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Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte
Steven Schatteman
The Process of Idea Generation. Organizing, guiding and leading an ideation workshop
at Bayer BioScience NV
Promotor: Prof. Dr. G. Jacobs
Proefschrift voorgedragen tot het bekomen van de graad van
Master in de Meertalige Bedrijfscommunicatie
2008
iii
Acknowledgments
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who contributed, directly or indirectly, to the
realisation of this dissertation.
Additionally, I would like to express my specific gratitude to Mr. André Roef and Mrs. Ingrid
Cazaerck, for their support and advice, over both the course of my internship and the development
of this dissertation.
iv
Table of contents
Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iii
Table of contents ............................................................................................................................ iv
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1
1. Company Presentation: Bayer BioScience NV ........................................................................ 3
1.1 History of Bayer BioScience NV ......................................................................................... 3
1.1.1 1982 – 1996: Plant Genetic Systems ....................................................................... 3
1.1.2 1996 – 1999: Plant Genetics Systems becomes part of AgrEvo .............................. 4
1.1.3 1999 – 2002: Aventis CropScience ......................................................................... 5
1.1.4 2002 – present: Bayer BioScience ........................................................................... 5
1.2 Company Structure ............................................................................................................... 6
1.2.1 Umbrella entity: Bayer AG ...................................................................................... 6
1.2.1.1 Global Structure ........................................................................................ 6
1.2.1.2 Bayer HealthCare ...................................................................................... 9
1.2.1.3 Bayer MaterialScience .............................................................................. 9
1.2.1.4 Bayer CropScience .................................................................................. 10
1.2.1.5 Bayer Service Companies ....................................................................... 11
1.2.2 Local entity: Bayer BioScience N.V. ..................................................................... 12
1.2.2.1 Local Structure ........................................................................................ 12
1.2.2.2 Supporting Services ................................................................................ 14
1.2.2.3 Host Organisations .................................................................................. 14
1.2.2.4 Communications department .................................................................. 18
1.3 Corporate Identity: Bayer BioScience ................................................................................ 19
1.3.1 Mission statement .................................................................................................. 19
1.3.2 Vision ..................................................................................................................... 20
1.3.3 Strategy .................................................................................................................. 21
1.4 Bayer BioScience products ................................................................................................. 22
1.4.1 Positioning of BioScience products ....................................................................... 22
1.4.2 Canola: InVigor® ................................................................................................... 22
1.4.3 Cotton: FiberMax® ................................................................................................. 23
1.4.4 Rice: Arize® ........................................................................................................... 23
1.5 Competitors in the biotechnology market ........................................................................... 24
1.5.1 Market Overview and Positioning ......................................................................... 24
1.5.2 Syngenta................................................................................................................. 26
1.5.3 Monsanto ............................................................................................................... 27
1.5.4 DuPont ................................................................................................................... 27
1.5.5 Dow AgroSciences ................................................................................................ 27
v
1.6 SWOT-analysis ................................................................................................................... 29
2. The process of organisational idea generation ....................................................................... 30
2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 30
2.2 Cognitive and social-psychological framework ................................................................. 32
2.2.1 Introductory remarks .............................................................................................. 32
2.2.2 Cognitive framework ............................................................................................. 33
2.2.3 Social psychological framework ............................................................................ 36
2.3 The problem finding process .............................................................................................. 37
2.3.1 Introductory remarks .............................................................................................. 37
2.3.2 Individual or group ideation strategy ..................................................................... 37
2.3.2.1 Nominal versus interacting groups ......................................................... 37
2.3.2.2 Disadvantages of group ideation ............................................................. 39
2.3.2.3 Advantages of group ideation ................................................................. 40
2.3.3 Group forming: illusion of productivity ................................................................ 41
2.3.4 Setting goals for the ideation process .................................................................... 43
2.4 The ideation process ........................................................................................................... 44
2.4.1 Introductory remarks .............................................................................................. 44
2.4.2 Brainstorming as an ideation tool .......................................................................... 45
2.4.3 Facilitating a brainstorming session ...................................................................... 46
2.5 The selection and evaluation process ................................................................................. 48
2.5.1 Introductory remarks .............................................................................................. 48
2.5.2 The concept of idea evaluation .............................................................................. 48
2.5.3 Strategies for idea evaluation ................................................................................. 50
2.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 51
3. Case study: an internship at Bayer BioScience NV ............................................................... 53
3.1 Introductory remarks .......................................................................................................... 53
3.2 Primary assignment: the ideation workshop ....................................................................... 54
3.2.1 Background and setting ......................................................................................... 54
3.2.2 Preparatory phase ................................................................................................... 55
3.2.2.1 Introductory remarks ............................................................................... 55
3.2.2.2 Getting acquainted with the subject ........................................................ 55
3.2.2.3 Logistic and practical preparations ......................................................... 57
3.2.2.4 Construction of the workshop agenda ..................................................... 60
3.2.3 Ideation workshop at Bayer Antwerpen ................................................................ 61
3.2.3.1 Introductory remarks ............................................................................... 61
3.2.3.2 Introduction and first acquaintance ......................................................... 61
3.2.3.3 Animal Health presentation .................................................................... 62
3.2.3.4 Top of mind exercise ............................................................................... 62
3.2.3.5 I like/don‟t like exercise .......................................................................... 62
3.2.3.6 Accidental discovery exercise ................................................................. 63
3.2.3.7 Well-being exercise ................................................................................. 63
3.2.3.8 Ranking and evaluation of ideas ............................................................. 63
vi
3.2.4 Workshop roll-out .................................................................................................. 64
3.2.5 Assignment evaluation ........................................................................................... 64
3.3 Secondary assignments ....................................................................................................... 66
3.3.1 Introductory remarks .............................................................................................. 66
3.3.2 Translations ............................................................................................................ 66
3.3.3 Editorial contributions ........................................................................................... 66
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 68
Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 70
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 75
1
Introduction
Innovation and creativity are imperative in the contemporary organisational environment. In order
to remain competitive, companies continually have to improve their existing products and
services, and develop new products and services. In this respect, creativity of a company‟s
employees is of paramount importance for the effectiveness of an organisation, as market research
and analysis are expensive and time-consuming methods to ensure innovation. Therefore, many
companies decide to invest in internal idea generation, where the company‟s work force is
motivated and stimulated to generate new ideas. Investing in specific idea generation for a
particular subject with clear objectives can result in both short-term (the immediately generated
ideas for potential new products) and long-term (a changed employee attitude towards creativity)
benefits. A number of techniques and strategies for organisational idea generation have been
developed to support idea generation in organisations. Organizing brainstorming sessions has
emerged as the most frequently used of these different methods. I will analyse the concept of
organisational idea generation via brainstorming sessions, illustrating this concept with a specific
case study, viz. the organisation, guidance and lead of an ideation session at Bayer BioScience
NV.
In the first chapter of this dissertation, I will discuss and analyse the company of my
internship, focusing on the company history and structure (both on global and local level), its
corporate identity (mission statement, values and strategy), products and position in the
competitive environment. The chapter will be concluded in a summarizing SWOT-analysis,
reiterating the company‟s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
The second chapter focuses on the theoretical background and framework of organisational
creativity, and, more specifically, the concept of idea generation. In this chapter, I will start from a
cognitive and social-psychological approach to idea generation, and subsequently move to a more
practically oriented approach of the three different stages of ideation (problem finding, ideation
and evaluation), discussing key elements of these three stages in the idea generation process.
The description of my internship is the central element in the third chapter. In this case study, I
will elaborate on the different aspects of the ideation workshop that I conducted at Bayer
BioScience NV, paying specific attention to the three key internship phases: preparation, ideation
workshop and workshop roll-out. The description of the ideation workshop in all its aspects will
be followed by an evaluation of the assignment and my input in this project. Additionally, I will
2
discuss the secondary tasks I performed during my internship, ranging from translations to
editorial contributions.
To conclude this dissertation, I will summarise my experience throughout the internship, and
its contribution to my professional and personal development.
3
1. Company Presentation: Bayer BioScience NV
1.1 History of Bayer BioScience NV1
The history of Bayer BioScience N.V. reaches back some 25 years, and was preceded by research
conducted by Jeff Schell and Marc Van Montagu at the Ghent University. In cooperation with
their research team they studied the soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens and the ability of
some of its strains to induce tumours in plants. From this observation, they deduced a fundamental
premise: if Agrobacterium could transfer DNA to plants to stimulate the plants to make certain
products, then maybe plants could be induced to make desired products. GIMV counsel Gerard
Van Acker, enthusiastic about the potential of this development, gathered interested parties and
convinced them to establish a new enterprise, conceived as a business model around this new
technique. This marked the birth of the new company, which would however go through several
changes over the years before arriving at its current name and structure.
1.1.1 1982 – 1996: Plant Genetic Systems
On the 2nd of February 1982, Plant Genetics Systems (PGS) was founded. The enterprise‟s plan
was to capitalise on the first successes of using recombinant DNA technology for genetic
engineering of plants made in the Genetics Lab at Ghent University. The first stage of the
business strategy was aimed towards establishing a unique, strong and well-protected
technological base on which to build a business.
The first breakthrough came in 1985, with the engineering of the first insecticidal protein in
tobacco, which made it to the cover of Nature magazine. This made PGS the first company to
develop genetically engineered plants with insect tolerance, and thus profiled the company as a
potential threat for the pesticide businesses of the major agrochemical companies. Subsequent to
this initial success, the first field trials with herbicide tolerant plants were done in the US and later
on in Europe, resulting in successful testing and the prospect of commercial prosperity.
1 Cf. Wikipedia: Plant Genetics Systems. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_Genetic_Systems>, 30/06/2008;
FlandersBio: Bayer BioScience Fiche.
<http://www.flandersbio.be/documents/15_BayerBioScience_Fiche%20FINAAL.pdf>, 30/06/2008; Bayer
BioScience NV: Bayer BioScience nv... in motion. Unpublished booklet, Gent, Bayer BioScience NV, 2007.
4
In 1988, the increasing success led to an expansion of the field trial network into more crops,
including oilseed rape, alfalfa, tomato, poplar and sugar beet. Upon reaching its lustre, PGS was
internationally recognised as a leading contender in the rush to commercialise genetically
engineered plants. This reputation was even strengthened in 1989, as the company announced a
molecular genetic technology that allowed for the effective creation of hybrid varieties of many
plant species. This was considered to be a big breakthrough and received worldwide attention.
At the start of the 90s, PGS realised that a shift in strategic thinking became a priority. The
company focused on three technological platforms (a pollination control system (SeedLinkTM), Bt
(Bacillus thuringiensis)-based insect control and glufosinate tolerance) and mixed this with
licensing-out of technologies, forward integration in breeding and sales of seeds (including the
company‟s new research station in Astene) and strategic partnerships with seed companies (joint
projects with companies in the Netherlands (chicory, leek), Japan (brassica vegetables and rice)
and Canada (oilseed rape or canola)). This new strategy indicated that the company increasingly
directed its attention to product development. The greenhouse in Astene enabled the breeding and
growth of tobacco, corn and oilseed rape, and was equipped with advanced facilities for seed
drying, handling and storage capacity.
1.1.2 1996 – 1999: Plant Genetics Systems becomes part of AgrEvo
On August 16, 1996, PGS‟s development took another upturn, as Hoechst Schering AgrEvo
GmbH (AgrEvo) acquired the company. This was a logical next step for PGS, since the crop
production concept (the combination of seeds, technology and chemical crop protection) was
starting to emerge and major plant biotech products were only just coming to market. Thus, PGS
became part of a large multinational, allowing for the company to expand and face these new
challenges. The number of employees grew from 120 to more than 200. AgrEvo wanted to build a
crop production future; they already had the crop protection component and the technology
component (PGS). Now they needed one last element: the seed business, where its target was
corn. At the time, corn was the subject of a battle between the major companies in the agro
industry; this battle centred on attaining market share in the seed business and being the first to
introduce biotech traits in the corn market. Due to the longevity of various patent battles and the
absence of its own seed business, AgrEvo essentially lost this “battle”, and was forced to shift its
focus to cotton, oilseed rape and rice.
The cotton market was entered by a joint venture with an Australian seed company, which
secured access to Australian germplasm (~ birth of FiberMax®) and by forming a research alliance
with CSIRO, re-establishing cotton as a research target. In the canola business, the first InVigor®
5
hybrids were sold in 1997, making it a realistic business perspective for oilseed rape research. In
1999, AgrEvo acquired Proagro Seed Company Pvt.Ltd., an Indian seed company, which opened
up the opportunity of the development of rice as a crop at PGS. These initiatives illustrate the size
of the financial resources AgrEvo invested in the growth of its seed and trait businesses, resulting
in many new innovative technologies, and thus laying the foundations for future developments.
1.1.3 1999 – 2002: Aventis CropScience
Figure 1: Aventis logo
In 1999, Hoechst AG and Rhône-Poulenc SA decided to merge their activities in pharma and
crop protection, and formed a new company, Aventis SA. Within Aventis CropScience, the
company formerly known as PGS formed a separate business unit, BioScience. Symbolically, the
PGS logo was taken down and replaced by the sign Aventis CropScience N.V. The merger resulted
in the restructuring of the entire company and some stressful years (as there were signals that the
Aventis holding wanted to spin out CropScience). Additionally, the European ban of cultivation
of genetically engineered crops was maintained, meaning that field trials had to be conducted
outside Europe. This caused the Astene site to be slowly converted from a breeding station into a
research station.
The setbacks, however, did not mean that the Ghent research labs were not doing well. The
first results in abiotic stress control and the development of an effective method for gene
replacement in oilseed rape and corn were obtained.
1.1.4 2002 – present: Bayer BioScience
Fout!
Figure 2: Bayer logo
On the 2nd of October 2001, Bayer acquired Aventis CropScience through a stock purchase
agreement with Aventis and Schering. This acquisition was, at the time, the largest Bayer had ever
ventured in its 138 years of existence, and made its crop protection business (with that of Aventis
6
CropScience) take up the world‟s number two position in the agricultural chemicals business
(behind Sygenta). The new company name of Aventis CropScience NV was changed into Bayer
CropScience N.V. on June 11, 2002, but would soon be changed again. To indicate what the
company is all about, the name was altered into Bayer BioScience N.V. on August 12, 2002. With
this takeover, Bayer gained a foothold in the seed business, and saw that green biotechnology was
essential to the crop protection industry.
The new start of the biotechnology company was epitomised by a new infrastructure,
providing lab equipment and housing the employees. In April 2004, a new research facility in
Technologiepark in Zwijnaarde was taken into use, a facility that physically connected the
laboratory block and the administrative block (Legal, IP, HR, Finance,...), which used to be
separated in the AgrEvo days. In addition to the new building, the strategy was revised, and Bayer
opted to focus its research activities on oilseed rape, cotton, rice and vegetables. In addition to the
new strategy, many of the long-standing and time-consuming litigations were resolved. All these
activities marked the new road for the biotechnology company, a road Bayer BioScience has
followed ever since.
1.2 Company Structure
1.2.1 Umbrella entity: Bayer AG
1.2.1.1 Global Structure
In order to get a clear view of the structure of Bayer BioScience N.V., it is imperative to illustrate
the place of this company within the global holding that is the multinational Bayer AG. As I
discussed earlier (cf. 1.1.4, p.5), the company (at the time Aventis CropScience) was acquired by
Bayer AG in 2002 and has thus been inserted into a much larger and more complex consortium.
The Bayer group employs over 106,200 people worldwide, has its headquarters in Leverkusen,
Germany, and is present in more than 50 countries. It attained sales of € 32,385 million in 2007
and has Werner Wenning as its CEO. Bayer AG should be regarded as a huge organisation, in
which the different subsidiaries are intricate and difficult to discern. I therefore want to maintain a
clear and transparent view of the position of Bayer BioScience N.V. in the large organisation of
Bayer AG, which makes it necessary to look at the holding‟s structure in greater detail.
The Bayer AG holding consists of three subgroups and three service companies, which all
function independently. It also has a Corporate Centre, which “supports the Group Management
7
Board in its task of strategic leadership”2 and is formed by the board of management and the
supervisory board. On its website, the company offers this schematic view of its organisation:
Figure 3 Bayer AG organisation chart3
This graph shows the different subgroups of Bayer AG, but gives no indication towards the
relative size and sales of the different subgroups. In order to demonstrate the different size and
relative importance of the three subgroups and to further approach the level of the subcompany
Bayer BioScience NV, I turn to the Bayer annual report for two elucidating graphs. The first
graph lists key data of the three subgroups and their respective segments, illustrating the size of
these subgroups. These numbers clearly indicate that, as far as sales and earnings are concerned,
Bayer CropScience (the subgroup to which Bayer BioScience NV belongs) is the “smallest” of the
three subgroups:
2 Bayer AG: Profile and Organization. <http://www.bayer.com/en/Profile-and-Organization.aspx>, 01/07/2008
3 Bayer AG: Profile and Organization.
8
Figure 4: Key data by subgroup and segment in 20074
The same conclusion can be deduced from the graphical presentation of the sales by segment,
which is offered in the annual report. Bayer CropScience is, when it comes to sales, the smallest
subgroup and represents only 18% of the Bayer sales:
Figure 5: Sales by segment in percent in 2007 (2006 in parentheses)5
The cited numbers already offer an interesting view of the relation between the subgroups
within the Bayer Group, but cannot convey the entire framework of this complex organisation.
They do however lapidarily illustrate the relative size of the subgroups, and can assist in
determining the position and situation of Bayer CropScience (and, subsequently, of Bayer
BioScience NV). In the next paragraphs, I would like to elaborate on the different subgroups and
4 Bayer AG: Science For A Better Life. Bayer Annual Report 2007. Leverkusen: Bayer AG, 2008, p.33
5 Bayer AG: Bayer Annual Report 2007. p.33
9
service companies, paying specific attention to the Bayer CropScience group, since Bayer
BioScience N.V. is a part of this particular subgroup.
1.2.1.2 Bayer HealthCare
The Bayer HealthCare group is mainly operative in the field of human and animal health. It
focuses on researching, developing and producing new products and therapeutic approaches. This
subgroup is the biggest of the three Bayer subgroups, with sales in 2007 amounting to € 14,807
million and a work force of 51,600 employees. It is headquartered in Leverkusen and realised an
operating profit of € 1,564 million in 2007.6 Bayer HealthCare consists of four different
departments, each with its specific focus: Bayer Schering Pharma (prescription medicines; sales
of € 10,267 million in 2007), Animal Health (over-the-counter medicines and nutritional
supplements; sales of € 14,807 million), Consumer Care (blood glucose monitoring systems; €
2,634 million) and Diabetes Care (veterinary medicines and grooming products; € 950 million).7
Bayer Healthcare has a product portfolio of more than 100 products, of which the Bayer
HealthCare website lists the 10 best-selling products in 2007: Yasmin®/YAZ®/Yasminelle®,
Betaferon®/Betaseron®, Ascensia®, Kogenate®, Adalat®, Aspirin®, Avalox®/Avelox®,
Cipro®/Ciprobay®, Mirena®, Levitra®.8
1.2.1.3 Bayer MaterialScience
The Bayer subgroup Bayer MaterialScience is active in the field of researching, developing and
producing materials, as the company name suggests. The company is, as the Bayer Group website
states, a manufacturer of “polymers and high-quality plastics”.9 The company‟s best-known
products are polycarbonates and polyurethanes (e.g. Makrolon®, Desmodur®, Makrofol® and
Apec®) as well as system solutions (e.g. coatings such as Bayhydrol®, Desmopan® and
Bayhydur®). The company is globally present in more than 30 locations and has around 14,900
employees. In 2007, it realised sales of about € 10,435 million.10
6 Cf. Bayer HealthCare: Facts and Figures.
<http://www.bayerhealthcare.com/scripts/pages/en/company/profile/facts_amp_figures/index.php>, 04/07/2008 7 Cf. Bayer AG: Profile and Organization.
8 Bayer HealthCare: Bayer HealthCare Products.
<http://www.bayerhealthcare.com/scripts/pages/en/company/products/top_20_products/index.php>, 04/07/2008 9 Bayer AG: Profile and Organization.
10 Bayer MaterialScience: Bayer MaterialScience. The leader in high-tech materials.
<http://www.bayermaterialscience.com/internet/global_portal_cms.nsf/id/Company_EN?OpenDocument>,
04/07/2008
10
1.2.1.4 Bayer CropScience
Bayer CropScience is the third and final subgroup of Bayer AG, and for this dissertation also the
most important one, since it contains the company I am going to analyse: Bayer BioScience NV.
The company is active in three fields: “crop protection, non-agricultural pest-control and seeds
and plants biotechnology”11. These three fields of activity translate into three respective business
branches: Crop Protection, Environmental Science and BioScience. The subgroup employs 17.800
people worldwide and reached sales of € 5,826 million in 2007. The Bayer CropScience website
offers a graph illustrating the distribution of sales over the three business branches:
Figure 6: Sales Bayer CropScience 2007 by business12
A first subgroup of Bayer CropScience is Crop Protection. This division aims at developing
durable solutions for the protection of crops. It has a broad portfolio of products in four fields:
herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and seed treatment. In the field of herbicides, the company has
taken up a leading position in the market of cereals, corn, rice and sugar beet, with over 150
products. As far as insecticides are concerned, Crop Protection offers more than 60 products
protecting crops from insects, such as Admire®, Baycid®, Confidor®. The fungicide department is
concerned with three segments: cereals, industrial crops and oomycetes (a type of pathogen which
affects grapes, vegetables and potatoes). The seed treatment department also offers a wide variety
of products and application technologies for crop protection, via the treatment of seeds.13
The second subgroup of Bayer CropScience is Environmental Science. This department
contains all non-agricultural applications. A distinction is made between professional products
and consumer products. The professional product portfolio entails products in the field of green
11
Bayer CropScience: Our Company.
<http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/EN_Our_Company>, 04/07/2008 12
Bayer CropScience: Facts and Figures.
<http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/FactsFigures>, 04/07/2008 13
Cf. Bayer CropScience: Crop Protection. Leadership through balance and innovation.
<http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/Crop-Protection>, 04/07/2008
11
industry, professional pest management and vector and locust control. The consumer product
portfolio ranges from branded lawn and garden products (pest and weed control) to speciality
actives (sales of active ingredients).14
The third and subgroup of Bayer CropScience is BioScience. According to Bayer, this
business unit “is a seed business that uses plant biotechnology and modern plant breeding
techniques to improve the quality of crops and vegetables”15. BioScience has a work force of over
2000 employees and has its headquarters in Lyon. In 2007, the company realised global sales of €
382 million. BioScience sells conventional and genetically enhanced seeds to farmers. These
seeds are developed using a range of plant biotechnology tools and advanced plant breeding
techniques with the aim of improving the overall quality of crops, increasing yields and creating
sustainable solutions to meet the increasing need for food, feed, fibre and renewable resources.
The company‟s products are situated in two segments: vegetable seeds and agricultural seeds. The
vegetable seeds are bred and processed at the Nunhems subsidiary. The main crops here are
onions, tomatoes, carrots, leek and melons. The agricultural seeds focus on “improving the
agronomic performance of three strategic crops: cotton, canola and rice, using modern plant
breeding and plant biotechnology innovations”16. As I already mentioned, Bayer BioScience NV
is a part of Bayer CropScience and, more specifically and logically, of Bayer BioScience. The
company is BioScience‟s largest biotechnology research and innovation centre. In the next
chapters (from 1.2.2 Local entity: Bayer BioScience N.V., p.12 onwards) I will focus on this
particular department of Bayer BioScience.
