...the customer? Ans1. 3M Corporation has small laboratory or research and development section with some technicians and doing experiments on sandpaper and developed some core technology at that time for 3M like masking tapes. After such core technologies development 3M achieved global reputation and become “hothouse” of innovation. However the process grows slowly and allows 3M to recognize user needs because 3M researchers contact different employees in factories. In 1990’s 3M have 30 key technologies and get much market growth and for more development and product 3M employing more engineers and scientists. 3M corporation goes high in innovation but they are not able to found what customer need is because of least interaction and closeness with customers and users. This is because 3M need some marketing research and identifies customer needs rather focusing on products and technical stuff. Q2. How does the Lead User research process differ from and complement other traditional market research methods? Ans2. Lead user research is the process in which products may be innovate and developed products on the basis of the information and data collect by customers or user and with respect to the need of users. By the help of lead user research organizations are able to identify the client need and move toward to create some innovative products by getting the ideas from the users. The lead users are the people who are able to get the solutions of the problem that...
Words: 783 - Pages: 4
...Strategic NPD issues and Problems This case describes how 3M Corp. introduces and learns a new and innovative methodology titled Lead User research to understand future customer and market needs. A team from 3M's Medical-Surgical Markets Division applies the Lead User Methodology to the field of surgical infection control and discovers that there exist new product concepts together with a new business strategy. The problem here is 3M should decide whether this new strategy will be a tool for 3M 's strategy towards corporate expansion and innovation. In the mid 90s, 3M realized the symptoms in its innovation approach that only incremental development is involved in its current product range instead of breakthrough ones. This approach limited the company’s competitiveness and financial performance and growing the business required to prepare the environment capable of delivering “breakthrough innovations“. Therefore, 3M’s management set a new goal: 30% of sales should be driven by new products. The new strategy focuses on understanding the real market needs to create possible developments and enhancements for a particular product which can eventually lead to a breakthrough in product offering that ultimately results in a competitive advantage. In this case, the suggested approach, Lead User Method, enables 3M to satisfy an important need (not spreading infections during surgery) by developing a specific new product or service. If there is not a new approach, the innovations...
Words: 1469 - Pages: 6
...Toolkits for idea competitions: a novel method to integrate users in new product development Frank T. Piller1,2 and Dominik Walcher1 TUM Business School, Technische Universitat Munchen, Leopoldstrasse 139, 80804 Munich, ¨ ¨ Germany. walcher@wi.tum.de 2 MIT Sloan School of Management, 50 Memorial Drive, E52-513, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. piller@mit.edu 1 Research has shown that many innovations originate not in the manufacturer but the user domain. Internet-based toolkits for idea competitions (TIC) are a novel way for manufacturers to access innovative ideas and solutions from users. Idea competitions build on the nature of competition as a means to encourage users to participate at an open innovation process, to inspire their creativity, and to increase the quality of the submissions. When the contest ends, submissions are evaluated by an expert panel. Users whose submissions score highest receive an award from the manufacturer, which is often granted in exchange for the right to exploit the solution in its domain. Following the idea of evolutionary prototyping, we developed a TIC in cooperation with a manufacturer of sports goods. The TIC was launched as a pilot in one of the company’s markets. Submissions were evaluated using the consensual assessment technique. The evaluation of this study provides suggestions for further research, but also implications for managers willing to explore TIC in their organization. 1. Introduction T o acquire information from (potential)...
Words: 8110 - Pages: 33
...Kentico EMS Marketing Quick Start Guide 7 Marketing Personas What is a marketing persona? Personas are archetypal characters created to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic, attitude or behavior set that might use a site, brand or product a similar way. Personas are often combined with market segmentation to represent specific customers. Why do I need marketing personas? Personas are a way to consider the goals, desires and limitations of your customers. They are used to guide decisions about a service, product, interaction, feature, and visual design of a website. What marketing personas are NOT Marketing personas are not a single user. They are a representation of the goals and behaviors of a hypothesized group of users. In many cases they are captured in a 1-2 page description that include behavior patterns, goals, skills, attitudes, and a few fictional details the make the persona a realistic character. Benefits of personas • Consistency across the business for marketing message and lead definition. • Better organizational understanding of your customer’s needs wants and desires. • Understanding where your customers are spending their time will enable better targeting of content and promotion opportunities. • Better quality sales leads and lead nurturing programs for different personas. • More targeted analytics as you can discover which types of personas make better customers. Example persona questions • What is the...
