onto a building and one of the games included bouncing balls with your shadow. This opened up product awareness to non-gamers and allowed everyone to either see the product in use or actually use the product itself.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Chapter 12
Managing New Product Development Teams
CROSS FUNCTIONAL TEAMS
Another extremely innovative organization is IDEO | A Design and Innovation Consulting Firm (Specialists in human factors, psychology, business, design, engineering and manufacturing provide full service consulting for product innovation and design.) Similar to Gore, the company works in teams and leaders are not the same person with a title of 'Boss' but rotates to whomever is most suited for the task at hand.
In the video below, IDEO's task is to innovate something as basic as a shopping cart. The team is cross-functional, including a linguist, a Harvard MBA, a psychologist a marketing expert and a biology major. The leader is thus for his people skills. During the innovation process is becomes clear that the diverse specialties communing on one goal brings together various perspectives. It also can speed the process if all review parties are involved, versus creating an idea, having another department review safety, another review legal, etc. The convergence of ideas at the inception of innovation tackles many of these fronts.
"Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the loan genius"
"Fail often in order to succeed sooner"
CROSS FUNCTIONAL TEAMS
Another extremely innovative organization is IDEO | A Design and Innovation Consulting Firm (Specialists in human factors, psychology, business, design, engineering and manufacturing provide full service consulting for product innovation and design.) Similar to Gore, the company works in teams and leaders are not the same person with a title of 'Boss' but rotates to whomever is most suited for the task at hand.
In the video below, IDEO's task is to innovate something as basic as a shopping cart. The team is cross-functional, including a linguist, a Harvard MBA, a psychologist a marketing expert and a biology major. The leader is thus for his people skills. During the innovation process is becomes clear that the diverse specialties communing on one goal brings together various perspectives. It also can speed the process if all review parties are involved, versus creating an idea, having another department review safety, another review legal, etc. The convergence of ideas at the inception of innovation tackles many of these fronts.
"Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the loan genius"
"Fail often in order to succeed sooner"
Chapter 11
New Product Development Process
Involving Customers
No matter what phenomenal product is made available to the market, it's up to the customers to make it a success. An old case study is that of Coca Cola in 1985, when they introduced *New Coke*. The taste testing results proved positive, everyone loved the new formula of Coke. However, when the product was launched it failed miserably. Why? To the customer it was more than just the flavor, it was the image and everything else the beverage stood for. In their marketing research, Coca Cola failed to acknowledge in their market what drives their customers to choose them over Pepsi.
Another example is briefly mentioned in the video below. Why don't corporations choose Apple computers for the organization? First reason provided: spreadsheets and printer drivers were poorly available. Apple subsequently provides the features that were lacking. Yet most companies still don't choose Apple computers. Reason? This and that and really... same reason as *New Coke*.... it's just not in the culture.
The speaker provides an alternative approach to the situation: offer something else to those who are interested. Coca Cola reinstated their formula and called it *Classic Coke* and instead introduced Cherry Coke which became a hit on its own. And we all know how Apple keeps spinning off it's own creations...
Involving Customers
No matter what phenomenal product is made available to the market, it's up to the customers to make it a success. An old case study is that of Coca Cola in 1985, when they introduced *New Coke*. The taste testing results proved positive, everyone loved the new formula of Coke. However, when the product was launched it failed miserably. Why? To the customer it was more than just the flavor, it was the image and everything else the beverage stood for. In their marketing research, Coca Cola failed to acknowledge in their market what drives their customers to choose them over Pepsi.
Another example is briefly mentioned in the video below. Why don't corporations choose Apple computers for the organization? First reason provided: spreadsheets and printer drivers were poorly available. Apple subsequently provides the features that were lacking. Yet most companies still don't choose Apple computers. Reason? This and that and really... same reason as *New Coke*.... it's just not in the culture.
The speaker provides an alternative approach to the situation: offer something else to those who are interested. Coca Cola reinstated their formula and called it *Classic Coke* and instead introduced Cherry Coke which became a hit on its own. And we all know how Apple keeps spinning off it's own creations...
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Chapter 10
Organizing for Innovation
Who's the Boss? Me, you, them, us... it depends
W.L. Gore and Associates considere themselves to have a lattice organization structure. There really is no up, no corporate ladder. Everyone is intertwined with each other, dependent on and responsible to everyone else in the organization. There are no titles, just areas of expertise and knowledge. While a decade old, this article's insider's point of view still is relavent to the company's culture today: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/11/noboss.html
In the video below, Terri Kelly, President of Gore, discusses how the unpopular structure fosters innovation. The term she uses is "on-demand hiearchy." By allowing the leadership not to be fixed, but instead to shift along with the needs of the project, the person with most appropriate knowledge can lead the group. And lets be honest, not everyone knows everything in an organization or about the products. Allowing the leader with the knowledge take over when appropriate just makes more sense.
W.L. Gore and Associates have won awards internationally for such categories such as Fortune magazine's annual list of the U.S. "100 Best Companies to Work For." Retention is high as well as employee satisfaction.
