Case Studies

Packaging Company

A packaging company used these techniques soon after a new product concept emerged from R&D.   The analysis was conducted by R&D personnel because marketing resources were completely devoted to existing products.  The analysis was completed in six weeks at a cost of $10.000. The analysis found that the most profitable portion of the value chain would be tool design, which the company normally left to vendors.  The company pursued a co-development and business partnership with the tooling vendor with the most advanced technology.  The business was successful and profitable for both entities. Most felt the company would have been successful without the partnership, but that the partnership allowed higher profit levels. 

Resin Company

An internal brainstorming session was conducted to find new uses for existing products.  One of several highly rated ideas proposed using an existing, proprietary, resin in a new market segment:  Oilfield pipeline interior coating.  Marketing had no experience with this market.  Thus, to move the idea ahead, R&D personnel pursued market information.  Actually, in than a week and with no cash outlay, their study uncovered the wide array of ancillary services, capabilities, and facilities incumbent competitors provided.  In-house development was abandoned, and the concept was pursued as an out-licensing opportunity.  The out-licensing process actually took over two years to complete, and R&D resources were not required during this time.  R&D became involved again in servicing the technical portions of the eventual agreement.

Materials Company

This large materials company realized its advanced programs were not yielding any where near sufficient commercial prospects to justify continuing the significant annual budget.  Senior management decided to introduce a formal staged innovation management process.  It decided to ask questions about markets, customers, regulatory hurdles, patent, and competition very early in life of an innovation..  Soon the company discovered that almost all projects were unprepared for their review because there were no resources to get this wide variety of information.  They decided to train a significant number of R&D and marketing people using the two-day in-house format of this curriculum.  Large numbers of projects are now routinely prepared for their reviews, and many feel the innovation management process is working for the first time in years.

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