1.2.1.5 Bayer Service Companies
The Bayer group also contains three service companies, which provide “central service
functions”17: Bayer Business Services, Bayer Technology Services and Currenta. I turn to the
Bayer AG site for a short description of these companies‟ tasks:
Bayer Business Services is the Bayer Group‟s international competence center for it-based
services. Its product offering focuses on integrated services in the core areas of it [sic]
infrastructure and applications, procurement and logistics, human resources and executive
personnel services, and finance and accounting. Bayer Technology Services is the global
14
Cf. Bayer CropScience: Environmental Science. Offering solutions to control pests and weeds efficiently and
to improve the quality of life of professional users and consumers.
<http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/Environmental-Science>, 04/07/2008 15
Bayer CropScience: BioScience. Integrated solutions for the farm and beyond.
<http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/Bio-Science>, 04/07/2008 16
Bayer CropScience: BioScience. Integrated solutions for the farm and beyond. 17
Bayer AG: Profile and Organization.
12
technological backbone for the Bayer Group and a major innovation driver. Its services
comprise the development, planning, construction and optimization of processes and plant.
This service company offers fully integrated solutions right through the life cycle of
production facilities. Currenta offers services for the chemical industry including utility
supply, waste management, infrastructure, safety, security, analytics and vocational training
[...].18
1.2.2 Local entity: Bayer BioScience N.V.
1.2.2.1 Local Structure
As I have mentioned in the previous part (cf. 1.2.1, p.6), Bayer BioScience NV is a subsidiary of
Bayer CropScience AG, one of the three subgroups of Bayer AG. After having established its
global position within the Bayer Group, I will now discuss the local organisation Bayer
BioScience NV in greater detail.
Bayer BioScience NV is a company that consists of three different sites (an innovation centre
in Zwijnaarde, a greenhouse in Astene, and a site in Brussels, concerned with Regulatory Affairs).
The company combines plant biotechnology research (55% of the activities) with BioScience
business support functions (45% of the activities) to “optimize the innovation process in a
responsible and sustainable approach”19. Bayer BioScience NV employs 270 people, 80% of
whom have enjoyed higher education, and has an international work force (more than 10% have a
non-Belgian nationality). The company is structured around the research activities on the one
hand, and the supporting services on the other hand. In the following paragraphs I will succinctly
discuss the different departments of Bayer BioScience NV, but I would first like to elucidate the
company structure, by providing the company‟s organisation chart:
18
Bayer AG: Profile and Organization. 19
FlandersBio: Bayer BioScience. <http://www.flandersbio.be/organization_detail2.asp?id_org=15>, 04/07/2008
13
Managing
Director
Host
Organisations
Planning &
Controlling
General
Services
Human
Resources
Communications
Legal
IP
Technology
Management
Research
Agricultural
Crops
BioAnalytics Regulatory QA/QC
Trait
Biology
Product
Research
BioInformation
Technology
Licensing
Canola
Health Cotton Oilseeds Rice
Figure 7: Organisation chart Bayer BioScience NV
14
1.2.2.2 Supporting Services
Within the corporate structure of Bayer BioScience NV, there are four departments that are not
strictly or directly involved in the biotechnological research and innovation activities. These
departments could be considered as supporting services, as they perform rather circumstantial
activities with regard to the daily procedures of a company. They are therefore represented in the
organisation chart as being on the same level as the host organisations (research and connected
activities), but they are not connected with these host organisations. These departments are
Planning and Controlling, Human Resources, General Services and Communication.
In the department Planning and Controlling, the financial aspects of the company are being
managed. The most important tasks of this department are situated in composing, actualizing and
managing the accounting, taking care of tax declaration, and organizing the planning and
controlling of the company.
The activities of Human Resources focus on the managing of all aspects regarding the work
force. These activities include recruitment, assisting and participating in the selection procedures
(both internal and external) and negotiating the terms of employment. The department also
supports and guards the performance and competence management and advises the general
management on matters regarding compensation and benefits. Additionally, Human Resources
makes sure that the company upholds all legal requirements concerning employment relations,
and is responsible for personnel administration (contracts, salaries, pension and other
insurances,...).
The department General Services is mainly concerned with logistical operations. Subtasks of
this department are engineering, purchasing, facility management, safety, security and reception.
The department of Communication will be discussed in a separate paragraph, since this was
the department in which the internship took place, and I would therefore like to elaborate on this
department in somewhat greater detail.
1.2.2.3 Host Organisations
The core business of the company is being performed by the Host Organisations, since they are
active in the field of research or are directly supporting these research activities. These
departments are concerned with plant biotechnology, in order to improve crop quality. On the
organisation chart, we can distinguish four different departments that belong to the host
organisations: Legal, IP, Technology Management, Research and Agricultural Crops.
15
1.2.2.3.1 Legal
First of all, I will turn to the Legal department within Bayer BioScience NV. This department is
responsible for all legal and judicial ramifications and implication of the biotechnology activities
of research departments. This implies a wide range of tasks, e.g.:
reviewing all documents binding the company,
drafting and reviewing of agreements (joint ventures, acquisitions, R&D or License
agreements,...),
assisting in the negotiation of agreements,
giving legal advice to BioScience managers (e.g. on legal aspects of regulatory matters),
managing litigations,
ensuring corporate housekeeping,
ensuring compliance with contractual obligations by capturing agreements into a legal
database and by sending triggers to responsible managers,
checking compliance with legal obligations within BioScience
selecting, appointing and instructing outside counsel,
participating in industry working groups and government consultations,
creating and maintaining a database of BioScience agreements,
corporate work (organizing shareholders' meetings, board of directors‟ meetings, follow-up
of statutes and/or by-laws, nomination of directors, powers of attorney, etc.)
....
1.2.2.3.2 IP
The second department of the Host Organisations I would like to consider is the IP department.
The Intellectual Property department of Bayer BioScience NV manages all aspects and domains
within the company that are the result of creative processes of the human mind with a direct or
potential commercial interest. Examples of this intellectual property are slogans and logos (=
brands, trademarks), specific genetic combinations within a variety of plants (= plant breeder‟s
rights) and technical inventions (= patents). The IP department is in other words responsible for
the protection of the products and know-how of Bayer BioScience NV. The tasks of IP can
roughly be translated into three domains:
IP Protection:
o Ensuring appropriate protection of technology, know-how and products of Bayer
BioScience N.V. (patents, trade secret),
16
o Challenging IP positions of other parties,
o Handling IP aspects of litigation.
IP Licensing:
o Supporting business units with respect to IP issues,
o Allowing third parties to use Bayer BioScience NV inventions,
o Acquiring permission to use inventions of third parties.
IP Intelligence:
o Monitoring developments in core technologies (within and outside Bayer BioScience
N.V.),
o Steering research in view of IP issues,
o Analyzing and comparing the IP position of Bayer BioScience N.V. and other parties,
o Reviewing technology aspects of regulatory files and agreements.
1.2.2.3.3 Technology Management Department
The Technology Management Department is split up into three divisions: BioAnalytics,
Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance. The BioAnalytics division is a BioScience laboratory
and technical expert function, which function is to facilitate the movement of BioScience projects
to the market by providing appropriate analytical, molecular and biological tools. It provides
technical expertise and scientific support to the different market areas, expert advice and data to
regulatory affairs and scientific expertise throughout the BioScience organisation. The division
also provides scientific collaboration and guidance to government agencies, to technology
licensees and to partner laboratories, in an overall goal of facilitating the global acceptance of
novel food, feed and biotech products.
The Regulatory Affairs division works collaboratively with other expert functions to establish
and document the safety of BioScience products. The team delivers this information to
governments around the world to allow Bayer BioScience to conduct field trials, allow
commercial use and facilitate international trade in its products. The division‟s most important
tasks are acquiring all legally required permits to work with GMOs (genetically modified
organisms) and ensuring compliance with permit conditions by Bayer BioScience NV employees
who work with Bayer CropScience genetically modified products. Regulatory Affairs covers the
use of GMOs in laboratories and greenhouses (limited use), field trials and development activities,
and commercial activities (import of products cultivated outside Europe and cultivation in Europe
of genetically modified products).
The final division of the Technology Management Department is Quality Assurance. This
subdepartment has a supportive function to the Bayer BioScience NV business units (Agricultural
17
Crops and Vegetables). It has two main tasks: first of all, the division draws up standards for seed
quality, according to the global product stewardship strategy, to maximise the product‟s benefits
and minimise its potential risks. Secondly, it aims to continually improve the seed production
process, to ensure that the amount of seed shoots produced is sufficient to meet the specific
quality standards throughout the development process.
1.2.2.3.4 Research Department
The fourth department of the host organisations is the Research Department. Within this
department, we can distinguish four subdivisions: Trait Biology, Product Research,
BioInformation and Technology Licensing. The first two divisions are actual business research
units, whereas the latter two are support dimensions for the former two.
The first part of the Research department is Trait Biology, a department consisting of five
expertise groups amounting to a total of about one hundred scientists. There are three technology
know-how groups and two product know-how groups. The technology know-how groups are
Genetics (aims to deliver differentiated traits for integration into cotton, rice and canola breeding
pipelines), Genome Engineering (develops, applies and improves tissue culture and
biotechnology-driven genome engineering approaches) and Trait Testing (evaluates desired traits
under various growth conditions and enables up-scaling of plant material). Crop Productivity
(aims to identify, validate and modulate key genes to increase yield and yield stability) and
Quality Enhancement (wants to develop novel plant-based specialty products) are the product
know-how groups.
The second group is the actual Product Research. The Bayer BioScience research strategy is
centred around seven market areas, four of which are present in the Bayer BioScience NV
subsidiary, viz. health, cotton, oilseeds and rice. Each of these market areas has a dedicated
Product Research Manager, who is responsible for the research portfolio in the Market Area.
Bayer BioScience NV is also the head office of BioScience Research Management, which
includes the presence of the head of research and research operations.
BioInformation is the third subgroup of this department, and this division performs four
core activities and employs more than twenty bioinformation scientists. The Genomic Data
Platform provides user–friendly genomics and genetics platforms integrating data from public and
in-house origins. The R&D Data Platform implements, maintains and supports a global
framework of structured data management solutions to handle biological material and
experimental data. Architecture and Services offers an IT working environment to Bioscience NV,
including support to hardware and universal software packages, while securing network
connectivity to all Bioscience sites. Finally, BioAnalysis Services provides experimental results
18
by using the Genomics Data Platform, or develops automatic pipelines, specific visualisation
interfaces and tools for users to obtain the desired results.
The fourth and final group within the Research department is the Technology Licensing
group. This subgroup approaches third parties in collaboration with Research, IP and the Legal
team in order to access specific expertise or technology required to ensure the success of research.
1.2.2.3.5 Agricultural Crops
The final department of the Host Organisations is the Agricultural Crops group. This
department houses one additional BioScience market area in the field of agricultural crops: canola
(oilseed rape). Within this market area, research is conducted into new trait concepts and enabling
technologies.
1.2.2.4 Communications department
The department of Communication is one of the supporting services within Bayer BioScience
NV, which I discussed earlier (cf. supra). It is however also in this department that the internship
took place, and I would therefore like to cover it separately and in greater detail, to illustrate the
environment in which the internship came about.
The tasks of the communications department of Bayer BioScience NV can be divided into
internal and external communication, with the former clearly occupying the greatest amount of
time. Internal communication takes up 90% of the department‟s activities, and entails a wide
range of different tasks. In general, the department functions as the management‟s spokesperson
towards the employees. This includes a number of activities: drafting personnel information,
updating the local intranet, notifying the employees of events or internal happenings in Belgium
(e.g. the company‟s 25th anniversary,...), and redacting the company magazine. In addition to
these specifically local internal communication tasks, the department is also responsible for the
translation and adaptation of guidelines and policies that are imposed by Bayer AG (e.g. about the
proper use of company cell phones, ...).
The external communication amounts to a mere 10% of the department‟s job, which obviously
is a very small part. The communications department can only communicate externally with
regard to occurrences in Belgium (e.g. interviews in Belgium,...), so external communication is
kept strictly local. The major bulk of external communication is taken care of by the larger
multinational (either by Bayer CropScience (out of Monheim) or even by Bayer AG (out of
Leverkusen). Bayer wants to keep all external communication as uniform and streamlined as
possible, and therefore keeps it mostly centralised. This also implies that the external
19
communication that is performed by Bayer BioScience NV has to be reported to the company
headquarters.
It is within this context that the internship took place, and the report of this internship will
show that its content can also be counted as belonging to the internal communication.
1.3 Corporate Identity: Bayer BioScience
1.3.1 Mission statement
The Bayer AG mission statement, which can be extrapolated to the subgroup Bayer CropScience
and the subsidiary Bayer BioScience NV, originates from the company‟s slogan: Science for a
better life. This slogan hints at the company‟s intention to become and remain a company that
uses scientific and research-based innovation to develop and manufacture products that can
improve the quality of people‟s lives. The company‟s new mission statement illustrates this aim:
We have set out to create an enterprise that is keenly focused on its customers, its strengths,
its potential and the markets of the future: a top international company renowned for
product quality, employee skills, economic performance and innovative strength, and
committed to increasing corporate value and achieving sustained growth. The Bayer brand
symbolizes these goals throughout the world.20
This mission statement applies to the three Bayer subgroups, but in the mission statement, the
group also elaborates on the mission statements for each subgroup, thus also giving a more
specific mission statement for Bayer BioScience:
With our distinctive knowledge of [...] plants [...], we intend to focus in future on the [area]
of [...] nutrition [...]. By applying our skills in [this area] we aim to [...] contribute to
ensuring a sufficient supply of high-quality food for an ever-increasing global population
[...]. These activities offer access to major growth markets. This mission statement
underscores our willingness as an inventor company to help shape the future and our
determination to come up with innovations that benefit humankind.21
Bayer AG wants to capitalise on biotechnology and genetic engineering as major innovation
drivers and considers BioScience in this regard as a key development business toward innovation
and growth.
20
Bayer AG: Future – Goals – Strategy – Values. The Mission Statement of the Bayer Group.
<http://www.bayer.com/en/Bayer-Mission-Statement.pdfx>, 06/07/2008 21
Bayer AG: Future – Goals – Strategy – Values. The Mission Statement of the Bayer Group.
20
To state or provide evidence of whether this mission statement has thoroughly permeated the
corporate structure and workforce of Bayer BioScience NV is not an easy or straightforward task.
During the internship, I was only active in the Communications department, and was not
confronted with all aspects and departments of the company. Obviously, the limited duration of
the internship further impedes a thorough analysis of this permeation. Nevertheless, it became
clear over the course of the internship that innovation and research, as proclaimed in the mission
statement, clearly are the core business of this company. The other activities and departments
supply supporting activities. This focus on innovation and research was reflected in the content of
the internship as well. My task was to organise an ideation workshop, in which innovative ideas
for products or services could and should be uttered (cf. infra). It is my opinion that the content of
this workshop embodies Bayer‟s mission statement and vision, to the extent that striving for
innovation, as the Bayer Group prescribes it, is taken up by its subsidiaries, and in particular by
Bayer BioScience NV.
1.3.2 Vision
The vision of Bayer BioScience corresponds with that of the subgroup to which it belongs, viz.
Bayer CropScience. On the Bayer CropScience website, the vision is divulged in detail:
At Bayer CropScience, our vision is to be a leading partner in providing innovative
products and combined solutions for the production of quality food, feed and fiber to meet
the global challenges of tomorrow.
We strive to build long term, consistent, predictable and mutually beneficial partnerships
with our customers and stakeholders, and aim to generate value through innovation.
For Bayer CropScience, it is a key priority to conduct our business responsibly, fulfill [sic]
our commitment to Sustainable Development and achieve long-term growth with superior
financial returns. Our values express what organizational, cultural and ethical references we
wish to promote in managing our employees and business. They are a company
commitment, as well as an individual commitment for each of our employees.22
This vision is in line with the mission statement as formulated by the Bayer Group, and mainly
advocates innovation and growth. Since these are long-term objectives, it is very difficult to draw
other evidence than mentioned in the previous point.
Bayer CropScience has also drafted a statement in which they enlist their values. In addition to
the economically oriented values (will to succeed, sustainability of the actions and passion for the
stakeholders), the ethical aspect is also taken into account (respect for people and nature, integrity,
22
Bayer CropScience: Vision and Values.
<http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/EN_Values>, 06/07/2008
21
openness and honesty). This ethical concept is also reflected in the company‟s idea of “Product
Stewardship”23, which is “the responsible and ethical management of a crop protection product
throughout its life cycle”24, so from invention to eventual use. The company‟s values are
described in a graph on the website:
Figure 8: Bayer BioScience values25
1.3.3 Strategy
The strategy of Bayer BioScience is, similar to its mission statement and vision, formulated by
Bayer CropScience. This Bayer subgroup determines the strategy of its subsidiaries Crop
Protection, Environmental Science and BioScience, and expresses the following statement as its
strategy:
To achieve sustainable profitability by:
o Capitalizing on our strong and well-balanced portfolio with a special focus on
innovative and high-margin products
o Optimizing efficiency in operative and administrative processes
To leverage on active portfolio management by:
o Capitalizing on successful lifecycle management
o Improving the portfolio mix
To foster industry leadership in innovation by:
o Focusing on business and technology innovation to deliver a sustainable pipeline of
new active ingredients
o Addressing needs for bio-based resources
To be the most attractive employer in our industry by:
o Identifying, retaining and developing the best talent employees26
23
Bayer CropScience: Sustainability and Commitment. Our commitment to product stewardship.
<http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/ProductStew>, 07/08/2008 24
Bayer CropScience: Sustainability and Commitment. Our commitment to product stewardship. 25
Bayer CropScience: Vision and Values. 26
Bayer CropScience: Strategic Objectives.
<http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/StrategicObjectives>, 07/07/2008
22
This strategy is very general, since it applies to the entire CropScience group. We can render it
more concrete by applying it to Bayer BioScience. This results in a Bayer BioScience strategy that
aims to continue to combine its intrinsic strength (as an innovator, developer and deliverer of
advanced biotechnologies) with a range of strategic upstream and downstream partners. More
specifically, Bayer BioScience (and consequently also Bayer BioScience NV) wants to establish a
leadership position in the field of agricultural seeds (cotton, canola and rice). Additionally,
BioScience intends to become a primary supplier of high value plant-based speciality products for
agriculture, nutrition, health and biomaterials.
1.4 Bayer BioScience products
1.4.1 Positioning of BioScience products
Before I embark on a positioning and description of the products Bayer BioScience offers, I
would first like to clarify the position of Bayer BioScience NV in the product process. Since
Bayer BioScience NV is an innovation centre that combines research with global and regional
business support function, it is not directly involved in the final stages of the product
development, branding, marketing or sales. The company however is involved in activities that
initiate these stages, through trait discovery (by means of genetic and genome engineering),
identification of promising new products, realisation of plant biotechnology projects and
preparation of traits for commercialisation.
The Bayer BioScience business objectives are situated in the field of crop solutions (seeds,
trait technologies and crop protection). To summarise the business activities of Bayer BioScience,
we could state that the company sells conventional and genetically enhanced seeds to farmers, to
improve the crop quality and increase the yield. The company‟s activities are aimed at three
fields: vegetable seeds (the Nunhems brand), agricultural seeds and new business ventures. As the
innovative activities of Bayer BioScience NV mainly focus on the agricultural seeds field, I will
discuss only this specific business area, which offers the products InVigor®, FiberMax® and
Arize®.
1.4.2 Canola: InVigor®
The InVigor® product line (e.g. Centurion®, Decis®, Rovral®, Prosper®,...) includes canola
(oilseed rape) seed and technologies, along with crop protection products. The products of this
umbrella brand provide various solutions for canola farmers. The products basically offer,
23
according to the CropScience website, “hybrid canola seed (spring oilseed rape) varieties with
tremendous yield potential across the North American northern grain belt.”27 The Bayer InVigor®
canola varieties hold a 35% market share, which is situated primarily in North America. To
maximise this market share, the company has expressed the intention to “[u]se all available
traditional breeding and modern technology tools to create maximum value at the farm gate for
our seed customers.”28 We can summarise this vision as innovation focused on improving oil
quality. The product‟s main advantages are its hybrid vigour, leading to top yields, its uniform
growth, its ability to withstand environmental stresses, its early season growth, its resistance to
herbicide and its high-quality agronomic characteristics (crop establishment, plant size,...).29
1.4.3 Cotton: FiberMax®
“A collection of cotton seed varieties offering exceptionally high yield and high fibre quality. In
some cases, the cotton seed is enhanced with specific technologies demanded by cotton
growers.”30 That is the product description Bayer provides for its (hybrid) cottonseed product line
FiberMax® (which includes products such as Ignite®, Oberon®, Prep®, Temik®, and so on). This
seed product line has acquired a 30% market share in the US market and a 33% market share in
Europe, by offering high performance in lint yield and quality, insect resistance traits, herbicide
tolerance traits and has adapted variety of product lines according to geography and industry
use.31 The company wants to maintain and expand its market share and product range, by aiming
“[t]o participate in the improvement of cotton production”32 and by “offering the best global
package to growers: seeds, traits, crop protection, services.”33
1.4.4 Rice: Arize®
With the Arize® product line (including products such as Antracol®, Ricestar®, Confidor®,
Regent®, Whip®, Folicur®), Bayer BioScience addresses the increasing demand for rice with its
hybrid rice varieties. The company tries to offer a “range of hybrid rice seeds adapted to diverse
27
Bayer CropScience: BioScience Agricultural Seed: Canola.
<http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/EN_Canola>, 09/07/2008 28
Bayer CropScience: BioScience Agricultural Seed: Canola. 29
Bayer CropScience: BioScience Agricultural Seed: Canola. 30
Bayer CropScience: BioScience Agricultural Seed: Cotton.
<http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/EN_Cotton>, 09/07/2008 31
Bayer CropScience: BioScience Agricultural Seed: Cotton 32
Bayer CropScience: BioScience Agricultural Seed: Cotton 33
Bayer CropScience: BioScience Agricultural Seed: Cotton
24
agro-climatic conditions and consumer preferences in the Indian sub-continent, South-East Asia
and Latin America.”34 The product line has hybrid rice commercial activities in India, the
Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil and Pakistan, and focuses on yield preservation, yield
increase and quality traits in specialised rice. Additionally, Bayer BioScience boasts the yield
quality, seed quality, taste and grain cooking quality of its hybrid rice. The vision BioScience has
for the future of Arize® is to “[l]ead the expansion of hybrid rice in the targeted markets of Indian
sub-continent, South-East Asia and Latin America, contributing to food security and improving
crop profitability.”35
1.5 Competitors in the biotechnology market
1.5.1 Market Overview and Positioning
The biotech crop and seed market is a continually growing one. As a result of consistent and
considerable benefits during the first years of commercialisation, farmers are planting more
biotech crops every year. In 2007, for the twelfth consecutive year, the global area of biotech
crops extended its growth: the increase continued at a growth rate of 12%, or 30 million acres,
reaching 282.4 million acres. Approximately 12 million farmers in 23 countries are now growing
biotech crops. In 2007, the global market value of biotech crops was about €10.5 billion,
representing 16% of the €63 billion global crop protection market in 2007 and 20% of the €51
billion 2007 global commercial seed market.
