The Innovation Funnel

3M is one of the most innovative companies in the world, with an offer of over 60,000 innovative products, in 19 business sectors (see www.3m.com). Every year, the company launches more than 1,000 new product initiatives. How do large companies like 3M prioritize their innovation pipeline, to make sure that company resources are spent in the projects with the highest ROI? Meet the Innovation Funnel …

Stage Gate

If you are and Entrepreneur building up your own Startup just move on and skip this post (I recommend you look  for my posts about entrepreneurship)… But if you are working for a large corporation dealing with multiple innovation projects, this is a must-read …

Quality issues? Call 68-95-99 for help!

This is a recreation of a discussion  between a Brand Manager (BM) and a Supply Chain Manager (SC), in the presence of the head of R&D and New Product Development (RD), after the launch of a new detergent in which the company has high hopes for growth:
- BM: "We have a serious quality problem. Out of every 10 bottles that reach the market, at least 2 are thinner, or thicker, than we had approved. This is unacceptable!"
- SC: "We do everything we can. But we cannot meet such narrow specifications, with the formula that R&D has developed ... "
Both managers look now at the R&D scientist who wonders what could have been done to avoid this embarrassing situation ....

The business model canvas

The business model canvas was developed in 2009 by Alexander Osterwalder, and has quickly become the standard tool to describe in one single document how an organization creates value. The canvas summarizes what the organization does, for whom, how, with what, and how much does it cost. The canvas facilitates analyzing all the components that are necessary to transform inputs (cost and resources) into outputs (market and revenue), using a unique value proposition.

Market research, the old good way

Figures speak for themselves: the aggregated revenue for the 25 top companies in the market research business reached 18 bn $ in 2011, employing more than 110.000 workers worldwide. Concentration seems to be as well the trend: four of these global companies reached the 1 bn $ sales in 2011. Standard competitive market intelligence has become a must during the process of new product development. But, are these tools the holy grail to detect consumer insights and to guarantee a fast and successful launch?