UNIT-II

CREATIVITY and
BUSINESS IDEA
Smt.S . S. Bhavani
Assistant Professor
CED, KITSW
Contents
* Sources of new ideas
* Methods of generating ideas
* Creative problem solving
* Concepts of innovation and incubation
Sources of new ideas
Some of the more fruitful sources of ideas for entrepreneurs
include:
 Consumers
 Existing products and services
 Distribution channels
 The federal government
 Research and development
Consumers
* Potential entrepreneurs should always pay close attention to potential consumers.

* This attention can take the form of informally monitoring potential ideas and needs
or formally arranging for consumers to have an opportunity to express their opinions.

* Care needs to be taken to ensure that the idea or need represents a large enough
market to support a new venture.
Existing products and services
* Potential entrepreneurs should also establish a formal method for monitoring and
evaluating competitive products and services on the market.
*Frequently, this analysis uncovers ways to improve on these offerings that may result
in a new product or service that has more market appeal and better sales and profit
potential. Even existing companies need to do this.
*Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, would frequently visit competitive stores focusing
not on what the competitive store did badly, but rather on what it was doing very
well, so he could implement the idea at Walmart.
*Jameson Inns established a policy whereby the manager of each of its inns (hotels)
weekly reports on competitive hotels and their prices in their market areas.
Distribution channels

* Members of the distribution channels are also excellent sources of new ideas
because of their familiarity with the needs of the market.
* Not only do channel members frequently have suggestions for completely new
products, but they can also help in marketing the entrepreneur's newly developed
products.
*One entrepreneur found out from a sales clerk in a large department store that the
reason his hosiery was not selling well was its color. By heeding the suggestion and
making the appropriate color changes, his company became one of the leading
suppliers of non brand hosiery in that region.
 Governments
* Government agencies, not only of one's own country, but also of other countries, can
be a source of new venture ideas in two ways.
*First of all, they are the repositories of the patents filed by inventors and innovators.
While many of the patented ideas may not be directly implementable as business
products/ services, it would be useful for entrepreneurs to go through them, as they
might stimulate their thinking and thereby help them in developing new product ideas
in related fields by 'hitch-hiking' on patented ideas.
*A few decades ago, when the Government of India mandated the replacement of the
'unhygienic' re-usable bottles by disposable blood-bags for blood transfusion, a smart
entrepreneur started a venture for manufacturing blood-bags in the country for the first
time.
*Similarly, in recent times when several state governments in India made it compulsory
for all residential buildings to have the rain water harvesting system, several
entrepreneurial ventures have come up for providing rain-water harvesting
systems and services.
Research and Development
The largest source of new ideas is the entrepreneur's own "research and
development" efforts, which may be a formal endeavor connected with one's current
employment or an informal lab in a basement or garage.
It is a formal endeavour connected with one’s current employment or an informal
laboratory in the private premises.
Methods of generating ideas
Even with such a wide variety of sources available, coming up with an idea to serve
as the basis for a new venture can still pose a problem, particularly since the idea is
the basis for the business.
The entrepreneur can use several methods to help generate and test new ideas,
such as focus groups, brainstorming, brainwriting, and problem inventory analysis.
 Focus groups
Focus groups have been used for a variety of purposes since the 1950s. In a focus
group, a moderator leads a group of people through an open, in-depth discussion
rather than simply asking questions to solicit participant response.
For a new product area, the moderator focuses the discussion of the group in either
a directive or a nondirective manner. The group of frequently 8 to 14 participants is
stimulated by comments from each other in creatively conceptualizing and
developing a new product idea to fill a market need.
One company interested in the women's slipper market received its new product
concept for a "warm and comfortable slipper that fits like an old shoe" from a focus
group of 12 women from various socioeconomic backgrounds.
The concept was developed into a new women's slipper that was a market success.
Even the theme of the advertising message came from comments of the focus group
members.
Brainstorming
*The brainstorming method stimulates people to be creative by meeting with others
and participating in organized group experience. Although most of the ideas
generated by the group have no basis for further development, sometimes a good
idea emerges.
When using brainstorming, four rules need to be followed:
 No criticism is allowed -by anyone in the group-no negative comments.
 Free feeling is encouraged- the wilder the idea, the better.
 Quantity of ideas is desired-the greater the number of ideas, the greater the
likelihood of the emergence of useful ideas.
 Combinations and improvements of ideas are encouraged- ideas of others can be
used to produce still another new idea.
 Brainwriting
 Brainwriting is a form of written brainstorming.
 was created by Bernd Rohrbach at the end of the 1960s under the name Method
635 and differs from classical brainstorming by giving participants more time to think
than in brainstorming sessions, where the ideas are expressed spontaneously.
 Brainwriting is a silent, written generation of ideas by a group of people. The
participants write their ideas on special forms or cards
Problem Inventory Analysis
Problem inventory analysis uses individuals in a manner analogous to focus groups
to generate new product ideas. However, instead of generating new ideas
themselves, consumers are provided with a list of problems in a general product
category.
They are then asked to identify and discuss products in this category that have the
particular problem. This method is often effective since it is easier to relate known
products to suggested problems and arrive at a new product idea than to generate an
idea by itself.
Creative Problem Solving
Creativity is an important attribute of a successful entrepreneur.
 Unfortunately, creativity tends to decline with age, education, lack of use,
and bureaucracy, Creativity generally declines in stages, beginning when a
person starts school.
 It continues to deteriorate through the teens and continues to progressively
decrease through ages 30, 40, and 50.
Also, the latent creative potential of an individual can be stifled by
perceptual, cultural, emotional, and organizational factors.
Creativity can be unlocked and creative ideas and innovations generated by
using any of the creative problem-solving techniques.
Creative Problem-Solving Techniques
Brain storming Forced relationships
Reverse brain storming Focus groups
Brainwriting Collective notebook methods
Gordon method Attribute listing method
Checklist method Big dream approach parameter analysis.
Free association
The 5W+H Method
Who, What, Where, When, and Why are the five W’s. Answering
these five W’s helps us achieve a very holistic view of the topic
under discussion. And it is an efficient way to come up with
solutions and ideas.
Role playing

In the role-playing technique, each participant can take on a personality

or role different from his own. As the technique is fun, it can help
people reduce their inhibitions and come out with unexpected ideas.
SCAMPER
It is an acronym with each letter standing for an action verb
which in turn stands for a prompt for creative ideas.
Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is another method to get through the creative
drought successfully. By definition, a mind map is a diagram
for representing tasks, words, concepts, or items linked to
and arranged around a central concept or subject using a
non-linear graphical layout that allows the user to build an
intuitive framework around a central concept.
Storyboarding

This technique refers to the process of making storyboards to

generate ideas. Storyboards use pictures, illustrations, and
other information to better present the ideas.