These numbers indicate that the biotech business is one of ongoing growth and commercial
possibilities, in which a number of players want to increase their market share, by increasing sales
and developing new biotech applications. To acquire an insight in the position occupied by Bayer
CropScience and BioScience within this global business, we need to compare Bayer with the
other key players in this sector, e.g. by illustrating the global sales of the top ten agrobiotech
companies:
34
Bayer CropScience: BioScience Agricultural Seed: Rice.
<http://www.bayercropscience.com/BCSWeb/CropProtection.nsf/id/EN_Rice>, 09/07/2008 35
Bayer CropScience: BioScience Agricultural Seed: Rice.
25
Figure 9: global sales of top 10 agrobiotech companies in 200736
The graph shows that Bayer CropScience occupies the third position when it comes to sales in
the agrobiotech industry, which combines both conventional agrochemicals and biotechnologies
and seeds. In order to acquire an accurate view of the position of Bayer BioScience, we need to
take the agrochemicals sales out of the equation, and take only the seed sales into consideration:
Figure 10: Seed sales performance of top 5 companies in 200737
36
Trarbach, Aline: Company sales performance top 10 – Full Year 2007. Bayer position among top 10. internal
presentation, Monheim: Bayer CropScience, 17/03/2008, p.2 37
Trarbach: Company sales performance top 10 – Full Year 2007. p.4
26
Bayer CropScience‟s (3rd place) and BioScience‟s (4th place) position within the global market
is clearly illustrated in these graphs, but the research by Business Intelligence also examined the
market share of the different CropScience subgroups:
Figure 11: Bayer CropScience sales, position and market share among top 10 agrotech companies in 200738
This graph indicates that Bayer BioScience has only a 2% market share and occupies the 4th
position, which can mainly be explained by its absence on the market of soybean and corn, which
are the two major segments in the biotech industry, accumulatively accounting for 60% of the
global seed market (corn 40%, soybean 20%). Monsanto, Syngenta and Dow Agrochemicals (cf.
infra) are active in these two large domains, which largely explains their superior sales and market
share.
1.5.2 Syngenta
Syngenta is, as the graphs in the previous paragraph show, the market leader in the global
agrobiotech business and the third biggest company in the biotech seed business. The company
achieved sales in 2007 of about € 14 million, employs more than 21,000 people in over 90
countries and headquarters in Basel. Syngenta was formed in 2001, as Novartis and AstraZeneca
joined their agribusinesses. The company is active in a broad range of markets and offers a wide
variety of products: herbicides (e.g. Axial®, Callisto®), insecticides (e.g. Actara®, Forca®) and
fungicides (e.g. Amistar®, Bravo®) for crop protection; field crops (Garst®, Golden Harvest®:
38
Trarbach: Company sales performance top 10 – Full Year 2007. p.4
27
mostly corn and soybean), vegetables (Rogers®) and flower seeds (S&G®); seed care products and
turf, garden, home care and public health products.39
1.5.3 Monsanto
As the market leader in the global seed business and the second player in the agrobiotech industry,
Monsanto is a large agriculture company that employs 17,000 people and has its headquarters in
St.Louis. Its business is divided into two segments: agricultural productivity and seeds and
genomics. The company develops and sells crop seeds in cotton (e.g. Bollgard II®, Roundup
Ready® Flex Cotton), corn (e.g. YieldGuard®, RoundupReady®) vegetables (serves customers
through three business platforms) and oilseeds (soybean: Roundup Ready® soybean, and canola:
Roundup Ready® Canola). Additionally, Monsanto produces crop protection traits (e.g.Roundup
Power Max®, Parrlay®). Monsanto, as it is known and operative nowadays, was formed in 2000 as
a subsidiary of Pharmacia, but became an independent company in 2002.40
1.5.4 DuPont
The DuPont agriculture subsidiary is part of the larger DuPont company, a multinational active in
more than 70 countries and with a workforce of 60,000 people. The company occupies the fourth
position in the global biotech business and the third position in the seed market. It is active in
animal health, crop protection, land management, seeds and inoculants, pest management and
green industry. Its seeds and inoculants are developed by the subsidiary Pioneer, which is
headquartered in Iowa, employs 6,500 people worldwide and sells in more than 70 countries.
Pioneer offers seed solutions in alfalfa, canola, corn, mustard, rice, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower
and wheats.41
1.5.5 Dow AgroSciences
Dow AgroSciences is the fifth player in the global seed business and in that department slightly
smaller than Bayer CropScience. The company is based in Indianapolis and came to existence in
1950 as the agricultural unit of The Dow Chemical Company. It offers products in the field of
39
Cf. Syngenta AG: Syngenta global. <http://www.syngenta.com/en/index.html>, 11/07/2008 40
Cf. Monsanto: Monsanto. <http://www.monsanto.com/>, 11/07/2008 41
Cf. DuPont: DuPont Agriculture. <http://www2.dupont.com/Agriculture/en_US/>, 11/07/2008; Pioneer:
Pioneer. A DuPont Company. <http://www.pioneer.com/web/site/portal/>, 11/07/2008
28
agricultural crop protection chemicals (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides,...) such as Sentricon, .
The company is also active in the area of agronomic seeds and traits in corn (e.g. Herculex®),
sunflowers, canola, cotton (e.g. Phytogen®, WideStrike®), alfalfa and soybeans; healthy oils
(Omega-9 oils); and animal health.42
42
Cf. Dow AgroSciences: Dow AgroSciences. <http://www.dowagro.com/homepage/>, 11/07/2008
29
1.6 SWOT-analysis
Internal analysis
Posi
tive
Strengths
o Strong technologies, broadly applicable to
a number of crops:
o Herbicide tolerance with
different active ingredients:
prevent herbicide resistance in
plants
o Disease resistance
o New traits: climatological stress
resistance
o Hybridisation: makes self-pollination
impossible, improving yields by 30 –
40%
o Strong position in cotton seed market:
development of own cotton varieties
o Largest hybrid rice company in the world
o Quality seed
o Part of global Bayer organisation:
assistance and expertise from a very large
group, beyond mere biotechnology
o Strong position in core business areas
(cotton, canola, rice and vegetables)
o Competent and experienced people
Weaknesses
o Restrictive European legislation: limits
development of GMO technology in
Europe
o R&D is performed in Europe, but
commercialisation happens outside
Europe (for legal reasons): time delay,
import and export problems
o Expensive production and salaries in
Europe ( Asia)
o Strong centralisation: makes it difficult to
swiftly react to trends
o No access to or position in the large and
lucrative corn and soybean market
o Little research on and analysis of
(external and internal) customers
o Very high competition, resulting in a
relatively low BioScience market share
Opportunities
o Research and development of new traits:
focused on abiotic and biotic stress,
improved yield
o Licensing and strategic partnerships to
improve position
o Growing population: increased demand
for food and nutrition
o Limited arable land and water calls for
creative biotech solutions
o Environmental and ecological pressures,
e.g. biodiversity, climate change
o Finite character of fossil fuels: energy
security concerns and boom of bio fuels
o Rapidly evolving technologies
o Changing customer needs: farmers
o Geographic expansion: Asia
o Development into new markets and
crops: area increase
Threats
o Lack of own seed companies (corn,
soybean) brings the obligation to license
out; dependency on other companies
o Maladjusted and restricting regulation:
prohibits products with GMOs, which is
impossible to prevent ( biological
material)
o Export could be stopped when authorities
conclude there is a prohibited substance
(GMO) present: liability risk
o Strong competition from huge
multinationals: prevents entry in corn and
soybean market and threatens other crop
markets
Neg
ativ
e
External analysis
30
2. The process of organisational idea generation
2.1 Introduction
In the contemporary volatile and ever-changing global environment, creativity and innovation are
very important. This tendency, which in se applies to the entire society, is perhaps even more
tangible in an organisational and competitive landscape:
Globalization, changes in the workforce, increasing competition, and better informed
customers drive the need for continuous changes in products, services, and strategies.1
Organisations are increasingly confronted with the need to adapt to the market, and come up with
new solutions. Basadur and Hausdorf formulate this as the need for an optimisation of
effectiveness:
Creativity is a necessary requirement for organizational effectiveness. [...] Organizational
creativity means deliberately changing procedures to make new, superior levels of quantity,
quality, cost and customer satisfaction possible.2
This concept of creativity is however quite vague and ambiguous. As researchers have
established, “creativity is multifaceted”3 and can appear in many forms. I would therefore like to
discuss a specific aspect of organisational creativity in this dissertation, viz. idea generation. More
specifically, I would like to focus on the production of ideas in function of new product
development. Organisations can choose several external paths to come to the development of new
products (e.g. market analysis, market observation,...), but they can also address “innerbetrieblich
spezielle Methoden zur Ideengewinnung”4, in which the company‟s employees are encouraged to
formulate new ideas. Toubia illustrated that internal “[i]dea generation (ideation) is critical to the
design and marketing of new products, to marketing strategy, and to the creation of effective
1 Briggs, Robert O., De Vreede, Gert-Jan, Santanen, Eric L.: “Causal Relationships in Creative Problem Solving:
Comparing Facilitation Interventions for Ideation”. In: Journal of Management Information Systems 20 (2004),
p.168 2 Basadur, Min, Hausdorf, Peter A.: “Measuring Divergent Thinking Attitudes Related to Creative Problem
Solving and Innovation Management”. In: Creativity Research Journal 9 (1996), p.21 3 Basadur, Hausdorf: “Measuring Divergent Thinking Attitudes Related to Creative Problem Solving and
Innovation Management”, p.21 4 Müller-Hagedorn, Lothar: Einführung in das Marketing. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1990,
p.107
31
advertising copy”5. Further research has clearly shown that ideation occupies an important place
in organisational creativity, innovation and new product development.
The internship, in which I was “employed” at Bayer BioScience NV for eight weeks, is a
perfect illustration of the idea generation phenomenon. It was namely my task to organise, guide
and lead an ideation workshop for employees of Bayer Belgium. The theoretical approaches and
aspects, on which this chapter will elaborate, could offer an elucidating perspective on the course
and effect of the ideation workshop that was conducted at Bayer, and could provide an insight into
the underlying processes of idea generation, as well as into its results. Therefore, with regard to
the content of the internship, I considered it very useful to analyse the theoretical background of
ideation in organisations. I must however add that in this analysis of the body of research on idea
generation, I will focus mainly on one specific approach to or technique of idea generation, viz.
brainstorming, since this was the technique used during the actual internship workshop. It is
consequently important to keep in mind that when I am discussing group ideation in this chapter, I
am referring to the specific ideation tool of brainstorming, with its specific repercussions on the
idea generation process.
In this chapter, I would like to explore several aspects of the idea generation theory. First of
all, I intend to illustrate the encompassing and underlying cognitive and social psychological
structures of the ideation process, which provide a firm foundation for the more specific elements
of ideation. In this first part, I will divide the idea generation process into three stages. The second
part of this chapter will discuss the problem finding process of ideation, where I would like to deal
with the group ideation issue and the goal-setting technique. Thirdly, I want to take a look at the
actual ideation process, in which I will focus on the method of brainstorming and the effects of
facilitation. Finally, I will elaborate on the final stage of the idea generation, which more or less
precedes the new product development stage, viz. the evaluation of ideas. Before starting with the
analysis, however, I want to stress that this analysis does not offer an exhaustive view of the idea
generation process. In this analysis, I mainly focus on the aspects of idea generation that I
consider relevant to the ideation workshop I conducted during my internship. The large body of
research on this matter provides in this respect additional and extensive analyses of the creative
and innovative thinking theory.
5 Toubia, Olivier: “Idea Generation, Creativity, and Incentives”. In: Marketing Science 25 (2006), p.411
32
2.2 Cognitive and social-psychological framework
2.2.1 Introductory remarks
As I mentioned in the previous section, the concept of creativity is a very complex and versatile
one. It is not the intention of this analysis to go into this concept at length, but rather to observe
which processes, both cognitive and social-psychological, underlie the realisation of the specific
creative process of ideation. However, it would be useful to consider a classification of creativity
that has been suggested by some researchers, viz. into the “Four P‟s of Creativity”6:
Various authors have framed creativity as an attribute of:
o product – some ideas, solutions, and designs are more creative than others;
o person – some individuals are more creative than others;
o press – some physical and social environments produce more creativity than others;
o process – some thinking techniques produce more creativity than others.7
Although this characterisation does not give a definition of creativity, it provides us with an
approach that shows the diversity and complexity of the concept, which cannot be succinctly
summarised and can appear in many forms.
Creativity is, in the sense that it gives way to originality and innovation, the most important
aspect of idea generation, in which novel ideas for new approaches or applications should be
produced. As Toubia claims, two different and separate views have been developed to account for
creativity and, by extension, for idea generation. He makes the distinction between an
unstructured and a structured approach:
Most existing idea-generation tools can be thought of as reflecting one of two views of
creativity. The first view is that participants should be induced to think in a random fashion.
This widely spread belief [is] based on the assumption that anarchy of thought increases the
probability of creative ideas [...]. In contrast, recent papers suggest that structure, and not
randomness, is the key to creativity. This structured view [...] has led to systematic
approaches to idea generation.8
In contrast to what Toubia and other researchers claim, I do not believe that such a rigid
distinction is in order. I rather consider the two aspects, randomness and structure, as being
intertwined and interacting. It is my belief that the processes underlying the ideation processes are
6 Briggs, De Vreede, Santanen: “Causal Relationships in Creative Problem Solving: Comparing Facilitation
Interventions for Ideation”, p.168 7 Ibidem, pp.168-169
8 Toubia: “Idea Generation, Creativity, and Incentives”, p.417
33
structured, but that within these processes free movement of thought and interaction is possible.
This could almost be described as a structured randomness.
In the next section, I will attempt a brief outline of two important processes that build the
foundation of idea generation. First of all, on the individual level, I would like to point to the
cognitive processes; and secondly, on the interacting level, I want to hint at more social and
psychological motives. My analysis does however not exclude the presence of other processes or
motives, but I will limit myself to these two, since I feel that they are of great importance for the
ideation process.
2.2.2 Cognitive framework
As research has shown, there is a “strong linkage between individual cognitive ability and the
ability to be creative, to generate ideas, or to create new knowledge”9. Since idea generation is the
creation of new ideas and thus new knowledge, the cognitive aspect of ideation is very important.
How existing knowledge is used and adapted determines the exploration and birth of new
knowledge. Rietzschl, Nijstad and Stroebe express the same opinion when they state that “the
originality of generated ideas is not a matter of mere chance, but the result of specific cognitive
operations on available knowledge”10.
Idea generation thus clearly underlies cognitive processes of individual members of ideation
groups, but it is also obvious that the cognitive perspective entails more than merely knowledge.
Chand and Runco have shown in their extensive research on the link between cognition and
creativity that many aspects are involved in the “information processing”11: “knowledge, memory,
classification, judgment, and categorization”12. They have developed a model, in which they
describe the different processes and influencing factors in creative thinking:
9 Jung, J.H., Looney, Clayton, A., Valacich, Joseph S.: “The Effects of Individual Cognitive Ability and Idea
Stimulation on Idea-Generation Performance”. In: Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice 10 (2006),
p.3 10
Nijstad, Bernard A., Rietzschel, Eric F., Stroebe, Wolfgang: “Relative accessibility of domain knowledge and
creativity: The effects of knowledge activation on the quantity and originality of generated ideas”. In: Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology 43 (2007), p.935 11
Chand, Ivonne, Runco, Mark A.: “Cognition and Creativity”. In: Educational Psychology Review 7 (1995),
p.243 12
Chand, Runco: “Cognition and Creativity”, p.243
34
Figure 12: “Two-tier model of creative thinking”13
Even though I do not entirely agree with their model, it offers a solid basic framework to
analyse the process of idea generation in a structured way. The first difference between my
approach and the model offered by Chand and Runco, is that the authors define their three
primary factors (problem finding, ideation and evaluation) as “sets of skills”14. In this analysis
however, I will identify them as separate stages in the idea generation process. The second
difference is the fact that the authors regard motivation and knowledge as “contributing, rather
than controlling factors, and in many ways [...] dependent on the primary factors”15. I (and other
researchers with me) am not convinced of this hierarchy but rather of the opinion that knowledge
and motivation are the instigating factors from which the ideation process originates. Knowledge
and motivation are, according to me, the defining cognitive factors in the ideation process, as they
determine the intensity and potential of ideation participants.
Throughout the further analysis of the idea generation process, I will use the three primary
factors as the framework, as the structure of idea generation, since I consider them to be the three
most important processes or stages of this concept. In the next sections, I will disconnect these
three components from their cognitive connotation, and regard them as stages with a more general
impact on the idea generation process. Before doing so, however, I will succinctly discuss their
cognitive meaning and ramifications in this section.
The problem finding process is the first aspect in the cognitive process of idea generation.
Before the actual ideation can take place, a problem has to be formulated. Chand and Runco
13
Ibidem, p.245 14
Ibidem 15
Ibidem, pp.245-246
Ideation
Procedural
Declarative
Extrinsic
Intrinsic
Motivation
Problem Finding
Evaluation
Knowledge
35
mention that people do not just find of a problem, they “must first identify them, then define them,
and finally, if so inclined, work to solve them”16. It is in this process that the cognitive aspect of
motivation plays an important role. If the motivation to find solutions for a particular problem
comes from within the individual (or group), and is therefore intrinsic, the entire ideation process
can be influenced beneficially:
Of additional relevance [...] is that problem finding may insure that the individual is
intrinsically motivated [...]. If individuals work on a task of their choosing, it is likely that
they will be motivated. They will almost certainly be less motivated by presented problems
than by self-discovered problems.17
The second component is the actual ideation process, or the phase of divergent thinking. A lot
of research has been conducted into the cognitive processes that cause divergent and creative
thinking. The predominant theory in this respect is the theory of associative memory. This theory,
adopted by most creative thinking researchers, claims that ideation starts from an individual‟s
present knowledge: “[o]nly knowledge that is accessible at a given moment will actually be used
for creative performance”18. The fact that an individual builds on that previous knowledge through
associations, and thus gets to new, innovative and creative ideas is the basis of this associative
theory: “idea generation can be conceptualized as a repeated search for ideas in associative
memory”19. In this respect, an individual‟s cognitive ability is a determining factor in the success
of the ideation process, since the origin of creative thinking is the existing knowledge.
The third and final component of Chand and Runco‟s model is the evaluation. Whereas the
ideation process was the phase of divergent thinking, this phase can be considered as one of
convergent thinking. According to Chand and Runco, individuals judge and classify their
ideational efforts in three ways:
[...] (a) evaluation and valuation, the former being critical and the latter being appreciative;
(b) intrapersonal and interpersonal evaluations; and (c) evaluative skills which use
originality and creativity as criteria, and traditional forms of critical thinking which rely on
correctness.20
16
Chand, Runco: “Cognition and Creativity”, p.253 17
Ibidem, p.254 18
Nijstad, Rietzschel, Stroebe: “Relative accessibility of domain knowledge and creativity: The effects of
knowledge activation on the quantity and originality of generated ideas”, p.935 19
Lodewijkx, Hein F.M., Nijstad, Bernard A., Stroebe, Wolfgang: “The illusion of group productivity: A
reduction of failures explanation”. In: European Journal of Social Psychology 36 (2006), p.33 20
Chand, Runco: “Cognition and Creativity”, p.254
36
This convergent phase of judgement and evaluation also clearly draws on the cognitive
characteristics of the individuals, since they use their knowledge, memory and classification
systems to judge the produced ideas.
2.2.3 Social psychological framework
Although a cognitive approach may give an insight into the process of ideation, especially from an
individual‟s point of view, to conclude that this approach alone is enough to explain the complex
process of ideation would be reductionism. I will illustrate this by offering the social and
psychological approach, which is, particularly on group level, another factor that influences the
process of ideation. In this respect I refer to the “input-process-output (IPO)”21 model, which is
discussed by Bolin and Neuman. This model is
[...] based on open systems theory in which group input variables (e.g. member personality,
skill and knowledge) are transformed into group outcomes (e.g. the quality and quantity of
the group product) through group interaction processes such as communication, task
strategy, and effort [...].22
This model also includes cognitive components (e.g. knowledge), but focuses more on the
extra-individual components such as communication and task strategy. The interactive component
is the dominant one in this model, and thus illustrates the complexity of the entire process.
It has not been my intention to provide an exhaustive and conclusive overview of the processes
or structures underlying the ideation process in this section. Since that could be the subject of an
entire dissertation, it is impossible for me to expand on this subject. I did however want to
illustrate two important components (the cognitive and the social-psychological component) that
could account for and explain some of the steps in the process of idea generation, in order to
better comprehend this process. In the next section, I will focus on the specific idea generation
stages. Therefore, I will use the titles of the stages identified by Chand and Runco in their
cognitive approach, but I will detach the components from their original cognitive connotation,
and consider them as umbrella stages in the process of idea generation. The three processes I will
distinguish (problem finding, ideation and evaluation) serve as the structure and framework of the
idea generation process.
21
Bolin, Aaron U., Neuman, George A.: “Personality, Process, and Performance in Interactive Brainstorming
Groups”. In: Journal of Business and Psychology 20 (2006), p.566 22
Bolin., Neuman: “Personality, Process, and Performance in Interactive Brainstorming Groups”, pp.566-567
37
2.3 The problem finding process
2.3.1 Introductory remarks
The previous section has shown that the problem finding process is a stage in which the objective
of the idea generation process is defined and, to an extent, analysed. Within this process, several
choices have to be made by the participants of the idea generation session, choices that will have
far-reaching effects on the course of the ideation process. I will not discuss the actual
identification and definition of the problem in this section. My analysis focuses more on the
model of generating new ideas, and the problem is therefore a priori the invention and
development of new ideas. Consequently, I will not elaborate on that aspect of the problem
finding process.
I will however pay specific attention to three other particular aspects related to the problem
finding process and to the choice for an idea generation approach (as opposed to a problem
solving or decision making approach, which involves different strategies and choices). Firstly, I
will examine the advantages and disadvantages of opting for an individual (nominal) or a group
(interacting) ideation strategy. Secondly, I will elaborate on the concept of the illusion of group
productivity. Thirdly, the effects of a clear goal-setting strategy for the ideation process are
tackled. These three aspects will nuance the problem finding stage and show that even at the
beginning of the creative process, different internal and external factors influence the outcome of
the process, because, as Kurtzberg states, “[c]reativity is a multi-dimensional construct with both
objective and subjective elements”23.
2.3.2 Individual or group ideation strategy
2.3.2.1 Nominal versus interacting groups
An important choice that organisations have to make when they want to initiate an internal idea
generation process, is to engage in this process either by individual creative thinking or by group
(an interacting group) creative thinking. Many researchers have acknowledged the distinction
between a nominal group (where individuals ideate separately) and an interacting group (where
the ideation is a shared, mutual process), and the overall conclusion is that group ideation can
significantly influence the constituents of the group:
23
Kurtzberg, Terri R.: “Feeling Creative, Being Creative: An Empirical Study of Diversity and Creativity in
Teams”. In: Creativity Research Journal 17 (2005), p.61
38
[...] The findings suggest that the group composition cannot only significantly influence the
overall ideational performance of a group, but also that of individual group members.24
With this statement, Jung, Looney and Valacich claim that the group level exerts an influence
on the ideational performance that exceeds the culmination of the group‟s individual creative
abilities. When individuals are brought together to engage in creative, ideational and interactive
activity, the resulting group performs differently than the aggregation of the separate individual
abilities. This does however not mean that group ideation can be entirely disengaged from the
group‟s constituting individuals, as Kurtzberg correctly remarks:
Group potential cannot be independent of individual skills: It is unlikely that highly creative
group products will develop without any individual capacity for novel idea generation, yet
aggregation alone is not the whole story.25
Individual ability still determines the group‟s performance to an extent, but Kurtzberg also
states that this is not the only factor, as “[g]roup creative potential also needs to be defined in
terms of the configuration of skills”26. We can clearly establish that group creativity is not simply
constituted by the culmination of individual abilities, but that the interaction and the group level
create a new dimension, by which the ideational performance is influenced.
