Emerging Business

Opportunities: Sources
and Assessment
The left hemisphere of the brain is shown
to be logical, analytic, quantitative,
rational and verbal, whereas the right
hemisphere is conceptual, holistic,
intuitive, imaginative and non-verbal.
Those who are left handed do exhibit a
greater propensity for right-brain
dominance
 Sources of Innovation

Sources Examples
Unexpected Occurrences Success: Apple Computer
Failure: Ford Edsel
Demographic changes Rest homes / Retirement centers for older people
Process Needs Sugar-Free Products, Caffeine-Free Coffee
Industry/Market Change Health Care Industry changing to Home Health
Care
Perception change Exercise (Aerobics) & Growing concern for
fitness
Knowledge based Industry Video Industry: Robotics
Barriers to Creative Decision Making
 Searching for the “right”
answer
 Focusing on being
“logical”
 Blindly following the rules
 Constantly being practical
 Becoming overly
specialized
 Avoiding ambiguity
 Fear of looking foolish
 Fearing mistakes and
failure
 Believing that “I am not
creative”
Sources of New Ideas

 Consumers

 Existing Products and Services

 Distribution Channels

 Government

 Research and Development

Methods of Generating Ideas

 Focus Groups

 Brainstorming
No criticism
Freewheeling
Large Quantity of Ideas
Combination and Improvement of Ideas

 Problem Inventory Analysis

Psychological Sensory Activities Buying Psychological /
Usage Social
A. Weight A. Taste A. Meal planning A. Portability A. Serve to company
Fattening Bitter Forget Eat away from Would not serve to
Empty Calories Bland Get tired of it home guests
Salty Take lunch Too much last-
minute preparation

B. Hunger B. Appearance B. Storage B. Portions B. Eating alone

Filling Colour Run out Not enough in Too much effort to
Still hungry after Unappetizing Package would package cook for oneself
eating Shape not fit Creates left- Depressing when
overs prepared for just one

C. Thirst C. Consistency / C. Preparation C. Availability C. Self – Image

Does not quench Texture Too much trouble Out of season Made by a lazy cook
Makes one thirsty Tough Too many pans Not in super Not served by a
Dry Never Turns out market good mother
Greasy

D. Health D. Cooking D. Spoilage

Indigestion Burns Gets moldy
Bad teeth Sticks Gets sour
Keeps one awake

E . Cleaning E. Cost
Makes a mess in Expensive
oven
Creative Process

 Preparation

 Investigation

 Transformation

 Incubation

 Illumination

 Verification

 Implementation
Creative Problem Solving

 Brainstorming  Collective Notebook

 Reverse Brainstorming Method
 Brain writing  Attribute Listing
 Gordon Method  Big Dream Approach
 Checklist Method  Parameter Analysis
 Free Association
 Forced Relationship
 Take the following problem statement and
brainstorm solutions. Be prepared to present
your three most “creative” solutions.
Problem statement: “Indian Education
system encourages bookworms rather than
inspiring innovation and talent.”
Checklist Method

 Put to other uses? New ways to use as is? Other uses if

modified?
 What else is like this? What other ideas does this
suggest? Does past offer parallel? What could I copy?
 Modify? New twist? Change meaning, color, motion,
odor, form, shape?
 What to add? Greater frequency? Stronger? Larger?
Thicker? Extra value? Duplicate? Multiply? Substitute?
Rearrange? Reverse?
 Choose a product (School Bag) and use the
checklist method to develop new ideas. Be prepared
to state your product and the three most creative
ideas generated
School Bag

 School bag with Legs – Robot types (Weight?)

 Portable (Use?)
 Temperature Control (Lunch box, thermos?)
 RFID – Track the student where he is (Parents?)
 Compartment for each subject in school bag and
acc daily time table is fed with technology – Beep
(Utility?)
Forced Relationships

 Isolate the elements of the problem

 Find the relationship between these elements
 Record the relationships in an orderly form
 Analyze the resulting relationships to find ideas and
patterns
 Develop new ideas from this pattern
 Elements: Paper & Soap

Forms Relationships / Idea / Pattern

Combination
Adjective Papery Soap Flakes
Soapy Paper Wash and dry travel aid
Noun Paper Soaps Tough paper impregnated with
soap and usable for washing
surfaces
Verb - Soaped Paper Booklet of soap leaves
correlates Soap “cleans” Suggests wall paper cleaner
paper
 Parameter Analysis
Technology Parameter Creative
Observation Analysis Synthesis

Parameter
Identification

Realization of
Market Need Invention
Analysis
Product Planning & Development
Process

Stage 1: Idea Stage

Stage 2: Concept Stage

Stage 3: Product Development Stage

Stage 4: Test Marketing Stage

Determining the New Product Value

 Cash Outflow
 Cash Inflow
 Net Cash flow
 Profit
 Relative Return
 Compared to other Investments