Who's the Boss? Me, you, them, us... it depends
W.L. Gore and Associates considere themselves to have a lattice organization structure. There really is no up, no corporate ladder. Everyone is intertwined with each other, dependent on and responsible to everyone else in the organization. There are no titles, just areas of expertise and knowledge. While a decade old, this article's insider's point of view still is relavent to the company's culture today: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/11/noboss.html
In the video below, Terri Kelly, President of Gore, discusses how the unpopular structure fosters innovation. The term she uses is "on-demand hiearchy." By allowing the leadership not to be fixed, but instead to shift along with the needs of the project, the person with most appropriate knowledge can lead the group. And lets be honest, not everyone knows everything in an organization or about the products. Allowing the leader with the knowledge take over when appropriate just makes more sense.
W.L. Gore and Associates have won awards internationally for such categories such as Fortune magazine's annual list of the U.S. "100 Best Companies to Work For." Retention is high as well as employee satisfaction.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Chapter 9
Intelectual Property
The World Intellectual Property Organization’s report on launched a new database, IP Advantage, whose purpose is to provide “one-stop gateway to case studies that chronicle the intellectual property (IP) experiences of inventors, creators, entrepreneurs and researchers from across the globe. Case studies offer insights into how IP works in the real world and how its successful exploitation can contribute to development.” It goes beyond just listing world patents, the database provides a short story of including: the situation before the patent, who and how it was developed (including financing), the enforcement of the intellectual property protection and the business results.
Some of the patents highlighted on the website are for the well being of humanity, such as the medical device which transfuses the patient’s own blood in cases of internal bleeding, or the water purifier which uses UV. One would think these types of inventions should be made available to the public because they can save lives all around the world, especially in developing nations. However, in these cases, the patent was sought for fear of inferior copies which would take advantage of the working original’s reputation.
The database brings forth much more than the existence of a patent. The following through and the results are as interesting as the invention. Searching randomly through the database creates a small addiction similar to that of Wikipedia. I find one story, the struggle, the idea, the development and so on until conclusion and success.
http://www.wipo.int/ipadvantage/en/
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Chapter 8
MERGERS
Mergers are business combination transactions involving the combination of two or more companies into a single entity.
Source: SEC.gov
What makes a merger successful? Can success be measured immediately or in the long run? Many factors should be considered before merging. Reviewing what each company offers, determining whether the goods are compliments, and deciding whether the expanded customer base will open upnew markets can help decide whether a merger is a good idea. Other factors, such as the two company cultures and the ability to unite, should also be considered. Sometimes mergers lead to products/services which cannibalize each other and cause direct competition with very little differentiation.
According to the CNBC slide shows in the link below, one of the best mergers was that of Disney and Pixar. With competitors of the big and small screen all using digital cartoons instead of the traditional methods of cartooning the merging of Disney storytelling with Pixar's expertise in digital cartoons allowed Disney to stay a leader in animation combining forces with another leader in digital graphics.
Alternatively, mergers could turn into disasters. For instance, the merger of TimeWarner with AOL was thought to bring the synergies of print and online world together. Unfortunately, this deal did not consider future technologies and how rapidly AOL's core, dial-up internet, would become obsolete.
Top 10 Best (and Worst) Mergers of All Time - CNBC
Mergers are business combination transactions involving the combination of two or more companies into a single entity.
Source: SEC.gov
What makes a merger successful? Can success be measured immediately or in the long run? Many factors should be considered before merging. Reviewing what each company offers, determining whether the goods are compliments, and deciding whether the expanded customer base will open upnew markets can help decide whether a merger is a good idea. Other factors, such as the two company cultures and the ability to unite, should also be considered. Sometimes mergers lead to products/services which cannibalize each other and cause direct competition with very little differentiation.
According to the CNBC slide shows in the link below, one of the best mergers was that of Disney and Pixar. With competitors of the big and small screen all using digital cartoons instead of the traditional methods of cartooning the merging of Disney storytelling with Pixar's expertise in digital cartoons allowed Disney to stay a leader in animation combining forces with another leader in digital graphics.
Alternatively, mergers could turn into disasters. For instance, the merger of TimeWarner with AOL was thought to bring the synergies of print and online world together. Unfortunately, this deal did not consider future technologies and how rapidly AOL's core, dial-up internet, would become obsolete.
Top 10 Best (and Worst) Mergers of All Time - CNBC
Monday, October 18, 2010
Chapter 7
CAPITAL RATIONING
The allocation of a finite quantity of resources over different possible uses.
“Developing innovative new products and services is a expensive and time consuming. It is also extremely risky – most studies have indicated that the vast majority of development projects fail.” This is when capital rationing is put into place. Rationalizing which projects are worth investing in and which aren’t. But what if you can almost have guaranteed results in R&D, what if an organization could hire someone who constantly provides results. What would be the return on investment in such a scenario?
Warner Babcock Institute is an “academic style laboratory but [financed] like a contract R&D business.” Within this organization every project contributes to another organization’s research and development with a high yield of results, patents and new technologies. The institute whole heartedly implements green technologies and behaviors as part of its organizational culture. Most of their work revolves around biology and chemistry, but they have inventions including a less energy intensive method of developing solar panels.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/88/8840sci1.html
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)