Words: 1396 - Pages: 6
...in role by using user knowledge in the innovation process. However this change in role has influence on both the existing HRM activities directed at the employees as well on new HRM activities directed at the customers. This research shows most important changes within the HRM functions: Reqruitement, Performance appraisal and rewarding. Key words: Lead user involvement, HRM, customer employee interaction 1JM06 – N.F.J. Hubbers – HRM FOR CUSTOMERS Introduction Within the technical innovation environment we see an up march of the involvement of the so called lead users, which are users of a product or service that currently experience needs still unknown to the public and who also benefit greatly if they obtain a solution to these needs (Von Hippel 1986). New perspectives within organizations have emerged over the past decades focusing on the co-creation of value as more leading companies acknowledge the potential benefits from attracting important stock holders (such as lead users) into the innovation process. Since this involvement results in mutual influence on both the employees within the organization as well on these lead users they should not be considered as isolated parts of the management process. HRM can provide the solution to this management challenge as HRM has become the key department in developing and improving organizational effectiveness (Pfeffer, 1995; Ferris et al., 1999). However this topic regarding the involvement of lead users is usually investigated...
Words: 4280 - Pages: 18
...Innovation at 3M Corporation INNOVATION AND KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY - GROUP C 1 Contents 1 1 2 3 4 Background Source of Innovation Innovative Culture Lead User Research 5 Impact of Lead User Method 6 2 Click to add title in here Companies in Indonesia Background of “ Lead User Innovation” “ Traditional strategic planning does not leave enough room for innovation “ understand leading _edge customer needs to change the basis of Competition working closely with customer & understanding market need LEAD USER INNOVATION Definition of lead users Lead users refers to users who are ahead of the majority of the market on a major market trend, and who also have a high incentive to innovate. Producers seeking user innovations to manufacture try to source innovations from lead users - because these will be most profitable to manufacture 3 Milestone of 3M in Innovation 1902 The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) founded The company has a long and famous history of innovation. They are known for such products as the Post-it which revolutionized the way individuals communicate, masking tape, and waterproof sandpaper. 1961 Medical Products Division, the first 3M division dedicated solely to health care, founded. The Health Care Unit was an important component of 3M’s business model, contributing a large percentage to the company’s revenue streams The unit had failed to introduce a successful product in almost a decade 3M is third in...
Words: 1586 - Pages: 7
...DesIgnIng the OrganIzatIOn fOr User InnOvatIOn Peter Keinz • ChristoPh hienerth • ChristoPher LettL Abstract: there is increasing consensus among practitioners and academics alike that we are in the midst of a paradigm shift from producer-centered and internal innovation processes toward user-centered and open innovation processes. This paradigm shift induces significant changes to the design of organizations. Even though the research field of user innovation has been developing over a period of more than four decades, there have been only occasional intersections with the research field of organizational design. In this article, we aim to provide an integrated perspective of the two fields. We first identify major user innovation strategies. We then derive the implications for each user innovation strategy on key dimensions of organizational design. Keywords: User innovation; organization design the point of departure for this article is the growing literature around the phenomenon that companies are in the midst of a paradigm shift from closed, producer-centered ways of innovating to open, user-centered innovation processes (Chesbrough, 2003; von hippel, 2005). to improve innovation performance and increase competitiveness, more and more firms are employing user innovation strategies (von Hippel, 2005). Such strategies have proven to be of high value to almost every type of company; both start-ups and wellestablished companies, irrespective of the industry they are operating...