Although the previous paragraphs have shown that there is a difference in the performance of
nominal or interacting groups in ideational activities, the potential positive or negative effects on
the performance have not been illustrated. Contrary to popular belief, research has revealed that
nominal groups, i.e. individual ideation, systematically outperform interacting groups when it
comes to the ideation performance, i.e. the production of ideas (both quantitative and qualitative):
Almost 50 years of brainstorming research has consistently shown that, when it comes to
productivity, idea generation might best be left to individuals instead of groups: N
individuals who work alone and whose non-overlapping results are pooled (so-called
nominal groups) produce more and better ideas than N individuals who work in an
interactive group.27
The analysis of previous research has thus illustrated that ideation on group or interactive level
differs radically from ideation on individual level in terms of the productivity of generated ideas.
24
Jung, J.H., Looney, Clayton, A., Valacich, Joseph S.: “The Effects of Individual Cognitive Ability and Idea
Stimulation on Idea-Generation Performance”. In: Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice 10 (2006),
p. 1 25
Kurtzberg.: “Feeling Creative, Being Creative: An Empirical Study of Diversity and Creativity in Teams”,
p.52 26
Ibidem 27
Lodewijkx, Nijstad, Stroebe: “The illusion of group productivity: A reduction of failures explanation”, p.31
39
As the next paragraphs will show, this does not mean that individual ideation should be preferred
to group ideation, since group ideation has both advantages and disadvantages. Research on the
evaluation of ideas (cf. 2.5 The selection and evaluation process, p.48) has even shown that the
productivity advantage should be nuanced.
2.3.2.2 Disadvantages of group ideation
Extensive research has proved that a deficit in productivity of group ideation is observed in
interactive groups when these are compared to nominal ideation groups. Several disadvantages of
the group ideation process, inherent to group interaction, can account for this deficit, and many
investigators have defined these important inhibiting factors:
Research shows that group brainstorming productivity suffers because of group processes
such as free-riding, social-loafing, blocking, evaluation apprehension and downward social
comparison.28
I will succinctly explain each of these disadvantages. First of all, free-riding can reduce
productivity in the group ideation process. Haslam and Wegge define free-riding as the
“deliberate reduction of effort if a person‟s contribution is seen to be unnecessary for the group to
succeed”29. In other words, when participants get the feeling that their contributions are not
substantial enough and that the group can produce sufficient ideas without their help, they could
resign and omit any further contribution. This obviously reduces the ideation potential of a group,
as certain members no longer apply their cognitive ability to generate ideas.
A second inhibitor is social loafing, denoted by Haslam and Wegge as the “unintentional
reduction of work motivation and effort when working collectively”30. This concept is an inherent
and subconscious side effect of working in groups. Individuals automatically reduce their
contribution and effort when working in a group, possibly because they start to rely on other
group members, and subconsciously think that the other group members will compensate for their
own diminished effort.
Blocking or production blocking is another disadvantage of group ideation. Toubia states that
production blocking occurs “when participants are unable to express themselves
28
Brown, Vincent R., Nakui, Toshihiko, Paulus, Paul B., Putman, Vicky L.: “Effects of Task Instructions and
Brief Breaks on Brainstorming”. In: Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice 10 (2006), p.206 29
Haslam, S. Alexander, Wegge, Jürgen: “Improving work motivation and performance in brainstorming
groups: The effects of three group goal-setting strategies”. In: European Journal of Work and Organizational
Psychology 14 (2005), p.404 30
Haslam, Wegge: “Improving work motivation and performance in brainstorming groups: The effects of three
group goal-setting strategies”, p.404
40
simultaneously”31. In interactive group ideation, participants have to wait for their turn to express
certain ideas or elaborations on other participants‟ ideas, thus implying that the time to speak is
limited for each participant. Consequently, researchers assume that participants could forget ideas
if they cannot divulge them immediately, or that they could decide not to share their idea because
they feel the subject has changed. These examples illustrate that production blocking leads to
production loss.
Evaluation apprehension refers to the natural reluctance people feel of receiving (negative)
feedback by peers: fear of evaluation “corresponds to the fear of negative evaluation by the other
participants, the moderator, or external judges”32. This evaluation apprehension could lead to
participants not sharing certain ideas, out of fear that the other ideation participants would receive
the ideas negatively.
The final aspect that could negatively influence group ideation is downward social comparison.
This concept refers to the phenomenon where high-performing members of an ideation group
reduce their effort and motivation when they notice that other group members are performing
worse. These high-performing members then adapt their performance to that of the
underperforming members, which reduces productivity.
Although not all negative repercussions of group ideation are mentioned here, the most
important ones are, and they illustrate that group ideation is not altogether positive. However,
group ideation also has positive characteristics.
2.3.2.3 Advantages of group ideation
The most important positive characteristic of group ideation lies exactly in its nature: group
interaction. As Briggs, De Vreede and Santanen have illustrated, individuals mostly turn to
present knowledge instead of creating new knowledge in problem solving (and, by extension, idea
generation):
A rich literature indicates that people facing large, complex problems tend to think within a
bounded, familiar, and narrow subset of the potential solution space rather than to think
creatively [...]. In complex problem solving, subjects routinely overlook between 70 and 80
percent of the potential solution space [...], and are even unaware they are doing so [...].33
The fact that individuals are more inclined to search for solutions in present knowledge,
counteracts the creative thinking objective of “seeking original ways to reach a goal when the
31
Toubia: “Idea Generation, Creativity, and Incentives”, p.416 32
Ibidem 33
Briggs, De Vreede, Santanen: “Causal Relationships in Creative Problem Solving: Comparing Facilitation
Interventions for Ideation”, p.171
41
means to do so are not readily apparent or previously established”34. The interactive component of
group participation in idea generation can overcome this tendency to focus on familiar knowledge,
as “each group member provides unique knowledge, information, or ideas to the group”35. The
group members can therefore be stimulated by the ideas of others, and thus come to creative and
innovative ideas.
Jung, Looney and Valacich ascribe this positive stimulation to two theories: equity theory and
social matching and comparison. The equity theory “focuses on the perceived performance of one
individual in comparison to others”36. This implies that when a group participant feels that other
participants are performing better, he could experience this as a motivation to increase his effort
and thus improve his productivity. Secondly, social comparison and matching draw on roughly
the same assumptions:
When a person compares himself (herself) with others who are perceived to be
outperforming the individual, self-improvement motives are likely to emerge. [...] Using
this logic, it is more likely that high-quality stimuli will foster a competitive atmosphere,
creating a higher standard of performance.37
In addition to the interactive aspect, which promotes the generation of creative ideas, group
ideation “is used in organizations because it is presumed that it has a variety of benefits such as
group commitment, an opportunity for competition, the advantage of skill variety, and
organizational memory”38. But perhaps even more important than the objective advantages of
group ideation, is its subjective advantage, viz. the illusion of group productivity.
2.3.3 Group forming: illusion of productivity
As we have discussed earlier, the objective results and outcome of ideation generally seem to
favour individual ideation over group ideation when it comes to productivity. Nevertheless,
research has shown that people (in organisations) still perceive group ideation as being more
effective than individual ideation. This phenomenon is called the illusion of group productivity,
and is, according to me, a very important aspect of group ideation.
34
Brophy, Dennis R.: “A Comparison of Individual and Group Efforts to Creatively Solve Contrasting Types of
Problems”. In: Creativity Research Journal 18 (2006), p.293 35 Harrison, David A., Klein, Katherine J.: “On the Diversity of Diversity: Tidy Logic, Messier Realities”. In:
Academy of Management Perspectives 21 (2007), p.27 36
Jung, Looney, Valacich: “The Effects of Individual Cognitive Ability and Idea Stimulation on Idea-Generation
Performance”, p.4 37
Ibidem 38
Brown, Nakui, Paulus, Putman: “Effects of Task Instructions and Brief Breaks on Brainstorming”, p.206
42
A number of aspects can account for this illusion of productivity. First of all, Nijstad and
Stroebe argued that participants of group ideation could mistake ideas of others for their own
ideas, thus increasing their sense of (individual) contribution and productivity, and consequently,
their satisfaction:
[...] group members may be unable to distinguish between ideas they have generated
themselves and ideas generated by other group members. This may lead to memory
confusion and an overestimation of one‟s contribution to the group product, and thus to
higher levels of satisfaction.39
The second aspect is, again, social comparison. As research has illustrated, individuals
compare their performance with the performance of other group participants. Generally,
participants will perceive that “their performance is quite similar to the performance of others [...],
which will reduce uncertainty and result in high levels of satisfaction”40.
Thirdly, the illusion of productivity is induced by the perception of reduced cognitive failure.
As Lodewijkx, Nijstad and Stroebe argued, every ideation process knows instances of cognitive
failure. These are instances where an idea is explored, but no satisfactory conclusion to the
cognitive process is reached. These “unsuccessful searches”41, where no new idea or merely an
old idea is found, are called “failures”42. In group ideation, however, fewer idea searches are
started than in individual ideation, which leads to a reduction of productivity, but also to a
reduction of failures:
The consequence is that the process of idea generation will not always appear easy for
individuals (i.e. they experience more failures), while it will be much easier for group
members. The reduction of failures will cause higher satisfaction for group members than
for individuals.43
The previous paragraphs illustrate that higher satisfaction for group ideation can be explained
by the illusion of productivity, even though individuals ideate more efficiently. I am however
convinced that this illusion is not a negative one, and could, in the long term, be beneficial for the
ideation processes in organisations. As Kurtzberg concludes, the higher perception of creativity
realised by ideation groups, based on misperception of the group‟s performance, can have a
positive impact on organisational creativity:
39 Nijstad, Bernard A., Stroebe, Wolfgang: “How the Group Affects the Mind: A Cognitive Model of Idea
Generation in Groups”. In: Personality and Social Psychology Review 10 (2006), p.189 40
Lodewijkx, Nijstad, Stroebe: “The illusion of group productivity: A reduction of failures explanation”, p.32 41
Ibidem, p.33 42
Ibidem 43
Ibidem, p.34
43
Finally, it is important to elaborate on why perceptions of creativity and positive affect are
critical organizational outcomes, event if independent from more traditional “bottom line”
measures. Internal feelings of creativity can drive extraordinary behaviors in many ways.44
The high satisfaction and positive perception of creativity can “lead to more openness and to
future creative thoughts”45. Whereas an individual in an organisation may not be easily motivated
to start an ideation process on his own (because of the sense that this would not have any results,
the extensive efforts this requires,...), group ideation is much more easily accessible, because of its
group aspect and the illusion of productivity. The resulting high satisfaction can serve as an extra
motivation for future idea generation within the organisation. I am therefore convinced of the
benefits of group ideation, and would prefer it to individual ideation in the context of
organisational creativity.
2.3.4 Setting goals for the ideation process
Research has established that group goal setting for ideation can improve the ideation process, as
production loss (e.g. by social loafing) is counteracted and production gain (e.g. through social
comparison) is promoted. It has long been acknowledged “that goals (intentions) are an immediate
and powerful regulator of human action”46. Litchfield directly connects organisational creativity
(i.e. ideation in organisations in the context of this analysis) to a goal setting strategy:
These ideas form a basis for my argument that a goal-based view can contribute to
organizational creativity and innovation research by offering a framework to match a priori
definitions of a creative idea to the creative context.47
Litchfield states that the goals function as a structure, as an underlying model, upon which
participants of ideation can build their creative performance. However, this does not imply that
simply establishing some general and simple goals will immediately benefit the ideation process.
On the contrary, the goals must be concrete and challenging, in order to show significant results:
It has consistently been found that specific and difficult performance goals lead to better
performance than easy goals or unspecific goal instructions – typified by invitations to “Do
your best”.48
44
Kurtzberg.: “Feeling Creative, Being Creative: An Empirical Study of Diversity and Creativity in Teams”,
p.55 45
Ibidem, p.56 46
Haslam, Wegge: “Improving work motivation and performance in brainstorming groups: The effects of three
group goal-setting strategies”, p.402 47
Litchfield, Robert C.: “Brainstorming reconsidered: a global-based view”. In: Academy of Management
Review 33 (2008), pp.654-655
44
Haslam and Wegge already hint at the positive influence of difficult and specific goals on the
group‟s performance, but the negative influence of the absence of goals should also be mentioned.
As Litchfield argued, unclear or vague goals (or, as Litchfield refers to them, expectations) inhibit
successful ideation. Like Haslam and Wegge, he pleads for a much clearer goal framework to
improve ideation:
These questions reveal that expectations for creative ideas are often vague and complex.
Observers may frequently agree on creative ideas after the fact [...],but designing successful
interventions to improve idea generation requires a more precise tailoring of our
expectations in advance.49
With regard to the ideation performance the previous paragraphs show the importance of
setting goals for the ideation process. But even though the benefits of goal setting are multiple and
efficient, e.g. “increased effort, high persistence, task focusing, development and use of
appropriate task strategies”50, there are also risks of group conflict involved. Individual group
members‟ goals can conflict with the “self-set group goals”51 or the imposed group goals, and this
can “complicate predictions regarding the impact of goal-setting manipulations by an (external)
authority”52. It is therefore, despite the many advantages of group goal setting, still necessary to
proceed with caution and analyse all possible goals in advance, before expressing them explicitly
to the ideation group members.
2.4 The ideation process
2.4.1 Introductory remarks
In this section I will discuss the actual product and group effort of the idea generation process: the
ideation session. As I have already mentioned, in this phase of divergent thinking, the intention is
to generate as many ideas as possible regarding a certain topic (possibly more elaborately defined
by specific goals). Even though this phase is an important one in the idea generation process, it is
impossible to separate it from the other two phases (problem finding and evaluation stage), since
48
Haslam, Wegge: “Improving work motivation and performance in brainstorming groups: The effects of three
group goal-setting strategies”, p.402 49
Litchfield: “Brainstorming reconsidered: a global-based view”, p.649 50
Haslam, Wegge: “Improving work motivation and performance in brainstorming groups: The effects of three
group goal-setting strategies”, p.404 51
Ibidem 52
Ibidem
45
they are closely intertwined through a network of interactions (as Chand and Runco‟s model of
creative thinking illustrates (cf. 2.2.2 Cognitive framework, p.33)).
Two important aspects of the ideation process, viz. brainstorming and facilitation, will be
elaborated in the following paragraphs. Although there are many possible techniques to use in an
ideation session, I will limit myself to brainstorming for two reasons: it is the most frequently
used ideation technique and it is the technique that was used in the ideation workshop during my
internship.
2.4.2 Brainstorming as an ideation tool
Of the many techniques used to intervene in the ideation process (e.g. synectics, brainwriting,
attribute listing, Delphi, abstraction method,...), brainstorming is the best-known and most
frequently used. It was developed in 1939 by Alex F. Osborn and has since been used in
numerous ideation seminars. Berry, Block and Taylor have defined the purpose of brainstorming:
The purpose of brainstorming is to free individuals from inhibition, self-criticism, and
criticism by others in order that in response to a specific problem they may produce as many
different ideas as possible. The assumption is that the larger the number of ideas produced,
the greater the probability of achieving an effective solution.53
This illustrates that the brainstorming technique embodies the atmosphere of divergent
thinking, as individuals are encouraged to produce as many new and different ideas as possible,
and the end product is “the sum of all of the non-redundant ideas produced by the group in the
allotted time period”54. In order to achieve the goal as well as possible, thus producing a large
amount of innovative and creative ideas, Osborn determined four rules inherent to the
brainstorming process: quantity is preferred to quality, criticism and judgement are postponed,
every idea is welcome and elaborating on ideas of other people is encouraged.
The first rule, quantity precedes quality, refers to the belief (which has also been supported by
relevant research) that the production of a large quantity of ideas will automatically generate and
increase the number of qualitative ideas. During the brainstorming session, participants are
encouraged to express all ideas and to focus as much as possible on quantity, since quality will
follow inevitably.
53
Berry, Paul C., Block, Clifford H., Taylor, Donald W.: “Does Group Participation When Using Brainstorming
Facilitate or Inhibit Creative Thinking?” In: Administrative Science Quarterly 3 (1958), p.24 54
Bolin, Neuman: “Personality, Process, and Performance in Interactive Brainstorming Groups”, p.568
46
Secondly, Osborn devised a rule that stipulated that all criticism or judgement should be
avoided, or at least deferred to another stage (the evaluation stage, cf. 2.5.2 The concept of idea
evaluation, p.48), away from the ideation process. This rule was developed to reduce the impact
of evaluation apprehension. By eliminating all criticism, the participants of brainstorming sessions
do not have to fear that other members of the group will slate their contributions, which reduces
the inhibitions to express an idea.
Thirdly, generation of wild and seemingly far-fetched ideas is encouraged. Every idea is
welcome, and should be expressed during the brainstorming session, via free association. The
underlying rationale of this rule is that the wildest ideas often produce the best ideas, or at least
offer a basis for further associations and to find less wild, more realistic ideas.
The final rule encourages elaboration on the ideas of others. This rule most of all builds on the
interaction between participants, and the assumption that participants can stimulate other members
of the group, thus creating an entirely new level of idea production. Every participant is therefore
free to take an idea, expressed by another group member, and develop other applications or
approaches to this idea. The last two rules build on the two fundamental ways to develop ideas:
exploration and exploitation. Exploration refers to wild ideation, starting an entirely new idea line
out of nothing, so not building on previous ideas of group members, whereas exploitation implies
that group members start from an idea, which has already been formulated by a participant, and
build from this idea to elaborate and offer new insights. Toubia phrases this difference as follows:
If several streams of ideas have been established in an idea-generation session, a participant
has a choice between contributing to one of the existing streams and starting a new stream.55
The four rules of the brainstorming model offer a theoretical approach for an optimal
performance and productivity of the ideation session. The previous section (cf. 2.3.2.2
Disadvantages of group ideation, p.39) has shown that in reality, many other cognitive and social
processes come into play and can interfere with the theoretical aspect, and even inhibit or reduce
group productivity. Nevertheless, I feel that brainstorming is still one of the most effective
methods of an ideation process and can, additionally, contribute to organisational creativity.
2.4.3 Facilitating a brainstorming session
Earlier in this analysis, I discussed the importance of an (external) goal setting for the ideation
process, in order to motivate the participants, by offering them clear, challenging and specific
55
Toubia: “Idea Generation, Creativity, and Incentives”, p.412
47
expectations. The concept of facilitation is in this context inextricably intertwined with the setting
of goals. The facilitator is an external subject, who guides and leads the brainstorming session,
without participating in the ideation or group interaction. This facilitator can function as a bridge
between the organisation‟s objectives and employee creativity, and translate the organisation‟s
goals to the brainstorming participants. Litchfield emphasises the importance of the perception of
management support for ideation to stimulate employee creativity, and in this respect, the
facilitator has an important role to play:
[...] the effects of management expectations for creativity on employees‟ creative behavior
were mediated by employee perceptions of management behaviors to initiate, support, and
recognize creative efforts.56
The fact that organisations actively organise ideation sessions and employ facilitators to
motivate and support the ideation process, can function as a catalyst for future employee ideation
efforts. Even if this were the only function of facilitation, it would still be a useful management
tool for organisational creativity.
But facilitation does not only influence motivation and effort on the macro level of
organisational creativity (e.g. through clear goal setting), it also improves the creative efforts on
the micro level, within the actual ideation session. Briggs, De Vreede and Santanen have
established that the ideation process could experience barriers, slow down and even stop without
appropriate facilitator interventions. This interventions or stimuli could push the group members
into a new direction, which could allow them to continue the ideation process:
One simple way to overcome these barriers is to deliver external stimuli to the problem
solvers as they work. Additional context-relevant stimuli (such as hints provided by a
facilitator) may help the problem solver activate frames that may not lie in the direct path of
automatic spreading activation and explore vastly different areas of their knowledge
network, thereby avoiding the experience of being “stuck in a rut”.57
The facilitator can in this way secure the continuous flow of ideas and thus increase the
satisfaction and comfort level of the group, which will in turn lead to a better productivity, or at
least to a positive attitude towards the creative thinking process.
To achieve this motivational and interventional goal, the facilitator can use different
techniques. Nijstad and Stroebe have for example expressed several instructions to improve the
interactive ideation group‟s efficiency and productivity:
56
Litchfield: “Brainstorming reconsidered: a global-based view”, p.650 57
Briggs, De Vreede, Santanen: “Causal Relationships in Creative Problem Solving: Comparing Facilitation
Interventions for Ideation”, p.177
48
If one wants to stimulate productivity and generate many ideas, it is wise to keep groups
with verbal idea sharing small and, if necessary, split up larger groups. [...] People should be
encouraged to pay attention to another‟s ideas because these generally are stimulating.
People should also be discouraged to engage in off-task discussion or explaining of ideas
[...]. Also, short breaks are helpful, and productivity can be enhanced considerably when
one distinguishes subcategories of a larger problem. Finally, to preserve working memory
capacity, external storage of ideas (e.g. flip-over or notepad) might be helpful.58
This rather long enumeration of instructions offers an elucidating view of the impact a
facilitator could exert on the ideation process. It is therefore a concept of great importance in
brainstorming theory, but has been, in my opinion, mostly overlooked by research up until now.
2.5 The selection and evaluation process
2.5.1 Introductory remarks
The evaluation stage is the last step in the process of idea generation, and is characterised by the
transition of divergent thinking to convergent thinking. In this stage, all of the ideas that have
been generated throughout the ideation session are collected, selected and evaluated, after which a
distinction regarding idea quality can be made. Especially for the possible later product or service
development, this evaluation is important, because it offers an insight into which ideas could be
used to enter into further R&D. For the participants of the idea generation process, this evaluation
(whether or not they take part in the evaluation themselves) is useful, because they see that their
efforts and performances are processed and could lead to actual applications.
In this section, I will discuss two aspects of the evaluation process. First of all, I will address
the matter of the concept of idea evaluation in the ideation process. Here, specific attention will be
paid to the question whether the evaluation stage should be incorporated in the ideation session or
if the evaluation should be separated from the ideation. Secondly, I will comment on the approach
of Dean, Hender, Rodgers and Santanen, who propose a construct for idea evaluation.
2.5.2 The concept of idea evaluation
The evaluation by individuals or groups of ideas generated by individuals or groups is inevitably a
subjective process. First of all, evaluators are faced with the problematic notion of what
constitutes a quality idea. Traditionally, research has shown that an idea is deemed qualitative and
58
Nijstad, Stroebe: “How the Group Affects the Mind: A Cognitive Model of Idea Generation in Groups”, p.211
49
creative when it combines two characteristics: uniqueness and feasibility. These characteristic
themselves are however quite vague, and other requirements for a quality idea cannot be
excluded. Dean, Hender, Rodgers and Santanen have tried to offer a more conclusive definition of
a quality idea, which I will discuss in the next section.
