INNOVATION MANAGEMENT & NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

DEVELOPING NEW PRODUCTS: THE LEAD USER STRATEGY

Lead User: An early adopter of a

new product or technology that is expected to eventually receive widespread use

Lead users create a solution (Indian

‘Jugaad’) when there is no commercial solution available.

LEAD USER SYSTEM

The lead user process begins with formation of small cross-disciplinary team from marketing and technical departments

One member serves as project leader. Team members usually spend 12 to 15 hours per week on the project for its duration.

This level of immersion fosters creative thought and sustains the project’s momentum.

Lead user projects proceed through four phases.

LEAD USER METHODOLOGY

Phase1: Laying the foundation

• Identify the markets to target• Determine the type and level of innovations desired by

stakeholders within the company

Phase 2: Determining the trends

• Seek opinion of experts & people who have a broad view of emerging technologies and leading-edge applications in the area being studied.

LEAD USER METHODOLOGY

Phase 3: Identifying lead users

• Initiate a networking process to identify and learn from users at the leading edge of the target market and related markets.

• Gather information that helps identify promising innovations and ideas.

• Based on info collected, shape preliminary product ideas

• Assess the business potential of the concepts and how they fit with company interests.

PHASE 3: IDENTIFYING LEAD USERS

Finding Lead Users:

• Networking: Teams begin by explaining their problem to individuals who have expertise on the subject.

• Then they ask for a referral to someone who has even more relevant knowledge.

• Eventually, this successive networking (in related as well as not-so related fields) leads to Lead Users at the front of the target market

Lead Users can help redefine goals. Medical Imaging team's initial goal to create high resolution images changed based on inputs from Lead Users. Their discovery of military specialists' use of pattern recognition led them to a new goal: to find methods to recognize medically significant patterns, whether by better image resolution or by other means.

Team focused on Medical imaging identified need to detect smaller and smaller features- like early stage tumors. They identified lead users in the field of Medical radiology, semiconductor imaging, and pattern recognition

PHASE 3: IDENTIFYING LEAD USERS

LEAD USER METHODOLOGY

Developing the breakthrough• Begin by hosting a work- shop with several lead

users, in-house marketing and technical people, and the lead user team.

• Participants first work in small groups and then as a whole to design final concepts that precisely fit the company’s needs.

• After the workshop, the project team undertakes:• further hones the concepts• determines whether they fit the needs of target

market users• eventually presents recommendation to senior

managers.

LEAD USER STRATEGY: THE SURGICAL DRAPES EXAMPLE

The Problem:

• Surgical drapes sales was stagnating.• Surgical drapes were too expensive for markets in developing countries• Surgical drapes were not providing fool-proof protection against microbes; were not very effective in hotter conditions

Lead user team formed:

• 6 member cross functional team formed comprising members from R&D, marketing & manufacturing

Initial Goal set: Find a better disposable surgical drape

LEAD USER STRATEGY: THE SURGICAL DRAPES EXAMPLE

Phase 1:

• The group learned more about cause and prevention of infection by researching literature and interviewing experts

• The group then held a workshop with management, discussed all they had learned and set parameters for acceptable type of breakthrough products

Phase 2:

• Focus on better understanding trends in infection control• Team sent to India, Indonesia and Korea learned:

• Cheap antibiotics used by surgeons as substitute for expensive drapes• Recipe for crises as microbes develop resistance to antibiotics over time

• Problem redefined: Find cheaper & effective infection control method that does not depend on antibiotics

Phase 3:

• Networking to identify lead users• Specialists in Veterinary Hospitals who managed to keep infection rates very low despite difficult

conditions• Hollywood’s make-up artists who are experts in applying skin materials that do not irritate & are easy

to remove

Phase 4:

• Lead Users invited to a two-and-half day workshop to discuss various ideas• Participants discussed in small groups and then as a whole• Three product line concepts emerged-

• Economy line of surgical drapes ( using existing 3M tech, not breakthrough)• Skin Doctor line of handheld devices that could lace anti-microbial substances on patients’ skin and vacuum up blood/other liquids during surgery• Armor line of products that could be used in catheters and tubes allowing 3M to enter a $2 bn market aimed at controlling of blood-borne, urinary

tract, respiratory infections

LEAD USER STRATEGY: THE SURGICAL DRAPES EXAMPLE

CONCLUSION

Lead User Methodology formalizes and systematizes the process of innovation.

It cannot guarantee 100% success, but then nothing can

Lead User strategy increases the chances of success

Lead User strategy can also reduce the time it takes for breakthrough innovations (often the lead users have already developed some sort of prototype) as companies do not have to start from scratch

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