Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation
12-2010
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Department
Industrial Engineering
Committee Chair
Evans, Gerald W.
Author's Keywords
Customer orientation; Innovation; Lead user
Subject
New products--Management; Consumer satisfaction; Marketing--Management
Abstract
A constant flow of innovative products which meets the needs of customers and therefore is a monetary success for the inventing organization is important for the long term success of organizations, especially in modem dynamic markets. As resources for innovation projects in organizations are generally limited it is important to choose the right ideas which are followed and later brought to the market. Therefore it is important to integrate external people at the beginning of the innovation process. The following methods all meet this requirement: Models for Positioning compare different attributes of existing or potential products or applications, the Empathic Design Method observes customers using existing products to gain information about future products and the Lead User Approach generates mainly radical innovations by bringing together test persons with very different backgrounds. The developed recommendation matrix based on innovation motives of an organization (e.g. degree of novelty, time frames, change of markets, etc.) and provides recommendations for the selection of a method. As a result, this matrix in combination with other developed factors of differentiation (e.g. complexity of method, availability of resources, etc.) provides a decision guideline for an organization.
Recommended Citation
Cimander, Philipp 1978-, "Methods for focusing on customer orientation in the early phases in the innovation process." (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 253.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/253