In addition to the subjective definition of a quality idea, there are various other evaluative
processes influencing idea generation. Runco and Chand discern three different types of these
processes59: evaluation (critical) and valuation (appreciative), intrapersonal and interpersonal, and
evaluative skills “which use originality and creativity as criteria”60. It is clear to the authors that
these multi-levelled evaluative processes involve a high level of subjectivity:
The idea that judgments about creativity are [...] at least partly voluntary is further support
for theories showing the active role of individuals in their own development and
information processing.61
These arguments indicate that upon comparison of evaluative processes and their results, i.e.
the selected quality ideas, the fact that what is a good idea for one individual might not be so for
another individual, should be kept in mind. It is therefore difficult to judge particular and different
idea evaluations objectively.
In addition to the difficulty of detaching evaluation processes from their individual evaluator‟s
preferences and personality, another choice within the evaluation process must be made. The
facilitator and the organisation that initiate the ideation session have to decide whether or not to
include the evaluation into the ideation. A lot of research has been dedicated to this aspect of the
idea generation theory, and different opinions have been expressed. First of all, there are many
researchers who claim that including evaluation into the ideation process is detrimental to this
process, because it invokes evaluation apprehension. The fear of being evaluated at the end of the
ideation session might block the production of participants.
Contrary to this opinion, other scientists have shown through research that adding evaluation to
the ideation might produce positive results. Nijstad, Rietzschl and Stroebe established that,
whereas the productivity in nominal groups lies higher than the productivity in interactive groups,
this difference in performance could be erased by an effective evaluation, included in the ideation
process:
59
Chand, Runco: “Cognition and Creativity”, p.257 60
Ibidem 61
Ibidem, p.259
50
Although idea selection is not an intellective, but a judgmental task, group discussion
clearly can improve the selection process.62
[...]
It appears that interactive groups indeed managed to overcome their productivity loss by
making an effective selection.63
Even though both opinions on the order of ideation and evaluation produce solid arguments, I
am more inclined to subscribe to the strategy of bringing ideation and evaluation together.
Regardless of the potential effect this distinction can have on the productivity of the ideation
(whether the outcome of quality ideas is better with the distinction ideation-evaluation or without
it), I feel that including evaluation is an important aspect, especially for the participants‟
satisfaction and future attitude towards creativity. I feel that when participants get the chance to
look back on their production at the end of the ideation session, to contemplate and discuss their
performance, and then to evaluate and select their, admittedly subjective, best ideas, they will be
more satisfied with the entire idea generation process. This will consequently be reflected in their
position towards creative thinking. So even if it does not produce tangible results, the
psychological result and effect could be considerable.
2.5.3 Strategies for idea evaluation
After considering the different levels of evaluation and the question whether or not to include
evaluation in ideation, I would now like to focus on one specific approach to evaluate ideas, viz.
the method of Dean, Hender, Rodgers and Santanen. Obviously, their approach is not the only one
in defining requirements for idea evaluation, but in order to give an introduction, I want to take
their theory as an example, because it encompasses many aspects of what could constitute a
quality idea. They start by describing four dimensions of idea creativity or quality (based on
definitions of MacCrimmon and Wagner):
62
Nijstad, Bernard A., Rietzschel, Eric F., Stroebe, Wolfgang: “Productivity is not enough: A comparison of
interactive and nominal brainstorming groups on idea generation and selection”. In: Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology 42 (2006), p.245 63
Nijstad, Rietzschel, Stroebe: “Productivity is not enough: A comparison of interactive and nominal
brainstorming groups on idea generation and selection”, p.249
51
o Novelty: an idea is most novel if nobody has expressed it before.
o Workability: An idea is workable if it does not violate known constraints or if it
can be easily implemented.
o Relevance: An idea is relevant if it satisfies the goals set by the problem solver.
o Thoroughness: An idea is thorough if it is worked out in detail.64
This definition already delineates four key components of a quality idea, but these components
still require refinement, which the authors attempt to provide by adding subcategories to the four
components. I will very succinctly enumerate these subcategories, in order to illustrate that the
parameters for defining and evaluating a quality idea are very complex. Under novelty, the
authors identify rarity (uniqueness), originality (ingeniousness) and paradigm relatedness (~
trend-setting).65 Workability is subdivided into acceptability (non-violation of constraints) and
implementability.66 Relevance has two subordinate categories: applicability (does the idea apply
to the imposed problem) and effectiveness.67 Finally, specificity can be regarded as consisting of
clarity, completeness and implicational explicitness (is the idea elaborately described).68
After establishing their multidimensional measure model, they also provide scales and
constructs to rate each idea according to the different components, thus arriving at a score for each
idea, referring to the idea‟s quality. This model illustrates that evaluating an idea is not a
straightforward matter; many components have to be taken into consideration before a judgement
can be made. The set of components proposed by the authors could offer an interesting initial
criterion to sift through the myriads of ideas. However, I am not completely convinced that their
method of rating the ideas according to their compliance with the components is enough to result
in an actual and accurate collection of the best ideas of an ideation session. Further research is
required to confirm or falsify this opinion.
2.6 Conclusion
In this explorative analysis of the body of research and literature of the idea generation process, I
have tried to make a selection of important and influencing factors of this process. It is however
64
Dean, Douglas L., Hender, Jillian M., Rodgers, Thomas L., Santanen, Eric L.: “Identifying Quality, Novel and
Creative Ideas: Constructs and Scales for Idea Evaluation”. In: Journal of the Association for Information
Systems 7 (2005), p.650 65
Dean, Hender, Rodgers, Santanen: “Identifying Quality, Novel and Creative Ideas: Constructs and Scales for
Idea Evaluation”, pp.658-659 66
Ibidem, p.661 67
Ibidem, p.661-662 68
Ibidem, p.662
52
impossible to provide an all-encompassing view of this broad field of science, and I have
therefore opted to represent and analyse those aspects, which were relevant for the ideation
workshop of the internship. Nevertheless, it has become clear that the process of idea generation,
both on micro-level (cognitive and social processes and motives) and on macro-level (the
different stages in the ideation process, the actual resulting ideas), is a very complex and versatile
field, which continually, and perhaps even increasingly (given its current importance in the
organisational context), requires scientific exploration.
53
3. Case study: an internship at Bayer BioScience NV
3.1 Introductory remarks
This chapter will be devoted to a detailed description of the eight weeks of my internship at Bayer
BioScience, in which I was incorporated in the communications department of Bayer BioScience
and responsible for a particular project. The internship can therefore be divided into two parts: a
primary assignment and several secondary assignments. Consequently, this division is reflected in
this chapter, which consists of two sections: a section where the primary assignment of the
internship is discussed, and a section in which the secondary assignments are treated.
In the first part of this chapter, I will discuss my primary assignment during the internship, viz.
the organisation and guidance of an ideation workshop. I will commence by describing the
background and general objective and structure of the project. Secondly, I will systematically (and
mostly chronologically) elaborate on the specific tasks I performed to bring the workshop to a
satisfactory end. In that respect, I distinguish three phases of activity: a preparatory phase, the
actual workshop phase (which is a rather short phase, since the workshop was performed on one
day), and the campaign roll-out phase. I prefer a systematic approach to a chronologic one,
because this provides a clearer general overview of the assignment. I do however have to mention
that some subtasks of phases (especially in the preparatory phase) were performed simultaneously
and arbitrarily, and not always in the order described here. I have chosen this approach for reasons
of structure, and because the simultaneous nature of executing certain tasks did not have a
fundamental effect on the tasks themselves.
In the second part of this chapter, I will succinctly deal with some secondary assignments I
performed during the internship. Whereas the ideation workshop was a project mostly separated
from the normal everyday activities of the communications department, these secondary tasks did
belong to the regular communication activities. I have divided these activities into two main
categories: translations and editorial contributions.
54
3.2 Primary assignment: the ideation workshop
3.2.1 Background and setting
The concept of the ideation workshop that was held during my internship has to be seen in the
perspective of a global innovation initiative by Bayer AG, viz. the Triple-i program. The Triple-i
project revolves around three concepts: inspiration, ideas and innovation. With this project, Bayer
AG wants to stimulate and motivate its employees to engage in creative thinking and to break silo
thinking, thus creating a creative corporate culture. In order to achieve this goal, the Triple-i
program was started as a very general project: every employee of the global organisation Bayer
AG was offered the chance to generate and formulate spontaneous ideas on any particular subject
that could be of interest to Bayer AG. They could submit the ideas on a website, designed for this
purpose. This first stage of the Triple-i project, which was launched in 2007, has already resulted
in more than 3,000 ideas. The submitted ideas are subsequently evaluated by the different Bayer
subgroups, to determine their potential for further development.
Whereas the first stage of the Triple-i project was a spontaneous and individual ideation
process, Bayer AG now wants to turn to the method of guided idea generation, in order to be able
to direct and determine the ideation process more considerably. This stage would be conducted in
the form of workshops, where cross-functional teams get the opportunity to explore a certain
Bayer business area, resulting in a shortlist of ideas (that could potentially lead to new products or
services). The workshop, conducted during the internship, was organised to generate ideas for
Animal Health, the first subgroup that is subjected to this guided ideation. It was the intention to
generate insights, ideas and solutions regarding animal owners‟ main needs for the health and
well-being of pets as well as challenges in pets care.
The previous paragraphs show the general and global framework of the project. The Bayer AG
group had a general vision to organise these workshops, to further promote their employees‟
creativity. Obviously, this general perspective has to be translated to and implemented on a local
level, which already brings us closer to the workshop at Bayer BioScience. Bayer AG opted to
organise an Animal Health ideation workshop in the most important countries (with regard to
Bayer‟s presence in these countries) and then to move to the smaller countries. It is in this context
that a workshop was planned for Bayer Belgium, i.e. for different employees of the Bayer offices
in Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp, Tielt and Astene. The internship and its content have to be situated
on this level, since I was responsible for the organisation of this particular ideation workshop.
55
3.2.2 Preparatory phase
3.2.2.1 Introductory remarks
The preparatory phase was the longest phase of the internship, and also the time period in which I
additionally executed most of the secondary assignments. The fact that this phase of preparation
started at the beginning of the internship and lasted until the the day of the workshop accounts for
its length: from the 21st of April to the 5th of June. In this period, several preparations had to be
made, and I have, for the sake of this dissertation, distinguished three substages: getting
acquainted with the subject, logistic and practical preparations and the construction of the
workshop agenda. In the next paragraphs, I will discuss each of these substages at length.
3.2.2.2 Getting acquainted with the subject
When I started the internship at Bayer BioScience, I had very little knowledge of the company
and of the project at hand. The first stage, getting acquainted with the subject, was therefore a
very crucial one. Since I was going to organise and lead an ideation workshop about Animal
Health, it was very important to gain extensive knowledge of both the ideation process and the
department of Animal Health. The first week of my internship was therefore dedicated to perusing
and studying the information I was given by my supervisor, Mrs. Ingrid Cazaerck.
This very elaborate information consisted of a description of the Animal Health department
(general information, business areas, products, definition and evolution of the market, etc.),
information on the Triple-i project (objectives, methods, preliminary results, etc.) and a large
amount of information on the subject of ideation workshops (definition of ideation, structure of
the ideation process, techniques of ideation, etc.). Especially this last aspect of the information
and introduction I received was a crucial and necessary support for the internship assignment,
since I had never been confronted with organisational ideation. Bayer AG had also anticipated this
problem and recognised the need for their employees to receive training before actually
organizing an ideation workshop. In this respect they had consulted an external organisation, SIT
(Strategic Innovative Thinking). This Israeli company had conducted a train-the-trainer
workshop, in which the Triple-i champions (the people responsible for the organisation of the
workshop in the respective countries) were instructed on how to facilitate ideation workshops,
what techniques and brainstorming exercises to use, and how to plan the workshop. It was
Mrs.Cazaerck who attended the train-the-trainer workshop, and since I was not present at this
initiation to ideation workshops, Mrs.Cazaerck first had to introduce the subject to me. So before
the entire package of information Mrs.Cazaerck received during the train-the-trainer workshop
was handed to me, I had a meeting with Mrs.Cazaerck in which she explained the concept of the
56
Workshop
planning
Topic Selection
(Subgroup supported
by Triple-i)
• Selection of area of
interest - the topic
where ideation will be
fruitful for Bayer
• Typically requires
some upfront research
and discussions
• Plan the workshop
• Prepare the
workshop content,
especially by
clarifying the topic
and by creating
topic specific
stimuli
Idea refinement (Subgroup
support by Triple-i)
Follow-up of
local ideas
Ideation event(s)
Ideation Clustering
Ranking
• Generate many
ideas
• Cluster, filter and
enrich ideas
• Short-list top ideas
• Document the results
and submit top ideas
to Triple-i
electronically
• Decide which ideas
to follow-up locally
• Work-out top ideas into
business propositions
• Use expert input
• If appropriate run more
focused ideation
workshops
project in general terms, offered a first time frame and some practical aspects, and gave an
account of her experience of the train the trainer workshop. After this introductory and expository
meeting, all of the background information was transferred to me, and I had to analyse and study
it, to get a first idea of what was intended.
For elaboration on the concept of ideation, Bayer did not just rely on the support offered by
SIT, they had done their own research on ideation as well. The result was an extensive and
accurate presentation, in which the most important aspects of ideation where discussed. This
included a schematic view of how Bayer envisaged the structure of the ideation workshops,
conducted by the different local entities:
Figure 13: Generic structure of ideation workshops1
This structure reflects the general theoretical views on ideation and embodies the concept of
organisational idea generation, where ideas are generated to be developed into new products.
Bayer identified four stages, which more or less correspond with the stages I discussed in the
previous chapter. With respect to the ideation theory, two decisions within this structure are
important and require further explanation. First of all, both the first and the last stage are
1 Bayer AG: Triple-i ideation workshops. How to plan and how to run them? Internal presentation, Leverkusen:
Bayer AG, 2008
57
performed by the global organisation, and not on local level. This is symbolised by the different
colour of the stages. Both the topic selection (~ problem finding) process and the idea
development process are dealt with on a global level, which are quite logical decisions. As the
ideation theory has shown, the idea generation process functions better when clear (external) goals
and expectations are created. In this case, it was Bayer AG that decided on the area of ideation:
Animal Health. The specific goal, which could perhaps have been more specific and challenging,
was to generate ideas for potentially new products and services for this Bayer subgroup. Since
these goals were the same for every workshop organizing country, the goals were set globally.
Furthermore, this approach ensured the uniformity of the workshop goals.
The second striking approach to the ideation structure is the specific role of evaluation. As we
can deduce from the figure, an initial evaluation is included into the actual ideation process
(which is also the approach I would advocate myself), and is thus performed on local level. But
Bayer also added a fourth stage, in which the ideas submitted to Bayer headquarters would be
evaluated once more, resulting in a final follow-up and possible development. I do support this
double evaluation, because it offers a first (subjective) evaluation by the ideation participants
(providing high participant satisfaction, as the previous chapter illustrated), in combination with
an external (and more objective) evaluation.
The ideation structure that Bayer provided at the start of my internship, laid the foundation for
the approach of the entire project. It indicated a clear structure and framework for the organisation
of the workshop, and defined the different parts of the process I would have to complete.
Additionally, the background information on the Triple-i project and the Animal Health
department built the necessary knowledge to start the project. My analysis and study of the
provided information also resulted in a schematic summary, in which relevant information was
listed systematically and succinctly (cf. Appendix 1). This summary was the natural outcome of
the first step of my internship and the project, a step in which I worked up the subject of the
project.
3.2.2.3 Logistic and practical preparations
As the outline of the workshop (its goals, objectives, techniques and content) had been established
in the first step, the next important and time-consuming step in its preparation were activities of a
practical nature. These preparations were very versatile, and covered all aspects of the
organisation of an all-day seminar: finding and inviting participants, fixing an appropriate location
(and lunch), setting a date, acquiring all supporting materials (flipcharts, markers, notes,...),
arranging incentives (pens, notepads, etc. for every participant),... These practical aspects, though
they may not always require a large creative effort, were very important for the organisation of the
58
workshop, since they had to ensure the logistic framework necessary for the success of the idea
generation session. In the next paragraphs, I will succinctly elaborate on how I dealt with the most
important preparatory tasks, for which I received a lot of support from the people of the
Communications department.
The most important practical task in preparation of the workshop was finding participants for
the workshop. As the analysis in the previous chapter has shown, the participants of an ideation
group define to an extent the ideation quality. It was therefore important to find participants with
complementary cognitive abilities and a positive attitude towards ideation. Bayer had also
developed a profile for these participants: communicative pet lovers. In order to create a versatile
and complementary group, participants were to be recruited from the different Bayer facilities in
Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp, Tielt, Astene and Ghent). Before my internship, the Community
Council Communications BeLux, a work group of Bayer BeLux Communications employees, had
had a meeting on the workshop organisation. In this meeting, they decided that for every Bayer
subsidiary in Belgium, one person was responsible to find two candidates. The initial idea was to
form a workshop consisting of some fifteen participants. It was my task to contact the designated
people and contact and invite the potential participants.
In reality, this did not go as smoothly as planned. In fact, it was probably this part of the
internship that proved to present most difficulties. First of all, the people who had to find
participants within their company, had not yet started this when I contacted them. Secondly and
consequently, it was not easy to find participants, because many of the potential participants could
not fit the workshop into their schedule. We were even unable to find participants from the
Brussels departments, except for an employee of Animal Health, who would also give a
presentation on Animal Health (to introduce the workshop subject to the other participants). In the
end, we were able to find nine employees and participants, to whom I sent an invitation. But that
was not the end of our difficulties; the day before the workshop, the two Tielt (Bayer Sheet
Europe) participants had to cancel their participation due to production problems. This meant that
there were only seven participants left (out of an initially expected fifteen). Nevertheless, the
workshop took place as planned, even with fewer participants than expected. Group idea
generation theory has even established that productivity is higher for smaller groups (cf. supra), so
with hindsight, I might even say that the small number of participants was a good thing. In this
stage of contacting and inviting people, I received a lot of support from the Communications
department. They told me who I needed to contact and how I should go about, and Mrs.Cazaerck
regularly sat down with me, to check the status of this part of the project. Because of the fact that
finding participants was a crucial element for the workshop, adequate support was of paramount
importance.
59
When I stated that finding and inviting participants was perhaps the most important aspect of
the project (and especially for the ideation session, of course), I do not want to underestimate
other aspects of preparation. An important preparatory task was organizing the logistics of the
workshop, i.e. the location, lunch and workshop aids. For these aspects, I worked closely together
with Mrs. Gregoire, Communications responsible of Bayer Antwerp (Bayer MaterialScience),
since it was decided that the workshop would take place in a conference room at Bayer Antwerp. I
did however, as requested by Mrs.Gregoire, investigate the possibility of an external location, but
this proved to be suboptimal. Therefore, I contacted Mrs.Gregoire to reserve the conference room
(which I had visited on a first exploratory visit to Bayer Antwerp, where I sat down to discuss the
general aspects of the workshop with Mrs.Gregoire) and to order the lunch for the participants
(since it was an all-day seminar). Mrs.Gregoire thus took care of the reservation of the conference
room and lunch. In addition to location and lunch, the workshop aids had to be arranged. I needed
two flipcharts, a whiteboard, a beamer and sound installation and a specific table arrangement. All
of these aspects were taken care of in coordination with and by Mrs.Gregoire, because these
aspects were present in Antwerp.
A third aspect of preparation were the immediate requirements for the workshop. These were
mostly small details and tools, such as sufficient idea collection forms (cf. infra), operator cards
(cf. infra), manipulated product cards (cf. infra), markers, a laptop, etc. These rather small
workshop aids were all taken care of by me, and did not really take up much time or work, but
were nonetheless important elements in the preparation. In addition to these tools, Mrs.Cazaerck
had already contacted the Triple-i headquarters, to acquire gadgets and gimmicks as an incentive
for the participants. I then got in touch with the headquarters once more, and they subsequently
sent notepads, pens, post-its, lanyards and a number of cuddly toys (in the form of dogs), which
could be given to the participants. As ideation theory has shown, such incentives do not
necessarily increase productivity, but on a psychological level, we felt that the participants would
appreciate the gesture.
These three elements were, according to me, the most important preparatory tasks for the
workshop. In these tasks, the practical and logistic aspect was obviously dominant, but they also
entailed a lot of specific communication with all types of people in the company (communication
managers, participants, Triple-i managers, ...), and therefore I needed to discuss them at length. It
is also on this level that I received most support from the Communications department of Bayer
BioScience, because of the sometimes delicate nature of the task (contacting other employees,...).
60
3.2.2.4 Construction of the workshop agenda
The third and final part of the workshop preparation was the construction of the workshop agenda
and content. Obviously, this was a very important task, since a thorough preparation of the
workshop content would have a determining effect on the success of the workshop. Therefore, I
invested a lot of time and work into this task.
As I have already mentioned, a large part of the information I received came from a specific
external agency, viz. SIT. This Israelian company is specialised in organisational innovative
thinking, and was therefore consulted by Bayer to instruct, guide and support the different global
ideation workshops of Bayer. They organised, as I have already explained, the train the trainers
workshop, in which the concept of ideation workshops was explained and techniques were
illustrated. Additionally, the participants of this introductory workshop received a lot of
background information, which was handed to me. This information included a potential
workshop agenda (with several brainstorming exercises), supporting materials (idea collection
forms, operator cards,..), tips for facilitation, presentations, etc. The content of the workshop I
organised was based entirely on the proposed workshop agenda by SIT. They had worked out an
agenda for an entire day (from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm), with all of the necessary exercises and
facilitation instructions. I then adapted this agenda to fit within our time frame (from 8.30 am to
4.30 pm), and translated the entire agenda, since the workshop would be conducted in Dutch. This
resulted in the workshop agenda I was going to use in the ideation workshop (cf. Appendix 2).
Every single step of the workshop was registered in this agenda, with additional instructions on
how to explain an exercise and with supporting video material (to illustrate and offer a humorous
view). The information and tools provided by SIT did still have to be processed, since they were
not sufficient for my workshop. I had to analyse, evaluate and adapt the exercise of the agenda to
the specific context, and translate the agenda and all the supporting documents and tools, since the
workshop would be held in Dutch.
After the processing of the information, the workshop agenda was established, but not all
aspects of the workshop exercises, as proposed by SIT, were clear. Therefore, I got in touch with
the employees of SIT. For every workshop organiser Bayer had reserved four hours of additional
phone training by SIT. In this phone training with an Israelian employee of SIT, Mr. El Gad, I was
offered the opportunity to ask questions regarding every aspect of the workshop. I systematically
ran through the entire agenda with him, thus acquiring additional support and instructions for
every part that was not entirely clear. After these four hours of telephone training, the workshop
agenda was slightly altered and finished, and I felt confident enough that its content would be
sufficient for a successful ideation workshop.
61
The final part of the entire preparation phase was studying and practising the workshop agenda
and content. This was of huge importance, since the workshop contained a presentation of several
hours (with the group exercises as breaks from presentation, of course). So I had to know exactly
what to say, how to say it and when to say it, because the timing of the workshop was important.
It was also important to master workshop confidence: I had to exhume confidence, in order to
translate this to the participants. So in the final few days before the workshop, I reserved a
conference room, and practised the entire workshop several times, so that I knew every detail and
exercise, and was aware of the proper time schedule. Of course, I knew it was possible that the
time schedule would not be followed rigidly at all times, but it was nonetheless important to be
able to control the time, because this was an important aspect of leading the workshop. After this
final phase, which was completed in the final days preceding the workshop, the actual workshop
could take place.