Words: 10831 - Pages: 44
...the team’s recommendations to the Health Care Unit’s senior management. A hand-picked group of talented individuals, the team had embarked on a new method for understanding customer needs called “Lead User Research.” But this initiative to introduce leading-edge market research methods into 3M’s legendary innovation process had now grown into a revolutionary series of recommendations that threatened to rip apart the division. While senior management wanted the “Lead User” team to execute a manageable project involving surgical draping material to protect surgery patients from infections, the team now wanted to rewrite the entire business unit’s strategy statement to also include more pro-active products or services that would permit the upstream containment of infectious agents such as germs. This went against the incrementalist approach that for so long had pervaded 3M. After all, as Mary Sonnack, division scientist and an internal 3M consultant on the new Lead User methodology, noted “3M gets so much revenue from incremental products . . . like a blue Post-it note instead of just a yellow one.” Outside the window, the late autumn breeze rippled through the tall Minnesota grass—a seasonal reminder that it had been a year since the group first embarked on the Lead User process (see Exhibit 1). The method, including training, had called for less than six months dedicated to the entire process. But the lengthy commitment from participants as well as 3M senior management...
Words: 10701 - Pages: 43
...Developing successful technology-based services: the issue of identifying and involving innovative users Jonas Matthing, Per Kristensson and Anders Gustafsson Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden, and A. Parasuraman Department of Marketing, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA Abstract Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explore the identification of innovative customers and the effectiveness of employing such customers to generate new service ideas in a technology-based service setting. Design/methodology/approach – The first study reported here employs the “technology readiness” (TR) construct and involves telephone surveys with randomly selected Swedish consumers. The second involves a field experiment. Findings – Findings from Study I suggest that the TR is a useful tool for identifying users who exhibit both innovative attitudes and behaviors. The results from Study II show that users with a high TR are highly creative as reflected by the quantity and quality of new service ideas. Research limitations/implications – The sample size for Study II was relatively small and making empirical generalizations with confidence should await results from studies involving larger samples. However, in sum the research demonstrates that TR appears to be an effective tool for identifying innovative customers who would be both willing to participate in new service development and capable of generating creative ideas. Originality/value – Service businesses...
Words: 9445 - Pages: 38
...and still enjoy the effects an ordinary cigarette gives them. However, E-cigarettes are harmful to users for many reasons. Research says that the cons of the electronic device outweigh the benefits. They are a gateway to substance abuse and addiction. They can also lead to many health risks. Finally, they can cause lung damage. E-cigarettes are said to be “the new and safer cigarettes”. While still providing the users with the nicotine needs of a regular cigarette, they have been deemed a safer alternative. The way this technology work is that when heated, the user inhales mist of nicotine liquid (science.howstuffworks.com). However, the use of this electronic device over a span of time have been suspected to lead to abuse and addiction. Abusing and becoming addicted to any type of substance can be harmful to a person’s well-being. The user can become in desperate need of the drug and not only dangerous towards themselves but to others as well. After becoming addicted to a substance, quitting is a very difficult task because the user will crave the drug and the way it makes them feel every single day. A research done in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest that “e-cigarettes serve as a "gateway drug"--meaning they could make users more likely to use, and become addicted to, other drugs like cocaine” (Oaklander 1). The fact that e-cigarettes have been said to lead the user to become addicted to other drugs such as cocaine is caused by the effects that inhaling...
Words: 1166 - Pages: 5
...management has long felt that the 3M innovation process was being focus on incremental improvements to existing product lines. They urgently wanted to improve matters, and wanted especially to improve 3M's ability to respond to the "unarticulated needs" of customers by providing breakthroughs and services. Among many methods of innovation that the 3M used to improve their capability of making breakthroughs, The Lead User process offered a promising solution to that problem. Von Hipple (1999) marks that the Lead User market research method is built around the idea that the richest understanding of new product and service needs is held by just a few "Lead Users." They can be identified and drawn into a process of joint development of new product or service concepts with manufacturer personnel. In this research after a general description of innovation definition, the 3M Company is introduced as the research case study. In the fourth part the culture and methods of innovation that made or used by the 3M is discussed. And then the applications of a Lead User market research method carried out by the 3M Company, a major American manufacturer of products and materials has been...
