Abstract: In our research we aimed to test a managerial
approach for the fuzzy front end (FFE) of innovation by creating
controlled experiment/ business case in a breakthrough innovation
development. The experiment was in the sport industry and covered
all aspects of the customer discovery stage from ideation to
prototyping followed by patent application. In the paper we describe
and analyze mile stones, tasks, management challenges, decisions
made to create the break through innovation, evaluate overall
managerial efficiency that was at the considered FFE stage.
We set managerial outcome of the FFE stage as a valid product
concept in hand. In our paper we introduce hypothetical construct
“Q-factor” that helps us in the experiment to distinguish quality of
FFE outcomes.
The experiment simulated for entrepreneur the FFE of innovation
and put on his shoulders responsibility for the outcome of valid
product concept. While developing managerial approach to reach the
outcome there was a decision to look on product concept from the
cognitive psychology and cognitive science point of view. This view
helped us to develop the profile of a person whose projection (mental
representation) of a new product could optimize for a manager or
entrepreneur FFE activities. In the experiment this profile was tested
to develop breakthrough innovation for swimmers. Following the
managerial approach the product concept was created to help
swimmers to feel/sense water. The working prototype was developed
to estimate the product concept validity and value added effect for
customers.
Based on feedback from coachers and swimmers there were strong
positive effect that gave high value for customers, and for the
experiment – the valid product concept being developed by proposed
managerial approach for the FFE.
In conclusions there is a suggestion of managerial approach that
was derived from experiment.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine the hypothesis
explaining the mechanism in the case, where the product is deleted or
reduced the fundamental function of the product through the product
concept changes in the digital camera industry. This paper points out
not owning the fundamental technology might cause the change of the
product concept. Casio could create new competitive factor so that this
paper discusses a possibility of the mechanism of changing the product
concept.
Abstract: In the era of rapidly increasing notebook market, consumer electronics manufacturers are facing a highly dynamic and competitive environment. In particular, the product appearance is the first part for user to distinguish the product from the product of other brands. Notebook product should differ in its appearance to engage users and contribute to the user experience (UX). The UX evaluates various product concepts to find the design for user needs; in addition, help the designer to further understand the product appearance preference of different market segment. However, few studies have been done for exploring the relationship between consumer background and the reaction of product appearance. This study aims to propose a data mining framework to capture the user’s information and the important relation between product appearance factors. The proposed framework consists of problem definition and structuring, data preparation, rules generation, and results evaluation and interpretation. An empirical study has been done in Taiwan that recruited 168 subjects from different background to experience the appearance performance of 11 different portable computers. The results assist the designers to develop product strategies based on the characteristics of consumers and the product concept that related to the UX, which help to launch the products to the right customers and increase the market shares. The results have shown the practical feasibility of the proposed framework.
Abstract: Recently, business environment and customer needs
have become rapidly changing, hence it is very difficult to fulfill
sophisticated customer needs by product or service innovation only. In
practice, to cope with this problem, various manufacturing companies
have developed services to combine with their products. Along with
this, many academic studies on PSS (Product Service System) which is
the integrated system of products and services have been conducted
from the viewpoint of manufacturers. On the other hand, service
providers are also attempting to develop service-supporting products
to increase their service competitiveness and provide differentiated
value. However, there is a lack of research based on the service-centric
point of view. Accordingly, this paper proposes a concept generation
method for service-supporting product development from the
service-centric point of view. This method is designed to be executed
in five consecutive steps: situation analysis, problem definition,
problem resolution, solution evaluation, and concept generation. In
the proposed approach, some tools of TRIZ (Theory of Solving
Inventive Problem) such as ISQ (Innovative Situation Questionnaire)
and 40 inventive principles are employed in order to define problems
of the current services and solve them by generating
service-supporting product concepts. This research contributes to the
development of service-supporting products and service-centric PSSs.