3.2.3 Ideation workshop at Bayer Antwerpen
3.2.3.1 Introductory remarks
As I have already mentioned, the workshop took place in a conference room at Bayer Antwerp, on
the 6th of June. We (Mrs. Cazaerck and me) arrived early to arrange the room configuration (I
opted for a number of chairs in a circle, with tables surrounding these chairs, to allow the
participants to move to a table during exercises), to set up the laptop and beamer and to take care
of other general preparations. When these preparations were finished and the participants had
arrived, the workshop could start.
In this section, I will succinctly discuss the different brainstorming exercises, how they were
conducted, and how they can be connected to the ideation and brainstorming theory.
3.2.3.2 Introduction and first acquaintance
The first part of the workshop was the introduction. In this introduction, I presented myself, the
goals and the agenda of the day. The connection with the ideation theory is very clear: setting
specific goals in advance, even though they are set externally, is considered to be very important.
Furthermore, in addition to the goal of generating ideas for new Animal Health products or
services (especially for pets: cats and dogs), these goals were also connected to the rules of
brainstorming: nothing is impossible, every idea is welcome, no idea should be criticised. This
introduction showed the participants what was intended, and how the goals should be reached (in
terms of the types of ideas they should produce).
62
The second part of this first workshop stage was allowing the participants to get to know each
other. This approach can also be explained in function of the ideation theory, as group attitude and
atmosphere are very important. It made people look for things they had in common, thus creating
a link between them and possibly improving further ideation. Furthermore, the participants were
asked to do this. All other exercises for that matter were conducted in pairs, which has proved to
enhance ideation outcome: research has shown that the best results of group ideation are acquired
when working in dyads. I can conclude that this first stage was an important one in building the
foundation of an effective workshop.
3.2.3.3 Animal Health presentation
A second introductory step was the presentation of Animal Health, performed by an Animal
Health employee. This presentation expanded the participants‟ knowledge of Animal Health,
focused the participants‟ attention on the workshop subject, and might even have activated certain
knowledge in the participants‟ minds. Again, this aspect is reflected in the ideation theory, as
knowledge and knowledge processes are very important aspects of the idea generation process.
3.2.3.4 Top of mind exercise
The first actual ideation exercise of the day was a top of mind exercise. In this exercise, the
participants were offered the opportunity to divulge ideas they had already had for new products,
services or solutions for Animal Health. In this session, the idea collection form (cf. Appendix 3)
was introduced. On this form, which was developed by SIT and translated by me, the participants
could systematically write down their structured ideas, paying attention to certain categories
(name of idea, author of idea, idea‟s characteristics and benefits). This exercise allowed the
participants to think about the workshop subject for the first time, in a free and unstructured way,
in order to become familiar with the ideation principles.
3.2.3.5 I like/don’t like exercise
The second brainstorming exercise was the I like/I don‟t like exercise, in which a structured
approach with specific and challenging goals was taken. I invited the participants to form a circle
and throw a ball around. Every time someone got the ball, they had to say what they liked about
their pet, or what they did not like about it. I wrote these sentences down, and afterwards we
worked to find solutions or improvements for them. The participants first got the chance to think
freely, but in a second stage they were pushed into certain directions by specific goals, offered by
operator cards (cards with specific instructions, e.g. “Prevent it from happening”, “Enhance its
effect”).
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3.2.3.6 Accidental discovery exercise
The third exercise of the day was an exercise that drew on free associations of the mind, as
described extensively in ideation theory. I gave the participants an explanation on how ideas could
spring from unexpected or unwanted events. Subsequently, they were offered manipulated
product cards, in which an existing product was modified. The participants then had to find
entirely new products or services, starting associations from the specific card. This way,
challenging goals were presented to the participants, and they were encouraged to generate wild
and free ideas.
3.2.3.7 Well-being exercise
The final exercise was the well-being exercise. This exercise focused on another approach to
generating ideas. I started this brainstorming session by making the participants sum up parts of
the human body and subsequently think of existing products in different segments (health care,
personal care and well-being) for these human body parts. After forming these lists, the
participants were asked to think of ways to take the existing human products and translate them
into new ideas for products or services for humans.
All of the mentioned idea generation and brainstorming exercises clearly drew on the same
principles of idea generation theory: offering specific goals and instructions and trying to get to
new and untouched parts of knowledge, through stimulated associations. I therefore conclude that
the ideation workshop was effective, in that it used known and established techniques to provide
and improve participant productivity.
3.2.3.8 Ranking and evaluation of ideas
After the idea generation sessions and exercises, the ideas (in total, some 40 ideas were produced)
were collected and evaluated. Every participant was offered a number of stickers they could attach
to the ideas of their preference. This way, the participants had the chance to reflect on their
productivity, and look back on ideas they and other participants had produced. Even throughout
the workshop, sharing of and thinking about ideas was encouraged. At the end of every exercise, I
let (as SIT had advised) every dyad succinctly present their ideas to the group, thus creating the
illusion of group productivity and velocity. Even though this ranking had no significant relevance
for the idea follow-up, I felt that it was an important and satisfying aspect for the participants,
since they could reflect on their ideas and productivity. Additionally, this may even have offered a
subjective belief that their judgement would be taken into account and have an effect. I am
therefore convinced that including evaluation in the ideation process is a positive factor of the
idea generation process.
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After the evaluation of the ideas, the participants were rewarded with the toy animals that were
sent by the Triple-i headquarters and a final exercise was conducted to conclude the day. Every
participant had to express a wish for their pet. At the end of this final exercise, I thanked the
participants for their cooperation, ensured them that their ideas would be analysed and possibly
developed and ended the workshop.
3.2.4 Workshop roll-out
The final stage of my assignment, which took up the last week of my internship, was the roll-out
phase of the ideation workshop. This stage consisted of wrapping up the ideation workshop, by
collecting all the ideas, listing and elaborating them and finally submitting them to the Triple-i
headquarters, where they would be extensively analysed and evaluated. This resulted in an
elaborated ideas list, consisting of 30 original new ideas. The ideas were thus collected in a
document (cf. Appendix 4) and sent to Triple-i, which indicated the end of my assignment.
3.2.5 Assignment evaluation
Before I can commence with an evaluation of my assignment and my performance, I would first
like to emphasise the fact that I had no experience at all before starting the assignment, neither in
a professional environment, nor in the field of idea generation theory (or practice, for that matter).
It can therefore not be considered as a comparative evaluation, but rather as an experiential
evaluation, which focuses more on the challenges of the assignment and what I have learned from
it.
The first aspect of my assignment that I would like to include in my evaluation, is the versatile
nature of the task. As I have illustrated in the description of the assignment, there were three
phases of the assignment, each with their specific challenges and each requiring a different
approach and different skills. The preparatory stage included an analysis and study of a large body
of information, contacting and conferring with a number of employees and arranging all sorts of
practical details. The second stage, the actual guidance and lead of the workshop, addressed a
number of other skills and techniques, especially on the level of communication with the
participants. In the roll-out stage I had to summarise and structurally report the end product, i.e.
the resulting ideas, which required analytical skills. I can therefore conclude that my assignment,
and by extension my internship, showed me and involved a wide variety of different tasks and
communication strategies (especially in contacting and finding potential participants), which I
65
consider as a very important part of an internship, especially regarding the fact that this was my
first professional experience.
Secondly, I would like to highlight the support I received during the internship. In this respect,
I would first like to mention the extensive information that Bayer had gathered, to support the
facilitation and organisation task of the workshop. The background information on the subject of
ideation and workshops was very accurate and helpful, and included many of the aspects I have
discussed in the chapter on idea generation (cf. supra). But this was of course general support,
attributed to all organisers of ideation workshops at Bayer. I therefore want to stress separately the
individual support I received during the assignment.
In regular meetings I explained to my supervisor, Mrs. Cazaerck, what I was doing, what
progress I was making, what still had to be done, etc. She offered me advice where necessary and
provided me with support whenever I needed it (especially with regard to certain decisions (e.g.
which person to contact, what approach to use in an e-mail,...) in which I needed the help of
someone who knew the company background and corporate culture). Inversely, I specifically
want to mention instances where I was denied explicit support, because I consider these moments
as important and beneficial parts of the assignment. I naturally tend to lack some assertiveness,
and therefore sometimes experienced difficulties to take action in contacting people and urging
them to find participants. But because of the fact that Mrs. Cazaerck insisted that I should perform
these tasks myself and was thus forced to do so, I feel that I learned from this and maybe even
gained some assertiveness. The same goes for the actual lead of the workshop, which implied
natural inhibitions for me: to exert authority over people I did not know and who had worked at
Bayer for many years, did present some problems with regard to assertiveness. But I was forced to
overcome these inhibitions, since I had to take the lead of the workshop. The fact that I had the
responsibility to organise and lead this workshop, mostly through individual effort, did prove to
be an effective experience.
The flipside of the fact that this was my first experience with an ideation workshop, is that I
feel that I did not exploit the group‟s potential completely. It is my opinion that at certain points, I
should have motivated and stimulated the participants more to produce new ideas. I instead think
that I sometimes remained a little too passive during the brainstorming sessions and did not
sufficiently focus the group‟s attention on the ideation task at hand. It is therefore possible that the
group‟s productivity suffered slightly from my facilitation and could have generated more ideas
with a more experienced facilitator. But this is probably somewhat natural since it was the first
time I led a workshop of this kind.
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In general, I feel that the assignment, and my performance in it, were very instructive in getting
acquainted with many aspects of corporate life and culture in general, and, more specifically,
organisational creativity.
3.3 Secondary assignments
3.3.1 Introductory remarks
In addition to my primary assignment, the ideation workshop, I also was employed in several
other, smaller tasks. Between the different stages of the workshop, there were several periods in
which the workshop preparations did not consume all of my time, and I therefore received several
other tasks. I can roughly divide these tasks into two parts: translations and editorial contributions.
In the following paragraphs, I will discuss the results of these tasks.
3.3.2 Translations
The translations I made during my internship can be divided into two categories. First of all, I
translated some documents for the supporting services of Bayer BioScience NV, regarding
general aspects such as security, safety, risk, etc. These translations were minor tasks, but I
nevertheless mention them, and I have included an example in the appendix (cf. Appendix 5).
Secondly, I made translations of two scientific articles for the company magazine
(We@Bayer), a magazine for all Bayer offices in Belgium. In each of the monthly editions of this
magazine, a number of articles from Bayer‟s scientific magazines (Report and Research) are
translated and published. I translated two of these articles, one on LCD displays and one on
diabetes (cf. Appendix 6). I then sent the articles to Mrs.Gregoire, because the magazine is mainly
written and controlled by Bayer Antwerp.
3.3.3 Editorial contributions
In addition to the translations (some for Bayer BioScience internally, and some for
We@Bayer), I wrote some editorial contributions for We@Bayer from the perspective of Bayer
BioScience. Every subsidiary of Bayer in Belgium has its own section in the company magazine,
in which they get the chance to report about their own company. So my editorial contributions
were written for the Bayer BioScience pages of the company magazine We@Bayer. In this
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respect, I wrote two articles, one on the subject of Secretary‟s Day and one interview with the
company‟s CEO. The first article dealt with how secretaries experience their job and the gratitude
they receive, in combination with the concept of Secretary‟s Day. In the second article, the
interview with the company‟s CEO, the focus of the article was on the combination of the CEO‟s
double job: as head of the legal department and as head of the entity Bayer BioScience NV. Both
articles are included in the appendix (cf. Appendix 7 and 8). I also wrote a report of the workshop
I conducted, which appeared in the company magazine as well, but in the general pages. This
article was a short summary of the workshop and is also included in the appendix (cf. Appendix
9). All of these articles were written in Dutch, and were edited and controlled by Mrs.Cazaerck
and Mrs.Gregoire. The subsequent result was then published in We@Bayer.
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Conclusion
In this dissertation, I have described the content and results of my internship, starting from an
elaborate description of the company where I was employed (Bayer BioScience NV) and a
thorough analysis of the idea generation theory. These first two chapters shed a different light on
my internship, offering a broader background to the ideation workshop I conducted during my
internship. The insights into the corporate structure and culture allowed for a more thorough
understanding of the corporate atmosphere in which I was immersed for eight weeks, and the
theoretical analysis on idea generation supported and elucidated the content of and strategies used
during the ideation workshop.
As I have already mentioned, the importance of my internship as a first professional experience
cannot be underestimated. To function in a company is entirely and radically different from the
theoretical and academic environment of a university education. Consequently, the impact of my
internship has been very considerable and far-reaching on a professional level. I have acquired
and developed several skills that can only be learned from actual professional experience. The
tasks I performed during the internship also exposed my strengths and opportunities, aspects I can
build on, and I have also learned more about the direction I would like to go into in my further
professional career. In that respect, the internship has, through its versatile and multi-faceted
character, initiated me in many aspects of professional life and atmosphere, which is a
considerable advantage with regard to the future.
Furthermore, I have been faced with certain aspects of my professional character that require
improvement. My internship has indicated that I still have work to do in the area of assertiveness,
as I experience natural inhibitions to be completely self-assured and confident in the contact with
other people. This relative lack of assertiveness was in part due to my status as a (mere) intern,
who had to contact a number of employees who had been working at the company for many years,
which, in my perception, immediately created a type of distance I did not completely succeed in
overcoming. It has become clear that this is an aspect I will have to work on to improve in the
future, both on professional and personal level (since these are, in the context of assertiveness,
inextricably intertwined).
It is difficult to directly connect the program of the Master in Multilingual Business
Communication to my internship, since the task of my internship differed from any course I have
received this year. Idea generation and its related techniques, implications and results were not
explicitly treated, which makes a direct comparison difficult. However, the concept of ideation
69
workshops can be compared to the theory and practice we received in business communication in
the course of the year. Communication is a key component of any corporate process and an
innovation and ideation process is no exception to this rule. I definitely benefited from the
extensive practical and theoretical courses on business communication to bring my internship
assignment to a satisfactory end.
Additionally, the year of Multilingual Business Communication has functioned as a bridge
between the very theoretical, academic education of my initial study of Germanic Languages and
the practical, hands-on assignment of the internship. The first acquaintance with a business
environment and communication projects was made during this year, which decreased the gap
between education and employment, in casu an actual internship in a company. In this respect, the
year of Multilingual Business Communication was a good preparation for the internship and, by
extension, for an eventual professional career.
Nevertheless, there are certain aspects of the internship and of professional communication that
are not present in the program. Of course, it is impossible to include all aspects of business
communication in the program, but I feel to an extent that certain aspects are overrepresented in
the program (several guest lecturers talked about very similar things), and perhaps some are
underrepresented. In the concrete context of my internship, I specifically think of internal
communication on a very personal, almost intimate level. Communication with employees on a
daily basis, either by telephone, e-mail or conversation, is a very important aspect in every
company‟s internal communication. It is of course a very difficult and subjective subject, and due
to its specific and interpersonal nature very complex to give courses or theory on, but it is an
important topic nonetheless. I therefore think that this could be added to the program (though I
cannot propose a way to introduce it), because it would benefit the students, especially in the
context of their internship. But the elements of criticism and suggestions to improve the course as
mentioned above do not throw even a light shadow on the altogether very positive experience of
my internship and the study preceding it.
70
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pp.411-425
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75
Appendix
Appendix 1: Initial summary of project concept p.76
Appendix 2: Workshop agenda p.86
Appendix 3: Idea collection form p.96
Appendix 4: Excerpt of collected and elaborated ideas p.97
Appendix 5: Examples of translations of documents of Bayer BioScience NV p.100
Appendix 6: Translations of articles p.101
Appendix 7: Article on Secretary‟s Day for We@Bayer p.105
Appendix 8: Interview with CEO Bayer BioScience for We@Bayer p.106
Appendix 9: Report of AH workshop for We@Bayer p.108
76
Appendix 1
Workshop Animal Health
Triple-i Animal Health:
Het concept
- Proces rond innovatie: iedereen (dus internationaal) kan ideeën formuleren rond de meest
uiteenlopende onderwerpen. Reeds meer dan 3.000 ideeën zijn op deze manier en in de
eerste fase van het project aan de breinen van de Bayer-medewerkers ontsproten.
- De tweede fase van het project is specifieker en gestuurder georiënteerd. Hier wordt in een
eerste luik de afdeling Animal Health onder de loep genomen, waarbij een selectie van
enkele werknemers middels een workshop ideeën rond nieuwe producten of applicaties in
het veld van (huis)dierengezondheid genereert. Er wordt in detail stilgestaan bij
verschillende afdelingen (in casu AH) om zo de ideeën van de werknemers, die zich nu al
hoofdzakelijk rond de uitbreiding en afleiding van bestaande producten centreert, nog
meer in de richting van concrete realisaties in specifieke deelgebieden te sturen.
Animal Health
- De basisgedachte is “ideeën ontwikkelen ter verbetering van de gezondheid van
gezelschapsdieren, van huisdieren dus. Het Triple-i project richt zich eerst op deze
afdeling, omdat men zich wil concentreren op klantgerichte sectoren, eerder dan B2B
sectoren.
- Goede ideeën worden beloond (deelname in het succes van een product als dat uiteindelijk
de markt bereikt). Vooral creativiteit en haalbaarheid van een voorstel worden in
overweging genomen.
- Twee grote marktsegmenten binnen de “huisdierensector”:
o Companion Animal Products (CAP)
Emotionele en menselijke relaties
Welzijn van het gezelschapsdier
Levenskwaliteit voor eigenaar en huisdier
Overdracht van ziektes
Bescherming en veiligheid van en voor de eigenaar
o Food Animal Products (FAP)
77
Industrie en handel
Welzijn van dieren
Kosten-baten, winstgevendheid
Veilig en betaalbaar voedsel
Klantenzorg
Milieubewustzijn
Bescherming en veiligheid
Publieke zorgen
- De CAP farmaceutische markt kan onderverdeeld worden in twee segmenten: bestaande
en onontwikkelde:
o Bestaande segmenten:
Anti-inflammatoire middelen (NSAID‟s: Non-Steroidal Anti-
Inflammatory Drugs) en Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) worden een
steeds matuurder segment, waar innovatie nog vooral bereikt kan worden
enerzijds door intense Direct-To-Consumer advertering die de kwantiteit
verhoogt of anderzijds door nieuwe productklassen
o Onontwikkelde segmenten:
Indicaties (~ gebruiksvoorwaarden) met weinig tot geen alternatieven tot
behandeling
Gekarakteriseerd door significante onvervulde noden en gebruik van off
label menselijke producten (medicijnen)
Voornamelijk geriatrische aandoeningen zoals kanker, chronisch nierfalen
(CRF), artritis en atopische dermatitis.
Sterke groei wordt verwacht wanneer innovatieve, specifiek voor AH
ontworpen behandelingsopties beschikbaar worden
- Bestaande Bayer AH productgamma:
o Parasiticides:
Advantage: griep-, hartworm- en lintwormbestrijding (spot-on)
Advantix: vlooien-, teek- en muggenpreventie (spot-on)
Advocate: griep-, hartworm- en lintwormbestrijding
Droncit
Drontal
Drontal flavour plus
Kiltix
Profender: ontworming voor katten (spot-on)
78
Bolfo: flea collars, spray, powder,…
o Anti-infectiemiddelen:
Baytril: bestrijding van bacteriële pathogenen
o Farmacologische middelen:
Hyonate/Legend: therapie voor gewrichtsziekten bij paarden
o Zorg/Supplementen:
Bay-O-Pet: tandhygiëne, oorspoeler, bevochtigende spray
- Waarom Animal Health:
o De markt voor huisdierenparafernalia is momenteel zeer sterk groeiend, huisdieren
worden meer en meer beschouwd als volwaardige familieleden. De markt
gezondheid van en de zorg voor huisdieren haalde in 2006 een wereldwijde omzet
van 4,3 miljard euro, met een voorspelde jaarlijkse groei van 4,6% tot 2018. Bayer
AH haalde in 2006 55% van zijn totale omzet uit dit groeiende segment. De
intense groei van deze markt valt te verklaren door de veranderende relatie tussen
huisdier en baas(je); we zien een evolutie naar een meer emotionele, sentimentele
en zelfs fanatieke relatie, waar veel aandacht wordt besteed aan de noden van het
dier.
o Binnen Animal Health zijn er verschillende productsegmenten, waarvan de
voornaamste parasietdodende-, anti-infectie-, farmacologische- en OTC-producten
zijn.
Parasietdodende producten vormen de grootste groep; parasieten vallen het
huisdier extern (bijvoorbeeld vlooien, muggen,…) of intern (vb. hartworm,
lintworm,…) aan.
De tweede groep zijn de anti-infectieproducten. Deze producten bestrijden
bacteriële ziektes zoals oorinfecties of rabies.
Farmacologische geneesmiddelen zijn werkzaam tegen andere belangrijke
ziektes (bijvoorbeeld Hyonate voor artritis bij paarden). Het merendeel
van de vorige drie categorieën zijn enkel verkrijgbaar op voorschrift, en
komen dus via de dierenarts bij de eigenaar van het huisdier.
Daarnaast is er eveneens een segment dat producten bevat die in
huisdierenwinkels of supermarkten zonder voorschrift verkregen kan
worden (over-the-counter). Deze producten worden door Bayer op de
markt gebracht onder de paraplunamen Bolfo en BayoPet. Deze producten
kunnen door de gebruiker aangewend worden in het bereik der
79
parasietenbestrijding of der zorgproducten (zoals shampoos of
voedingssupplementen).
o Ook binnen de huisdierensector spelen zich de laatste jaren enkele bepalende
trends voor de ontwikkeling van deze markt af. De verhoogde levensstandaard en
daarmee gepaard gaande maatschappelijke fenomenen zoals vergrijzing,
zwaarlijvigheid, urbanisatie, milieubewustzijn, milieuveranderingen,
biotechnologie, enz… heeft ook zijn gevolgen voor huisdieren. Deze veranderende
leefgewoonten zullen namelijk ook ruimte scheppen voor nieuwe producten,
diensten en oplossingen binnen de huisdierenmarkt.
Verbeterde medische zorg en verzorging door de eigenaar zorgen ervoor
dat honden en katten langer leven. Dit resulteert uiteraard ook in
leeftijdsgebonden ziektes (bijvoorbeeld gewrichts-, hart- of leverziekten,
of zelfs kanker).
Meer en meer honden en katten lijden aan overgewicht (een dier heeft
overgewicht wanneer het gewicht van het dier 20% boven de normale
toestand ligt). Deze zwaarlijvigheid gaat meestal gepaard met excessieve
slijtage van de gewrichten, cardiovasculaire problemen, degeneratie van de
lever of diabetes.
Ook allergiegerelateerde huidaandoeningen behoren tot het alledaagse
leven van honden en katten. Deze gaan meestal samen met ernstige jeuk
en kunnen leiden tot een rode huid en zelfs infecties.
Diabetes is eveneens een veel voorkomende ziekte bij huisdieren en kan
het dier, wanneer het niet behandeld wordt, fataal worden. Vooral oudere
en zwaarlijvige honden worden door deze aandoening getroffen.
