Research proposal
Idea generation
Generating innovative and sustainable business models is one of today’s most challenging tasks for management teams and at the same time continuing business model innovation is a key source of competitive advantage (O’Reilly, & Binns, 2019).
The first step in the creative process is to search for new ideas. New ideas can come from anywhere so the creator should not hesitate to immerse themselves in a new world or a new setting. This enables their brain to overcome functional fixedness, a common cognitive bias, and to be able to see the world and the objects that make it up in new ways. This is not the only way to search for ideas. Another common way to find inspiration is to encourage teams to talk to each other and see if their collective cognitive might can come up with new ideas. Even though these are two common ways to find inspiration it is important to note that there is no one proper way to seek inspiration (Steils, & Hanine, 2019). In order to be inspired, the most important thing to do is to cultivate a mindset and environment of continuous curiosity which makes your mind more open to new idea. Ideas are the key to innovation. Without them, there isn’t much to execute and because execution is the key to learning, new ideas are necessary for making any kind of improvement. It’s obvious that ideas alone won’t make innovation happen, as you need to be able to build a systematic process for managing those ideas. The point of ideation isn’t just about generating tons of them but about paying attention to the quality of those as well (Hasan, & Koning, 2019).
The following are the key steps in idea generation of the Business.
Steps in idea generation
Idea Selection
When the entrepreneur has noticed an opportunity, this is a very critical phase since after someone has noticed the idea they have to identify the right people and all the necessary resources to make this idea reality. At this point, the entrepreneur also want to make sure that the person chosen to lead this idea will have some form of resources available to start making it happen. There is no obligation for your selected idea to be a fully-fledged business case. At this stage, an idea is understood to be a hypothesis and might well be altered or changed later.
Scrutiny of All Aspects
Analytically evaluate all aspects of your potential opportunity like an investor. The larger the project, the more the idea’s ROI will be scrutinized. Key aspects of the overall assessment are:
- The potential target audience the entrepreneur wish to reach
- The potential value this idea or product could represent for entrepreneur business
- How much of a ‘risk’ does this represent.
- Market viability, does anyone actually want this.
Feedback
Collect opinions from people aware of the market, competitors, business model and similar business experience. Their practical expertise, and that of target customers, will help predict the likelihood of idea success. The real test is when the product is launched, but this preliminary research gives a hint. Entrepreneur must build a wide range of opinions as wide as they can.
Feedback Reaction
Entrepreneur must make necessary changes to the product, strategy and business plan according to the feedback. Anticipate the needed capital to reach set targets. Design an implementation plan with the main objectives in the short term and who will execute them. At this stage, entrepreneur will also need to start thinking about sourcing the capital required to turn this idea into reality, as you will most likely be asking for funding, or at the very least, resources. It is vital at this stage to take the feedback in and adapt to meet requirements. What matters most is getting a minimum viable working product / project off the ground, even if it’s not the fully-scoped idea you had in mind; there is plenty of time to reiterate and grow from here.
A Basic Version / Product
Rather than setting the overly ambitious goal of creating a finished product straight away, focus on simplifying and getting a bare minimum offering out there first. It’s important to keep development open to change and feedback, and by holding back until something is ‘just right’ entrepreneur ensures that they gain minimal ranges of opinion and are far more likely to be caught out. A bare minimum offering shows target customers what the product is or will eventually be. A good idea is to build the basic product as quickly as possible, and to make it inexpensive as they have to present a low barrier for entry.
Hitting the Market
The entrepreneur must get the product to market quickly and start examining customer reactions. While one manufacturer waits and refines their product to make it ideal for customers, a competitor sells successfully an acceptable similar product.
Go For A Test Drive
Early testing of business experience factors such as pricing model, visual branding, and messaging and customer experience can be done at this stage. This by no means is your final version, but keep in mind the promises you make in this stage as everything is still up for change. This is a dry-run for your business, where you can gauge real market response. It is entirely up to you how narrow or broad your test drive is.
Corrections and Improvements
In case there is a specific challenge the entrepreneur must ensure that there are corrections made to the product. The corrections enables the business man to adjust what is necessary so that they donot make mistakes when they are taking the product in the market.
Growth Planning
Updates on the product, business plan, marketing and financial strategies enable expansion. If it really proves to be a winning pitch, this is also a good time to gather resources and raise capital. This is where you truly start building for the future. Your idea is no doubt exploding with potential features, implementations or applications, and this is where you get to map out exactly what your idea’s picture of success is, as well as the timeframe in which you wish to achieve these goals.
Key aspects to focus on in this stage are:
- Roadmap of product updates
- Overall business plan
- Marketing strategy
- Resources required
- Capital required
- Appropriate stretch goals
Time to Expand
It might be the last point, but it isn’t the end of entrepreneur’s journey. Expansion should always be followed by corrections and improvements, followed again by expansion. It is a constant cycle of continuous, autonomous improvements that we call Everyday Innovation. With a proven business strategy, an ambitious expansion plan, engaged stakeholders already invested, a ready and responsive market and an outcome that will continue to grow and improve, your idea is set to take on the world.
REFERENCES
O’Reilly, C., & Binns, A. J. (2019). The three stages of disruptive innovation: idea generation, incubation, and scaling. California Management Review, 61(3), 49-71.
Steils, N., & Hanine, S. (2019). Recruiting valuable participants in online IDEA generation: The role of brief instructions. Journal of Business Research, 96, 14-25.
Hasan, S., & Koning, R. (2019). Conversations and idea generation: Evidence from a field experiment. Research Policy, 48(9), 103811.
