Creativity and Innovation Management- why products fail.

There is no sure fire route to commercial success but probability of success can be increased. This is important for at least two reasons:

a)Resource Management. The Economist (2003) states that 3000 bright ideas result in 100 worthwhile projects, which are winnowed down to four development programmes. And four such development programmes are required to stand any chance of getting one winner.

b)Time Management. Whilst it is often case that sufficient time is not taken to develop a product fully, there is always time to go back and fix mistakes. The cost of product re-engineering varies from low to high billions.

There are a number of techniques that allow better problem identification and idea generation (creativity) and better idea selection, development and commercialisation (innovation).

Innovation strategies include:

a)Valuing ideas according to their type. Random ideas and those resulting from solution spotting have highest success rates.

b)Measuring strategic, technical and competency fits with organisation.

c)Measurement of ideas according to their impediments. A new type of cell phone will be infinitely easier to produce than a time machine. The Internet has a far lower take up in Africa than in Europe because of infrastructure deficiencies.

Customer Focus - Just Simple 5 Things You Need to Think About

In all businesses we conduct, there are customers. And they are life-blood to us. It's TRUE! Despite all million and one things we are doing - we've got to have paying customers! Nevertheless, just five things will dictate success or failure. Have you got them right?

You can boil down difference between successful businesses and rest in how they work with their customers, in just five areas.

So, what does this mean?

1. What They Want Selling what your customers really want is just critical. Being on good enough terms with your customers to research, (hey maybe just by chatting with them - radical idea, huh?), helps you find out how you can best serve their needs.

2. Price is Right By balancing kind of pricing you want to offer with exceptional service levels, there is a fascinating calculation to be made. Prices rock-bottom with inadequate attention to item 5 are not likely to bring profitable consumers rushing to your door. Providers have an ongoing dance between price and service - be aware of it. It is not possible to sustain your business with lowest prices and poor service.

3. When They Want It In internet world, availability of your goods and services is measured critically far more than ever before. You may not need to be 24/7, but you certainly need to be aware of it. More traditional customers are also becoming more demanding. So businesses need to be especially sensitive to hours they trade, whether they sell goods or services, by stores and/or phone.