Words: 274 - Pages: 2
...Online consumer groups represent a large pool of product know-how. Hence, they seem to be a promising source of innovation. At present, except for open source software, little is known about how to utilize this know-how for new product development. In this article we explore if and how members of virtual communities can be integrated into new product development. We explain how to identify and access online communities and how to interact with its members in order to get valuable input for new product development. This approach we term “Community Based Innovation.” The Audi case illustrates the applicability of the method and underscores the innovative capability of consumers encountered in virtual communities. Keywords Online communities . User innovations . New product development . Virtual customer integration Customers’ wants and their acquired knowledge through the actual use of products make them an essential external resource for new product development (NPD) [12, 13, 37, 47, 65, 57, 71]. Some customers are not only knowledgeable but also able to develop their own new products [22, 50, 58, 67, 69]. Such innovative customers can be found in online communities J. F¨ ller u University of Innsbruck, Department of Value-Process Management, Marketing Group, Universit¨ tsstr. 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria a e-mail: johann.fueller@hyve.de M. Bartl Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management (WHU), Chair for Technology and Innovation Management e-mail: mbartl@whu.edu H. Ernst Otto Beisheim...
Words: 8870 - Pages: 36
... Web search engine research Dirk Lewandowski Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany This is a preprint of a book chapter to be published in Lewandowski, Dirk (ed.): Web Search Engine Research. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing, 2012 http://books.emeraldinsight.com/display.asp?K=9781780526362 Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the context of Web search and search engine-‐related research, as well as to introduce the reader to the sections and chapters of the book. Methodology/approach – We review literature dealing with various aspects of search engines, with special emphasis on emerging areas of Web searching, search engine evaluation going beyond traditional methods, and new perspectives on Web searching. Findings – The approaches to studying Web search engines are manifold. Given the importance of Web search engines for knowledge acquisition, research from different perspectives...
Words: 6562 - Pages: 27
...Despite their health risk, it is unavoidable to use such devices and one can only control the rate of use but cannot evade using them Computers A computer is a device that is meant to ease work as well as make data organized and easily accessible. In the developed countries, children are introduced to computers at a very tender age, and they use them for the rest of their lives and hence are hardly hit by the negative effects. Computers pose a risk of the user suffering from musculoskeletal disorders due to the repetitive poster and body movements one has while using the computer (Karavidas, Lim, and Katsikas, 2005, p.699). The continuous use of a computer can make on experience pain on the fingers and upper arm since these body parts are in action while using the computer. The repetitive use of the keyboard leads to inflammation in the carpal tunnel and hence causing a painful syndrome called the carpal tunnel syndrome (Saba, Pocklington and Miller, 2008, p.66). Many people use the computer for prolonged hours which lead to there being little blood flow in the muscles. The body muscles do not contract and relax and hence an imbalance of blood flow in the muscles takes place which can cause...
Words: 2234 - Pages: 9
... and Academic Performance Name: Institution: For the many past years, the video gaming industry has dominated in sales and use on a global scale. For instance, the annual sales of video games in the US had exceeded over $18.8 billion in 2007 (Greitemeyer, Agthe, Turner, & Gschwendtner, 2012). In addition, the research study by Greitmeyer et al., (2012) pointed out that the most prevalent age group that played video games ranged between 12 and 17 years. The frequency of video game play is high in this age group, which raises concerns on the overall impact of video game use on teenagers. According to Willoughby, Adachi, and Good (2012), a research study conducted revealed that 31% of teenagers in a survey played video games on a daily basis while 21% played two to 5 days in a week. Research studies have indicated that the continuous use of video games may lead to undesirable effects on the video game users. While opponents of this theory refute the claim citing that video games enhance personal development in terms of improving critical thinking skills, proponents have supported this claim by providing different theoretical perspectives and research findings that indicate that video games, indeed, cause negative effects such as sleep abnormalities, aggression, reduced pro-social behavior, depression, and low academic performance. This essay will try to establish the link between violent video games and increased aggressive behavior, low academic performance, and a decrease...
Words: 3130 - Pages: 13
