Abstract:

Recent years have seen an increasing recognition in many Companies of the importance of effective and continued innovation for real growth. This leads to greater focus within Companies on the process adopted for new idea generation and the testing among consumers of ideas and concepts. This paper examines some of the issues related to more traditional procedures, that suffer from the lack of a systematic approach and clear commitment to innovation, leading to limited use of talents within the Company, low "ownership" of consumer needs among relevant people other than marketing, and difficult and slow finetuning of ideas. It puts forward an alternative proposal, of a more flexible and ongoing new idea generation process, in which information and ideas are gradually generated and redefined, involving an enlarged team of different resources within the Company, but also a close partnership between Company and Market Research Agency. The authors also critically examine some of the learning arising from the experience and suggest some areas for further improvements.