Ten slotte hebben huisdieren een proper en gezond gebit nodig. Wanneer
voedselresten op de tanden achterblijven, kan dit leiden tot onwelriekende
gassen die tandvlees en tanden beschadigen.
o De hierboven omschreven problemen vormen zeker uitdagingen die tot mogelijke
oplossingen, suggesties, of ideeën kunnen leiden Ze zijn echter voorlopig enkel
dat: suggesties. Het ideeënproces wordt dus met andere woorden de vrije loop
gelaten, er wordt enkel gesuggereerd dat dit mogelijke denksporen zijn.
o Vanuit Bayer worden wel enkele potentiële vragen gelanceerd, die als vertrekpunt
of platform kunnen dienen om tot het genereren van ideeën te komen:
Ken je enkele Animal Health producten en heb je ideeën over wat
verbeterd of compleet anders gedaan zou kunnen worden?
80
Zou je andere (verschijnings)vormen van reeds bestaande geneesmiddelen
of geneeskundige toepassingen verkiezen?
Wat voor producten zijn er momenteel niet waarvan je vindt dat ze wel in
het productgamma zouden moeten worden opgenomen,
Van welke producten denk je dat ze in de toekomst belangrijk(er) zullen
worden?
Welke producten die ook al bestaan in de sector van de menselijke
geneeskunde zou je ook voor je huisdieren willen zien?
Welke soort producten van Bayer Animal Health zou je willen kopen?
Welke producten zouden goed passen bij Bayer Animal Health?
De workshop: Inhoud en begeleiding
Inhoud
Voor aanvang van de workshop
- Eventueel: bundeltje met “huiswerk”:
o Met een eigenaar van een huisdier praten en enige vragen stellen (routine van hun
huisdier, wat hen het meest bevalt aan hun huisdier, wat moeilijk is aan het
bezitten van een huisdier,…)
o Met een medewerker van AH praten en naar zijn mening over noden binnen de
markt vragen; eveneens vragen of hij wil deelnemen aan de toekomstige workshop
als een expert op het gebied van de inhoud en om de resultaten samen te vatten
o Zichzelf situeren binnen de verschillende groepen eigenaars van huisdieren
o De bundel aandachtig doornemen en eventuele ideeën die spontaan opborrelen al
neerschrijven
- Achtergrondinfo rond workshops (cd-rom sit)
- Plannen van de workshop: 7 stappen
o Onderzoek naar het onderwerp van de workshop: wat zijn de key elementen
waarvoor en waarrond de ideeën zullen (moeten) gegenereerd worden? Eventueel
een overzicht van belangrijke (voorgaande) inzichten
o (Selecteer een gekwalificeerde facilitator) en bepaal de benadering van de
workshop. Zorg voor een uitgebalanceerde mix tussen het ontwikkelen en
formuleren van ideeën en de evaluatie ervan. Identificeer duidelijk hoe het
resultaat van de workshop er uit zou moeten zien en hoe je te werk zal gaan na
diens afloop.
81
o Deelnemers vinden en briefen. De deelnemers zouden bij voorkeur open,
communicatief en gemotiveerd om deel te nemen moeten zijn. Ervoor zorgen dat
de deelnemers weten waarover de workshop gaat en wat van hen verwacht wordt:
“the workshop will be exciting but also hard-work with some follow-up to do”.
o Datum en locatie vastleggen.
o Structureer de workshop en stel reeds een rudimentaire versie van een tijdsschema
op. Volgende elementen komen normaliter voor in de workshop (de tijd die ervoor
wordt uitgetrokken kan variëren):
Korte inleiding tot Triple-I, overlopen agenda en onderwerp
Uiteenlopende en diverse fases van het ontwikkelen van ideeën
Fases ter verduidelijking, visualisering en samenbundeling van ideeën
Fases ter evaluatie en rangschikking van ideeën
Opstellen van een lijst met een aantal “top”-ideeën; overleggen over
mogelijke follow-up acties
o Inhoud van de workshop voorbereiden, zoals bijvoorbeeld:
Gedetailleerder onderzoek naar bepaalde aspecten van het onderwerp.
layout and axes of maps you will be using
Lijst met enkele trigger questions om de “vloed” aan ideeën te
bestendigen
Eventueel een soort van voorbereiding vragen (cf.supra)(eigen observaties
of onderzoek in verband met het onderwerp, al eigen ideeën)
Logistieke zaken met betrekking tot de eigenlijke workshop regelen en
klaarzetten (vb. beamer, illustratiemateriaal,…)
Workshop zelf
- Idealiter: een aantal experts van Animal Health zijn aanwezig (is het de bedoeling dat ze
actief participeren of eerder observeren?)
- Eventueel: “Crazy pet ideas” als zachte opener… (zie cd-rom sit)
- Drie fases in de workshop:
o Formuleren en ontwikkelen van ruwe, onbewerkte ideeën
Gebruiken van bepaalde instrumenten, technieken (tools) om zoveel
mogelijk ideeën te verkrijgen.
Individuele initiële ideeën verzamelen op ideeformulieren of –kaarten.
Ideeënproces kan individueel of in kleinere subgroepen plaatsvinden.
o Samenbrengen en groeperen van deze ideeën
82
Identieke of zeer gelijkaardige ideeën verwijderen
Ideeën die buiten het bereik der redelijkheid (out-of-scope) liggen of
andere ideeën niet kunnen verrijken verwijderen
Ideegroepen vormen door gelijkgestemde ideeën en ideeën die gezien
kunnen worden als deel van een grotere oplossing bijeen te brengen en te
bevatten; hiervoor betekenisvolle groepsnamen formuleren.
Ideeën verrijken en verfijnen door additionele informatie te verzamelen
die door de deelnemers ten berde gebracht wordt
Het groeperen van ideeën kan individueel of in kleinere subgroepen
plaatsvinden.
o Rangschikking en selectie
Beslissen welke ideegroepen beter lokaal dan via Triple-i opgevolgd
worden
Selecteer de beste Triple-i ideeën, normaliter tussen de 5 en de 10:
wanneer met kleine subgroepen gewerkt wordt, kan dit aanleiding geven
tot een gradueel proces waarin de groepjes hun ideeën aan elkaar
voorstellen alvorens overgegaan wordt tot de selectie van het kruim der
ideeën.
Voor het rangschikken en selecteren van ideeën kunnen een aantal
technieken gehanteerd worden.
- Leiden van de workshop:
o De rol van facilitator: Begeleidt de deelnemers doorheen het gehele evenement.
Zorgt ervoor dat mensen de tijdsgrenzen respecteren en dat de resultaten
geregistreerd worden.
o Kennismaken en eerste creatieve ideeënronde: laat iedereen zich voorstellen,
eventueel gecombineerd met een “opwarmingsspel”. Eerste creatieve ronde:
deelnemers kunnen hun initiële ideeën, die ze mogelijks al eventjes met zich
meedragen, uiten en laten registreren. Deze eerste sessie brainstormen is van
belang omdat ze de deelnemers zo voorbereidt op het ontwikkelen van ideeën.
o Bepalen en (laten) eerbiedigen van enkele grondregel, zoals bijvoorbeeld afzetten
van gsm‟s, terugkomen na pauzes op de afgesproken uren, alle ideeën duidelijk
neerschrijven, meer voortbouwen op ideeën dan louter bekritiseren (wat kan beter,
hoe zou het wel werken,…?), … De regels en het tijdsschema van de workshop
zouden ten allen tijde voor de deelnemers zichtbaar moeten zijn, bijvoorbeeld op
hun flip chart.
83
o Gebruiken van gepaste instrumenten en technieken ter bevordering van het
ideeënproces
o Workshop documenteren: Alle ideeën die tijdens de workshop naar voren komen
zouden op specifiek daarvoor ontworpen ideedocumenten neergeschreven moeten
worden, om zo het samenbundelen van ideeën te vergemakkelijken. Dit wordt
normaalgezien gedaan door de deelnemers zelf. De facilitator zou er wel voor
moeten zorgen dat de individuele ideeën en hun relatie tot een bepaalde groep
ideeën geregistreerd wordt. De ideeën worden ook, na de workshop, in een
elektronisch jasje gestoken (Excel-file). Daarnaast moeten belangrijke punten van
discussie tijdens de workshop en de opvolging erna op de flip chart van de
facilitator weergegeven worden.
o Samenvatting van de resultaten. Elk idee moet een duidelijk gedefinieerde “Idea
Champion” hebben.
- To run a succesful workshop:
o Voorbereiding:
Onderwerp
Objectieven
Verwachtingen afstellen
Achtergrondinformatie verwerven (criteria)
De sessie plannen (script)
Logistieke elementen
Tijdsschema
Locatie
Ondersteunend materiaal
Uitnodiging
Deelnemerslijst (richtlijnen voor selectie)
Succes beoordelen
Instrumenten en technieken voor de workshop
- Brainstorming:
o Er gelden enkele basisregels voor deze techniek:
Één idee per ideeblad. Korte en duidelijke beschrijving (± een halve zin).
Er kan ter verduidelijking een eenvoudige schets bijzitten;
Laat de vrije stroom van ideeën toe. Gelijk welk oordeel wordt verplaatst
naar een latere fase. Enkel vragen ter verduidelijking van de werking van
het idee worden toegelaten;
84
Kwantiteit brengt kwaliteit voort: alle ideeën zijn welkom op dit moment,
want wilde ideeën leiden regelmatig tot bruikbare. Vooral kwantiteit is
hier van tel, aangezien dit tot een hogere waarschijnlijkheid van het
ontdekken van kwaliteit leidt.
Ideeën kunnen gecombineerd, verfijnd of met elkaar meegedreven worden.
Belangrijk is de synergie verkregen door de kruisbestuiving van ideeën.
o Als het idee aan het uitdoven is of de groep meer en meer in de richting van
evaluatie opschuift, kunnen bepaalde stimuli gebruikt worden (vb. trigger
questions, beelden,…). Je kan ook een serie korte brainstormsessies rond een
gekozen onderwerp organiseren vanaf het begin.
o Na de brainstorming fase worden de ideeën samengebundeld. Gelijkaardige en
buitensporige ideeën worden terzijde geschoven.
o Clusters van ideeën worden geëvalueerd. Dit wordt gevolgd, indien nodig, door
specifieke brainstorming fases over bepaalde interessevelden.
o Op het einde worden de ideeclusters gerangschikt en wordt een besluit gevormd
over de te volgen follow-up acties.
- Day-in-the-life: de deelnemers verkennen de activiteiten van een klant om opportuniteiten
voor nieuwe producten en diensten te identificeren.
- MECE mapping:
- Semantische intuïtie
- Osborne checklist:
- “Zes denkende hoeden”:
- Selectie en rangschikking van ideeën:
Na de workshop
- Idea Champions
- Een gedetailleerd verslag van de workshop een week na afloop ervan communiceren
- Follow-up-meeting
Essentie van Triple-i ideeën: vijf categorieën op het ideeënblad
- Voor welk product of welke dienst zie je een noodzaak binnen de markt? Een korte maar
duidelijke beschrijving van wat Bayer aan toekomstige klanten kan aanbieden, eventueel
al gecombineerd met de opsomming van enkele voordelen.
- Wie zou dit product of deze dienst kunnen gebruiken? Een innovatie is steeds gericht op
klanten die er waarde aan hechten. Vandaar is het nuttig om reeds vroeg te beseffen wie
85
de potentiële klanten zijn, om zo een beeld te krijgen van de potentiële grootte van de
markt en de voordelen voor de klant te identificeren.
- Welk voordeel biedt dit product of deze dienst aan de klant? Beantwoordt het product aan
de noden van de klanten, en betreft het een nood die tot op heden niet vervuld wordt…
- Hoe valt jouw business-idee te rijmen met Bayers expertise?
- Heb je al een technische oplossing voor het probleem bedacht? Dit kan helpen bij de
(technische) verfijning van een potentieel nieuw product.
86
Appendix 2
Tijdstip Onderwerp "Anker" Opmerkingen Media Min
8:30 Introductie Introduceer jezelf, de doelen en de agenda van de dag. Bereid een
flipchart voor met
alle informatie
5
8:35 Kennismaking Toon videoclip (1 min) Wij zijn ervan overtuigd dat
het belangrijk is bij innovatie om mekaar eerst te
leren kennen. Het zou dus leuk zijn mochten jullie
rechtstaan en een partner in deze kamer vinden die
je niet of het minst van allemaal kent en die niet
naast jou zit. 1. Maak (kort) kennis met elkaar. Vind
drie zaken die je gemeen hebt met elkaar en die
waarschijnlijk niemand anders in deze ruimte met
jullie deelt (geef hen ca.2 minuten). 2. Laat ons er
enkele van verzamelen (dit zou ongeveer 20 minuten in
beslag moeten nemen). Vraag: Wat is er verschillend
aan de manier waarop jullie kennisgemaakt hebben?
Verklaar de logica achter de oefening: Zoeken op
verschillende manieren laat ons "nieuwe informatie"
vinden, die we voorheen nog niet beseft hadden.
Zoals een nieuwe zoekmachine, een nieuwe google.
*** Optie: vind zaken die je gemeen hebt met je
huisdieren, of karaktereigenschappen van een huisdier die
jullie allebei appreciëren.
Videoclip: Do you
know who I am
20
87
8:55 Introductie AH Achtergrond informatie die je wil delen in verband met
Triple-i en Animal Health.
Presentatie 20
9:15 Naar wat voor
soort ideeën
zijn we op
zoek.
In deze ideeënvormende, -creërende workshop
zullen we proberen zoveel mogelijk ideeën te
verzamelen. Om dit verder te verklaren zou ik twee
filmpjes willen tonen. Toon "Don't judge too quickly".
Laat mensen dus hun ideeën en gedachten uitdrukken,
zonder te vlug te oordelen. Anderzijds: Toon "Heineken
blind dog". We willen ideeën verwelkomen die, voor
zover je kan bedenken, haalbaar zijn en een
doelpubliek hebben.
Filmpjes: "Don't
judge too
quickly"
"Heineken blind
dog"
5
9:20 Logica achter
"Top-of-mind"
ideeënsessie
De logica achter de volgende sessie is om zoveel mogelijk
te halen uit bestaande ideeën die deelnemers reeds gehad
hebben, en om mensen de kans te geven hun geest vrij te
maken en plaats te maken voor nieuwe gedachten/ideeën.
Het laat de facilitator ook toe uit te leggen wat de beste
manier is om een idee naar voren te brengen.
0
9:20 "Top-of-mind"
ideeën
We zouden willen beginnen met het verzamelen van
ideeën die jullie reeds bedacht hebben voor zaken
waar Bayer voor zou moeten gaan.
0
9:20 Neem een kleine 5 minuten om je ideeën op te
schrijven. Zoek nu iemand op met wie je vandaag
nog niet gesproken hebt en ga samen zitten. Deel en
bespreek je ideeën.
15
88
9:35 Kies binnen je "koppel" de 2 à 4 beste ideeën,
waarvan je denkt dat ze echt heel goed zijn. Schrijf
ze neer op het volgende document. Introduceer
ideeformulier. Benadruk dat ze de naam van het idee in
blokletters zouden moeten schrijven. De vuistregel om
te besluiten of een idee goed is, is wanneer je de
volgende vragen kan beantwoorden: kan je het idee
visualiseren? Is er een goede reden om dit idee in de
praktijk om te zetten?
Deel de
ideeformulieren
uit
15
9:50 Verzamelen van
ideeën
Verzamel de namen van de ideeën en leg het
"ideeformulier" ernaast. Geef het idee een nummer.
***Je kan ook de
ideeën onmiddellijk
verzamelen op de
flipchart
10
10:00 Koffiepauze Rond 10:00 15
10:15 Logica achter
"Ik vind leuk/ik
vind niet leuk
dat"-sessie
Het doel van de volgende sessie is met ideeën op de
proppen komen die verband hebben met zaken die een
"top of mind" positie innemen bij eigenaars van
huisdieren. Het gaat om dingen die ze belangrijk vinden.
Als het dingen zijn die ze niet graag hebben, zouden ze
een manier kunnen vinden om ze te verbeteren. Als ze ze
daarentegen wel graag hebben, zouden ze een manier
kunnen zoeken om deze dingen langer te laten duren of
om de ervaring zelfs te versterken.
Je kan dit ook
meer gedetailleerd
doen, "Ik heb
graag/ik heb niet
graag" in een
specifiek veld van
onderzoek
0
10:15 Begin van de
sessie
Alle eigenaars van huisdieren hebben dingen die ze
appreciëren en dingen die ze minder appreciëren aan het
"baasje-zijn". Laat ons even kijken naar twee videoclips
die net dit illustreren en ons mogelijks zullen inspireren.
"Don't like"-
Hovinko; "What
I like" - Bud
light.
5
10:20 "Ik vind leuk/Ik
vind niet leuk-
kring
Laat ons rechtstaan en een kring vormen. Vorm de
kring (logischerwijs).
1
89
10:21 "Ik vind leuk/Ik
vind niet leuk
dat"-kring
We gaan nu een bal naar elkaar gooien. Degene die
de bal vangt moet iets zeggen voor hij de bal naar
iemand anders gooit. De dingen die we gaan zeggen
na het vangen van de bal vullen twee zinnen aan: 1.
Positief: Wat ik leuk vind aan een huisdier hebben
is... en vul aan. 2. Negatief: Wat ik niet leuk vind aan
een huisdier hebben is... en vul aan. Als je geen
huisdier hebt kan je deze zinnen in verband brengen
met dingen die je leuk of niet leuk vindt aan een
vriend of een buur zijn van iemand met een huisdier.
Voor we beginnen zou ik graag twee vrijwilligers die
geen huisdier en een mooi handschrift hebben willen
vragen mij te assisteren. We gaan het volgende
doen: we gaan de bal gooien, de eerste persoon die
deze bal vangt vervolledigt de zin "Wat ik leuk
vind...", en de volgende die de bal vangt vervolledigt
de zin "Wat ik niet leuk vind..." We blijven de bal
heen en weer gooien en wisselen tussen positieve
en negatieve zaken bij elke worp.Terwijl je nadenkt
over wat te zeggen, schrijf ik op de flipchart wat de
vorige persoon net gezegd heeft.
Begeleid het gooien
van de bal zodanig
dat de deelnemers
effectief switchen
tussen "Ik vind
leuk/ik vind niet
leuk". Als je
iemand hebt die je
assisteert, kan die
persoon
opschrijven wat
gezegd wordt,
anders kan je twee
vrijwilligers vragen
dit te doen
14
10:35 Werken aan de
"Ik vind niet
leuk dat"-items
We gaan beginnen met de negatieve zaken die jullie
gezegd hebben en we gaan nadenken over een
manier om ze op te lossen of toch tenminste minder
onaangenaam te maken. Om dit te doen gaan we
jullie in "koppels" verdelen. Verdeel de groep in
koppels. Nummer de zinnen op de lijst. Nummer de
koppels en verdeel de zinnen over de koppels. Denk na
over ideeën die de situatie kunnen verbeteren, en die
Bayer dan kan implementeren.
15
90
10:50 Tweede ronde:
gebruik
operator cards
Geef elk koppel een operator card. Elk van deze kaarten
levert algemene richtlijnen in verband met wat je moet
doen met en in een ongewenste situatie. Deel de operator
cards uit. Gebruik de kaart om in je koppel na te denken
over ideeën om met het onderwerp om te gaan. Na 5
minuten:Stoppen. De kaarten in wijzerzin
opschuiven. Meer ideeën genereren. De kaarten
opnieuw opschuiven. Nog meer ideeën genereren.
Schrijf je beste ideeën neer op een ideeformulier.
Verdeel operator
cards
15
11:05 Verzamel de
ideeën
Neem even de tijd om binnen je koppel één idee te
kiezen dat je zou willen presenteren. Afhankelijk van
de tijd, kan je vragen meer of minder ideeën te
presenteren. We gaan hier uit van elke persoon die één
idee presenteert tot, als de tijd het toestaat, drie ideeën
per persoon. Optie: verzamel de ideeën op de flipchart.
25
11:30 Werken aan de
"Ik vind leuk
dat" items
Nu gaan we werken aan de positieve zaken die jullie
vermeld hebben, en dit door te zoeken naar
manieren om ze nog beter te maken. We zouden de
tevredenheid die je eruit haalt willen vergroten, of
toch zeker langer laten duren. We gaan dit doen aan
de hand van nieuwe operator cards die jullie zullen
krijgen. Laat elk paar een onderwerp kiezen uit de
"Ik vind leuk dat"-lijst die op het bord staat. Laat de
deelnemers een kiezen. Tracht te vermijden dat twee
mensen hetzelfde onderwerp kiezen, of wijs gewoon een
onderwerp toe aan elke groep.
10
91
11:40 Herhaal
dezelfde fases
als bij de "Ik
vind niet leuk
dat"-lijst
1 ronde: onmidddellijke ideeën. 3 volgende rondes:
gebruik de operator cards. Werk aan een ander
onderwerp, schrijf de ideeën op een idea collection form.
Verzamel de ideeën. Dit zou ongeveer een uur moeten
duren.
65
12:45 Lunchpauze 30
13:15 Op naar de
Triple-i
kampioen
Het doel van deze sessie is nieuwe ideeën uitlokken,
ideeën die enkele van de vooronderstellingen die mensen
hebben over de productlijn van Bayer AH kunnen
doorbreken. De oefening is opgesteld uit eenvoudige
stappen, maar de deelnemers zouden assistentie en
aanmoediging kunnen gebruiken. Je hebt 10 kaarten
waarop telkens een voorbeeld van een gemanipuleerd
productprototype staat, samen met enkele instructies
omtrent hoe je het moet ontwikkelen tot een idee.
Sommige manipulaties zijn moeilijker om te ontcijferen,
andere zijn eenvoudiger. Je hoeft ze niet allemaal te
gebruiken, je kan ook dezelfde kaart aan verschillende
koppels geven. Voor elk van de kaarten moet je zelf een
mogelijk voorbeeld van een product bedacht hebben,
zodat je, als dat nodig zou zijn, het duo kan aanmoedigen
door hen ervan te verzekeren dat er een idee mogelijk is
(als ze volledig vast zitten kan je hen op weg naar je eigen
idee helpen, maar daag hen dan uit om een ander idee te
vinden voordat ze opgeven en een andere kaart nemen).
Materiaal voor deze oefening: kaarten van gemanipuleerde
producten.
0
92
13:15 Start van de
sessie
Vele goede ideeën zijn per vergissing ontstaan.
Weten jullie hoe de Post-it uitgevonden is? Hoe
Chocolate Chips cookies uitgevonden zijn? Vertel het
verhaal. We kunnen zien dat er iets gebeurd is met
deze producten. Ze zijn beide ontstaan vanuit een
zekere "manipulatie" per vergissing en werden zo
iets nieuws. Om met nieuwe ideeën op de proppen
te komen, hebben wij reeds enkele manipulaties op
producten uitgevoerd voor jullie. Deze manipulaties
gebeurden met opzet, en dus niet willekeurig. Er zijn
veel manieren om met nieuwe ideeën naar voren te
komen, en de gemanipuleerde voorbeelden van
"producten", die jullie zullen krijgen, zijn op enkele
van deze manieren ontwikkeld. Jullie uitdaging, en
in deze sessie wil ik jullie wel degelijk een beetje
uitdagen, bestaat erin het gemanipuleerde product
te nemen, en, gebruik makend van je eigen
creativiteit, de vraag die op de kaart staat te
beantwoorden om van daaruit ideeën voor een echt
product te laten ontspringen.
