executive innovation survey

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RESULTS OF THE EXECUTIVE INNOVATION SURVEY STEFAN GEISSEL Hamburg, February 2008

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RESULTS OF THEEXECUTIVEINNOVATION SURVEY

STEFAN GEISSELHamburg, February 2008

• Breakthrough innovations strongly drive a company’s future growth.• Innovation satisfaction leaves room for improvement.• “Company culture” and “consumer understanding” best drive innovation

performance.• Understanding “consumers’ needs and desires” best helps to improve

consumer understanding.• Companies are largely unaware of newer market research methods.• Employees represent the best source for innovative ideas.• Companies believe to train their own employees is the best way to increase

consumer understanding.• Employee training is the least risky investment to increase consumer

understanding.• A partnership with a university seems ideal for experimental research projects.• A university partnership can also provide “company workshops” and

“employee education” for companies.

Quick Facts

Executive Innovation Survey.

• more than 150 participants

• more than 50% of the participants work in large companies (more than 1,000 employees)

• 2/3 men, 1/3 women

• 47% of the respondents are between 26 - 34 years of age, 33% are between 35 and 44 years.

• 2/3 have a management related job position

Demographics of the research.

Survey Participants.

26%

7%6%

8% 11%15%

28%

Consumer GoodsIndustrial GoodsMediaTelecommunicationsRetailFinancial ServicesOther

11%3%4%

5%

20%57%

GermanyUSAEnglandSwitzerlandAustriaOther

Industries Countries

The consumer goods industry represents the strongest industry in the survey

Germany and the USA are the two countries most represented in the survey

Industries and countries represented.

Survey Participants.

Innovation Performance1

very important

important

moderate

less important

not important

0% 17.5% 35.0% 52.5% 70.0%totalconsumer goods industry

More than 80% believe that breakthrough innovations are either important or very important for their companies future growth. Consumer goods companies tend to value innovation some more than the total of all other industries.

Breakthrough innovations strongly drive a company’s future growth.

How important are breakthrough innovations for your company’s future growth?

industry leader

improved

average

less than average

0% 12.5% 25.0% 37.5% 50.0%totalconsumer goods industry

More than 1/3 rate their company performance as “average” or “less than average”.

Innovation satisfaction leaves room for improvement.

Rate your innovation performance compared to competitors.

“Company culture” and “consumer understanding” best drive innovation performance.

Companies can best improve their innovation performance by improving its “company culture”, and “consumer understanding”.

strongly

disagree

disagree

neither agree

nor disagree

agreestro

ngly

agree

totalconsumer goods industry

better consumer understanding

external partnerships

innovative company culture

better structured R&D processes

knowledge management system

outsourcing of R&D

cross-functional teams

What is needed to improve your innovation performance?

What Kind of Information Is Needed for Better Consumer Understanding?

2

Understanding “consumers’ needs and desires” best helps to improve consumer understanding.

Companies see the most potential for creating better innovations in gaining additional knowledge about “consumers’ needs and desires”, “trends”, and “the decision making process”.

strongly

disagree

disagree

neither agree

nor disagree

agreestro

ngly

agree

brand experience

decision making process

product usage

possible influencers

lead users

consumers’ needs and desires

advertising effectiveness

How much consumer understanding is present?How to improve consumer understanding?

trendsstatus quoscenario w/ est. better consumer understanding

surveysinterviews

focus group interviewsconsumer panels

in-depth interviewseyewitness testimony interviews

responce latency interviewsneuroimaging

metaphor elicitation techniqueconsensus maps

ethnographic analysis

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

knownunknown

Most of the more recent market research methods are hardly known. More than 1/3 of the respondents was not aware of “neuroimaging”, “consensus maps”, or “ethnographic analysis”.

Companies are largely unaware of newer market research methods.

Which market research methods are you aware of?

Where Do Companies Acquire Ideas and Insights From?

3

Employees represent the best source for innovative ideas.

For most companies their own employees are the best source for innovative ideas. Companies see most potential in improving customer and business partner relationships.

strongly

disagree

disagree

neither agree

nor disagree

agreestro

ngly

agree

business partners

R&D department

customers

academia

consultants

employees

competitors

Where do you get most innovative ideas from?I see most potential for getting innovative ideas in the future through...

current source for ideaspotential source for ideas

Companies believe to train their own employees is the best way to increase consumer understanding.

Companies would rather build consumer knowledge within their own company.

strongly

disagree

disagree

neither agree

nor disagree

agreestro

ngly

agree

employee training

hiring an external marketresearch company

Our company would best increase consumer understanding by...

partnering with a university consumer competence center

Employee training is the least risky investment to increase consumer understanding.

Companies would rather spend money for training their own employees than for external help.

strongly

disagree

disagree

neither agree

nor disagree

agreestro

ngly

agree

employee training

hiring an external marketresearch company

The most risky investment seems to be...

partnering with a university consumer competence center

much more expensive

more expensive

about the same

less expensive

far less expensive

0% 15% 30% 45% 60%

Two out of three companies believe that a collaboration with a university is less expensive than hiring a market research company. This fact leads to the conclusion that a university partnership seems perfect for experimental research projects.

A partnership with a university seems ideal for experimental research projects. Compared with hiring a company, partnering with a university is probably...

A university partnership can also provide “company workshops” and “employee education” for companies.

Besides specific research projects, companies are especially interested in “employee education” and “company workshops” provided by a university collaboration.

strongly

disagree

disagree

neither agree

nor disagree

agreestro

ngly

agree

employee education

company workshops

recruitment

exchange of research advances with other companies

laboratory research projects

Besides improved consumer intelligence a university partnership could provide additional benefits. How interested would you be in gaining special access to...

This survey found that there are two key sources of innovation. Participants clearly believe that their companies will get most innovative ideas in the future from employees as well as consumers. Employees represent a rich source of innovative ideas, which companies need to benefit from. Being exposed to a company’s products day in and day out, employees deploy a deep functional understanding that can bring many ideas for improvement. Understanding the consumer is equally important, since goods are produced to meet the consumer’s needs. Understanding these needs will directly translate into products that are more successful.

Two key sources of innovation.

Executive Innovation Survey.

Today a great mismatch exists between the way consumers experience and think about their world and how marketers use methods to collect this information. This is also demonstrated by the fact, that companies are largely unaware of newer market research methods (slide 11). Companies that improve learning on how people think by employing more recent market research tools, will be able to generate more successful innovative products.

Companies need to understand how people think and feel, instead of simply asking them about their needs and wants.Executive Innovation Survey.