"Post-it" verhaal
"Chocolate chips
cookie" verhaal
videoclips:
"Pepsi-Elephant
tower", "NFL
season is here"
15
13:30 Creatie van
ideeën
Verdeel de groep in duo's. Elk duo krijgt één kaart. Jullie
krijgen tien minuten om de eerste ideeën te
formuleren, gebruik makend van de eerste kaart. Na
10 à twaalf minuten: We gaan er mee ophouden-
schrijf de ideeën die je bedacht heb neer op een
Idea Collection Form. Ruil de kaarten om: vraag elk
duo om hun kaart aan het duo aan hun rechter zijde
te geven. Neem 7 minuten om ideeën te formuleren
met de nieuwe kaart.
20
93
13:50 Verzameling
van ideeën
Verzamel de ideeën - help de deelnemers hun idee te
verbeteren waar nodig (ongeveer 10 à 15 minuten). Laat
elk duo één idee presenteren.
40
14:30 Koffiepauze 15
14:45 Logica achter
de "Welzijn"-
oefening
Het doel van de volgende sessie is kijken naar de
manier waarop wij mensen het liefst met elkaar
omgaan, en laat ons erdoor geïnspireerd worden om
aan dingen te denken die we kunnen doen om zorg
te dragen voor onze huisdieren. De truc zit 'm in een
systematische benadering hiervan, vertrekkende
van menselijke organen, over bepaalde
producten/behandelingen, tot nadenken over de
specifieke vorm die deze producten kunnen krijgen
wanneer je denkt aan een huisdier.
0
14:45 "Welzijn"-
oefening
Bedankt iedereen. We gaan naar onze volgende
sessie. In deze sessie zouden we manieren willen
zoeken waarop wij onszelf verzorgen en ons
hierdoor laten inspireren om manieren te vinden
waarop we voor het welzijn van onze huisdieren
kunnen zorgen. Sommige ideeën zijn overigens
reeds bedacht. Om systematisch te werk te gaan
zullen we beginnen bij het maken van een lijst van
menselijke organen. Gebruik een lijst die je op voorhand
voorbereid hebt, of creëer ze samen met de groep.
Verdeel de groep in duo's nadat de lijst gemaakt is.
10
94
14:55 "Welzijn"-
oefening
Kies in je duo voor een lichaamsdeel en creëer een
lijst van producten die voor dit lichaamsdeel
gebruikt worden voor: 1. Gezondheidszorg
(bijvoorbeeld oogdruppels, fitness centers,
voedingssupplementen,…). 2.Persoonlijke zorg
(bijvoorbeeld shampoo, hand lotion,...). 3. Welzijn
producten/activiteiten (bijvoorbeeld make-up
(gezicht), handschoenen (handen), massages,...).
Tabel met het
gekozen orgaan:
welzijn,
persoonlijke
hygiëne en
gezondheidszorg
10
15:05 "Welk type ben
ik"-oefening
Laat de deelnemers een vragenlijst invullen om te
bepalen welk soort huisdiereneigenaar ze zijn. Als
dat niet mogelijk is kan je ook elk type aan een
deelnemer toewijzen en vraag hen dat type te zijn
voor de rest van de oefening. Zorg ervoor dat alle
segmenten vertegenwoordigd zijn.
Niet noodzakelijk;
je kan dit ook op
voorhand laten
maken of de
oefening doen los
van het type
eigenaar
0
15:05 "Welzijn"-
oefening
Bepaal in elk team een nummer 1 en een nummer 2.
Nummer 1: hou de lijst op die je zonet gecreëerd
hebt. Nummer 2: jij functioneert als de
huisdiereigenaar (vanuit de vorige opgave). Tracht
samen zoveel mogelijk ideeën te verzinnen die
overeenkomen met het type eigenaar dat nummer 2
aanneemt. Neem enkele ideeformulieren en gebruik
ze om je favoriete ideeën op te schrijven.
5
15:10 Creatie van
ideeën
Nummers 2: sta recht en schuif één duo op in
wijzerzin. Stel je persoonlijkheid voor aan je nieuwe
partner. Geef hen enkele seconden. In je duo: zoek
samen naar producten op de lijst die relevant zijn
voor je huisdier, denk na over welke
vorm/toepassing van dit product ideaal is voor deze
suggestie.
verwissel om de 5
minuten van
partner, in 3
ronden
20
95
15:30 Verzamel de
ideeën
30
16:00 Rangschikking
van de ideeën
Nu gaan we de ideeën rangschikken. Geef elke
deelnemer 5 stickers. Ieder van jullie heeft vijf
stickers ontvangen. Gebruik de stickers om te
stemmen voor het idee dat jou het meest beviel, of
verdeel ze om te stemmen voor enkele ideeën.
Geef elke
deelnemer 5
stickers
20
16:20 Slotoefening Vraag iedereen in een cirkel te gaan staan voor een
afsluitende oefening, en laat iedereen zijn laatste wens
van de dag uitdrukken. Begin met: Ik wens dat mijn
huisdier…
10
16:30 END Einde om 16.30 0
96
Appendix 3 Ideeformulier
Naam van het idee – Titel
Korte Beschrijving
(Welke kenmerken heeft het, wat doet het, hoe zou je het visualiseren: vorm, kleuren, geur, belangrijkste kenmerken)
Één goede reden waarom het zou moeten gerealiseerd worden
(vb. Het is uniek, het beantwoordt aan de volgende nood:…, het geeft een competitief voordeel,…)
Je naam Datum
SIT®
for Bayer AH
97
Appendix 4
Elaborated ideas: Workshop AH June 6, 2008
Idee 1
Step 1: Describe your idea: What problem or non-existing product/service have you identified?
Name of the idea: Advantage Shampoo
Authors of the idea: Yves De Backer (ANDBY), An Van Hamme (BBANH), Michèle Gregoire
(ANGMI)
It's a type of shampoo with the same characteristics as "Advantage", but with the added element that
it washes the dog at the same time
Step 2: Customer/Market: Who could use your product or service? Could you perhaps
describe the market?
The customers who now buy advantage and shampoo for pets could benefit; they are offered with a
one-stop-shopping solution
Step 3: Customer Benefit: What benefit would the customer gain?
the customer kills two birds with one stone: the product washes the pet and treats it against flu,
tapeworm and heartworm.
Step 4: Bayer Fit: How could your business idea fit in with Bayer's expertise?
Bayer already has the product 'Advantage', and can work from there to develop the 'advantage
shampoo'
Relevant for: Corporate
Idee 2
Step 1: Describe your idea: What problem or non-existing product/service have you identified?
Name of the idea: Dry Wash
Author of the idea: Kristine Reynaert (csrek), An Van Hamme (bbanh)
98
Powder or pellets that can be placed or put on the dog to make bad scent and dirt disappear
Step 2: Customer/Market: Who could use your product or service? Could you perhaps
describe the market?
pet owners who want their dog to be clean and who don't want their dog to smell bad
Step 3: Customer Benefit: What benefit would the customer gain?
- no more bad smell in the house
- easy to apply
- pleasant for dog and owner
Personal Data?
female
First name: Ann
Last name: Van Hamme
Your Notes-ID: bbanh
I agree, that my idea can be published
in Bayer media
Idee 3
Step 1: Describe your idea: What problem or non-existing product/service have you identified?
Name of the idea: Eye paps
Author of the idea: An Van Hamme (bbanh), Yves De Backer (andby)
Tissues to remove tear fluid from the corner of the dog's eye; the tissue could also be designed to
prevent this tear fluid from sticking in the corner of the dog's eye
Step 2: Customer/Market: Who could use your product or service? Could you perhaps
describe the market?
owners of dogs that have a lot of dried up tear fluid in the corner of their eyes and who want their
dog to be rid of this
Step 3: Customer Benefit: What benefit would the customer gain?
99
(dried up) tear fluid in the corner of the dog's eye is gone and possibly even prevented; the product
would also be easy to apply
Personal Data?
male
First name: Yves
Last name: De Backer
Your Notes-ID: andby
Idee 4
Step 1: Describe your idea: What problem or non-existing product/service have you identified?
Name of the idea: Earspray
Author of the idea: Yves De Backer (andby), Kristine Reynaert (csrek), An Van Hamme (bbanh),
Ingrid Cazaerck (csczi)
An ear spray for dogs, which cleans the ears and works preventive or as a cure against:
- ear infection
- itch
- parasites
Step 2: Customer/Market: Who could use your product or service? Could you perhaps
describe the market?
owners of dogs with ear problems (itch, infection, parasites) or just owners of dogs who want to
prevent ear trouble for their pet
Step 3: Customer Benefit: What benefit would the customer gain?
- heightens the quality of life of the dog
- easy to administer
- very hygienic method
- not difficult to use, user-friendly
Personal Data?
female
First name: Kristine
Last name: Reynaert
Your Notes-ID: csrek
100
Appendix 5
DECLARATION OF DECONTAMINATION
In order to protect the personnel that have to transport or repair vehicles, it is necessary that all components and equipment are free of biological, chemical, or radioactive contamination. Site Services or external companies can only accept those components and equipment that are:
- Adequately CLEANSED and DECONTAMINATED; - Accompanied by this declaration of decontamination, filled out and signed by an authorized
person.
DATA EQUIPMENT/COMPONENTS
Article(s) (type / description):
Serial number(s):
DECLARATION
The equipment does not have to be decontaminated, for reasons of:
The equipment has been cleansed and decontaminated by means of:
I hereby confirm that all the information in this declaration is complete and accurate.
The equipment and components have been adequately decontaminated and cleansed.
There are no biological, chemical or radioactive remnants that could threaten the safety
or health of the person working with the equipment or components.
Name (in capital letters): Date:
Function (in capital letters):
Signature:
Destination original: site services
Add a copy of the completed declaration to the equipment that is leaving the company.
101
Appendix 6
Voorkomen is beter dan genezen
Diabetes: wie vroeg weet dat hij tot een risicogroep behoort, maakt een goede kans om type 2 van
deze ziekte te vermijden. Je levensstijl veranderen is belangrijk, en Bayer HealthCare heeft een
hulpmiddel ontwikkeld dat hierbij kan helpen. Nu al wordt dit middel in enkele landen preventief
gebruikt.
Om dit artikel volledig te lezen heb je ongeveer vijf minuten nodig. In die tijdspanne zal wereldwijd
bij 60 mensen diabetes vastgesteld worden, en nog eens 30 mensen zullen sterven ten gevolge van
diabetes. Twee schokkende statistieken die gebaseerd zijn op recente berekeningen van de
„International Diabetes Federation‟ (IDF).
De omvang van diabetes, die nu op ongeveer 245 miljoen patiënten over de hele wereld geschat
wordt, heeft de Verenigde Naties ertoe aangezet actie te ondernemen. De Algemene Vergadering van
de Verenigde Naties keurde resolutie 61/225 op 20 december 2006 goed. Deze resolutie erkende
diabetes als een “chronische, slopende en dure ziekte, verbonden met ernstige complicaties, die
ernstige risico‟s voor families, lidstaten en de hele wereld inhouden.” De resolutie heeft 14
november, dat al sinds 1991 Werelddiabetesdag is, tot een dag van de Verenigde Naties uitgeroepen.
Een goede 90% van de mensen met diabetes hebben type 2 van deze ziekte, waarbij het lichaam wel
nog insuline produceert, maar dit niet meer naar behoren functioneert. In de regel merken de
getroffen personen bij het begin van de ziekte niet dat er iets mis is, aangezien er geen symptomen
zijn. Er zijn echter wel erkende risicofactoren, zoals obesitas, gebrek aan lichaamsbeweging en een
voeding zonder groenten en fruit. Om diabetes te vermijden bij personen op wie deze factoren van
toepassing zijn, moet snel actie ondernomen worden. Dat is ook wat Corinna Hartmann (fictieve
naam) gedaan heeft. Ook al is ze nog maar 23, de belastingsbeambte in opleiding uit Dresden woog
in mei 2007 106 kilogram. Zelfs regelmatige fitnessbezoeken hadden geen effect, en daarom zocht
ze professionele hulp. Zo stootte ze op het cursusaanbod van een lokaal adviescentrum voor
voedingsgewoonten. Twee maanden lang woonde ze wekelijks de sessies geleid door dieetassistente
Mandy Selzer bij. Deze sessies gaven haar een introductie tot de stofwisseling van het lichaam, en
tot hoe bepaalde zaken het glucose-evenwicht beïnvloeden. “Veel mensen weten bijvoorbeeld niet
hoe belangrijk het is om genoeg water te drinken”, aldus Selzer. Bij anderen is het belangrijker om
schadelijke gedragspatronen te analyseren, zoals waarom ze de drang voelen om zich ‟s avonds aan
chips en chocolade tegoed te doen. Met de hulp van Selzer ontwikkelde Corinna Hartmann in de
zomer van 2007 een alternatief eetplan. Ze drinkt nu veel meer water en eet meer fruit en groenten.
Ze gaat ook terug naar de fitness, maar volgt een uitgekiende combinatie van uithoudings- en
spiertraining.
Sommige deelnemers aan de lessen van Mandy Selzer zijn rechtstreeks door hun dokter
doorgestuurd, omdat een zogenaamde „prediabetes‟ bij hen is vastgesteld. Dit is een toestand waarbij
het lichaam niet langer in staat is om glucosemoleculen, die na een maaltijd in de bloedsomloop
terechtkomen, naar de cellen te brengen, wat tot een tijdelijke verhoging van de bloedsuikerwaarde
leidt. Dokters noemen dit verschijnsel gestoorde glucosetolerantie (IGT: „impaired glucose
102
tolerance‟), en het wordt beschouwd als de voorloper van diabetes. Het goede nieuws is dat als de
ziekte vroeg ontdekt wordt, de getroffenen actie kunnen ondernemen om het risico dat ze effectief
diabetes krijgen te verminderen. “De beste manier om diabetes te genezen is in de eerste plaats ze te
voorkomen”, zegt dr. Peter Schwarz, die de eenheid „Preventie en Verzorging van Type 2 Diabetes‟
van de universiteit van Dresden leidt. Hij schat dat “het preventieve effect van het veranderen van
levensstijl en van een vroege interventie door medicatie bij risico-individuen 25 tot 60% kan
bedragen.” Samen met andere wetenschappers publiceerde dr. Schwarz in 2007 een artikel in het
medische tijdschrift „Sächsisches Ärzteblatt‟, waarin ze stellen dat de vermindering van het
cardiovasculaire risico waarschijnlijk nog groter is. Hij schat dat er alleen al in Saksen ongeveer
500000 mensen met prediabetes zijn. Deze mensen betrekken in preventieprogramma‟s, zoals het
voedingsprogramma van Mandy Selzer, is de belangrijkste opdracht.
Dankzij zijn praktijkervaring werkt dr. Schwarz op dit ogenblik ook voor de Europese Unie. Hij is
een van twee experts die werken aan een project in Brussel, getiteld „IMAGE‟, dat een
gestandaardiseerd preventieprogramma moet ontwikkelen. Huidige schattingen leggen het aantal
mensen met diabetes in de EU op 53 miljoen. Systematische klinische studies hebben uitgewezen
wat efficiënte preventiemaatregelen kunnen zijn, zoals prof. Jean-Louis Chiasson van de universiteit
van Montreal in een recent artikel aantoonde. “Het is duidelijk dat aanpassingen van de levensstijl de
eerste stap moeten zijn”, stelde dr. Chiasson in zijn artikel. Deze veranderingen impliceren meer
lichaamsbeweging, een betere voeding en een vermagerprogramma. Maar studies hebben ook
bewezen dat het nemen van bepaalde geneesmiddelen het risico op de ontwikkeling van diabetes kan
verminderen. Geneesmiddelen kunnen gebruikt worden wanneer enkel gedragsveranderingen niet
het gewenste resultaat bereikt hebben. De Canadese wetenschapper vindt dat er niet genoeg
onderzoek is gedaan om te onderzoeken in hoeverre veranderingen van levensstijl en gebruik van
geneesmiddelen elkaar kunnen aanvullen.
Op basis van de resultaten van voorgaande studies en de nevenwerkingen van verschillende
geneesmiddelen, komt de wetenschapper tot de conclusie dat, wanneer veranderingen van levensstijl
niet efficiënt zijn, “de substantie acarbose de eerste keuze zou moeten zijn als supplementaire
behandeling”. Acarbose is het actieve bestanddeel van het diabetesgeneesmiddel Glucobay® van
Bayer HealthCare. Het heeft al in 25 landen de toelating om voor de behandeling van prediabetes
gebruikt te worden. Zo ook in China, waar de Internationale Diabetes Federatie (IDF) het aantal
diabetespatiënten op bijna 40 miljoen schat. Enkel in India zijn er nog meer mensen getroffen.
Daarom is efficiënte preventie een zeer hoge prioriteit in deze opkomende economische macht. “Met
een nieuwe studie willen we onze kennis over de efficiëntie van acarbose bij het voorkomen van
zowel diabetes als recurrente cardiovasculaire ziektes uitbreiden”, aldus dr. Thorsten Petruschke, die
deze studie voor Bayer HealthCare begeleidt. Diabetes is vaak de oorzaak van een latere hartaanval
of beroerte, wat de reden is waarom experts het globale cijfer van sterfgevallen ten gevolge van
diabetes op bijna 4 miljoen schatten. In de vier jaar durende studie, die in 2011 eindigt, zijn 7000
mensen met prediabetes opgenomen. Hun gezamenlijk profiel: ze zijn allemaal minstens 50 jaar en
hebben al een hartaanval gehad.
In de tussentijd verheugt Corinna Hartmann zich al op de eerste resultaten van haar nieuwe dieet en
fitnessregime. Ze weegt al 16 kilo minder, en daarmee voelt ze zich niet alleen veel beter; ze heeft
door haar gewichtsverlies ook haar risico op diabetes beduidend verminderd.
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Makrolon® van hoge zuiverheid laat LCD-beeldschermen oplichten
Televisieschermen in groot formaat
Flatscreen-tv‟s hebben in de laatste twee of drie jaar hun weg naar menig woonkamer gevonden,
maar conventionele kunststoffen brengen momenteel een einde aan hun groei: de dunne diffuser
sheets‟ die bij de productie gebruikt worden hebben de neiging om krom te buigen. Een
onderzoeksteam van Bayer MaterialScience heeft nu een heel zuivere vorm van Makrolon® met
uitstekende optische eigenschappen ontwikkeld, dat ook bij extra grote beeldschermen zijn vorm
behoudt.
Tv-schermen zover het oog reikt: de kamer in gebouw R 79 in Krefeld-Uerdingen waar dr. Claus
Rüdiger en dr. Gunther Stollwerck werken, is volgestouwd met hoogtechnologisch elektronica-
materiaal. De twee specialisten zijn echter geen tv-verslaafden, ze zijn vooral geïnteresseerd in de
interne activiteit van moderne „flatscreen‟-tv‟s. Op een tafel staat ongeveer een dozijn van de dunne
monitors – volledig naakt en zonder behuizing – zorgvuldig in plastic folie gewikkeld en
opeengestapeld zoals fotolijsten. Rüdiger is een chemicus, Stollwerck een fysicus, maar hun
laboratorium lijkt meer op een elektronica-werkplaats: een massa elektronische componenten, en
rekken vol kleine laden, allemaal zorgvuldig voorzien van etiketten zoals “aansluitingen”,
“weerstanden”, “condensatoren”, … De twee mannen werken samen om de grote „flatscreen‟
schermen zo helder mogelijk te laten schijnen.
Stollwerck neemt een monitor en legt hem bedachtzaam op de laboratoriumtafel. Dan trekt hij een
paar witte stoffen handschoenen aan en begint de monitor uit elkaar te halen. Eigenlijk heeft het
apparaat op de tafel weinig gemeen met de tv‟s en radio‟s in de winkels. Het donkere scherm aan de
voorkant en ook het „liquid crystal display‟ (LCD) scherm met zijn elektronica ontbreekt. Voor
Stollwerck staat wat men een „backlight unit‟ (BLU) noemt, het achterste deel van een LCD-tv dat
voor het licht zorgt. De „backlight unit‟ is een hoogtechnologische „sandwich‟ die bestaat uit dunne
laagjes plastic film en een diffusiescherm. Stollwerck verwijdert de ene laag na de andere– vier
witte, semi-transparante schijven, waarvan de dikste niet meer dan 2mm breed is. Dan wordt de
achterwand van de monitor blootgelegd – een witte, zeer reflecterende plastic schaal, waarin 16
potlooddikke fluorescerende tubes zitten. “Als de fluorescerende tubes onmiddellijk achter de LCD
monitor zouden zitten, zouden we een zeer onevenwichtige helderheid van het tv-beeld krijgen. De
tubes zouden erdoor schijnen als heldere strepen”, legt Rüdiger uit.
Dit betekent dat het licht op voorhand verspreid moet worden, en daartoe dient het diffusiescherm.
De verscheidene filmlaagjes bundelen en polariseren het licht, zodat zoveel mogelijk
quantumdeeltjes rechtstreeks door het LCD naar het oog van de kijker zouden komen. Het
verraderlijke hieraan is dat het homogeniserende diffusiescherm een optisch obstakel vormt en licht
absorbeert. De verzwakking van het licht door deze component moet daarom minimaal zijn, en dat is
net waar de twee wetenschappers aan werken. Rüdiger ontwikkelt de diffusieschermen en Stollwerck
test ze. Het LCD team werd recent versterkt door fysicus dr. Günther Walze, die optische simulaties
gebruikt om onderzoek te doen naar de volgende generatie diffusieschermen. Klaus Meier en dr.
Heinz Pudleiner, die aangepaste types diffusiefilm ontwikkelen, zijn ook zeer nauw verbonden met
het team.
Vier jaar geleden zouden de onderzoekers nooit gedroomd hebben dat ze op een dag bezig zouden
zijn met tv-schermen, omdat Rüdiger altijd op andere manieren betrokken was bij plastic. Hij is een
specialist in Makrolon®, een zeer veelzijdig polycarbonaat van Bayer. Rüdiger heeft er verscheidene
nieuwe producten mee gecreëerd: door het type additief te veranderen, heeft hij transparante
schermen om machines te beschermen of felle, transparante schermen voor design-architectuur
uitgevonden. Ook het dak van het nabijgelegen treinstation in Krefeld is bedekt met Makrolon®.
Meerdere duizenden kleine plastic panelen worden voortdurend getest, in zijn laboratorium of buiten
104
in verweringstests. Sommige daarvan zijn zelfs te vinden in Florida, waar het materiaal tien jaar
tropische hitte moet weerstaan zonder geel te worden of broos te worden.
In 2003 kwam een volledig nieuw specimen aan in zijn laboratorium. Een collega had hem een
stukje film uit de kunststof PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate) van de „backlight unit‟ van een
„flatscreen‟ scherm opgestuurd. De begeleidende vraag was even kort als veelzeggend: “Kunnen we
dit ook met Makrolon doen?” PMMA is al lange tijd een gevestigde waarde in de productie van LCD
monitors, bijvoorbeeld in computers. Het wordt gebruikt voor de diffusieschermen of –panelen in de
BLU. Maar nu het formaat van LCD-tv‟s steeds blijft groeien, bereikt PMMA stilaan zijn grenzen.
Want hoe groter het scherm, des te vroeger buigt het diffusiescherm door. Het gevolg is dat storende
schaduwen op de monitor verschijnen en dat de helderheid niet meer uniform is. Experts noemen dit
gebrekkige „dimensiestabiliteit‟. Het probleem wordt versterkt door de hoge temperaturen (> 80° C)
in de BLU. Vakmensen zijn het erover eens: een diagonale schermgrootte van 42” is de limiet voor
PMMA. Makrolon® daarentegen heeft een veel hogere dimensiestabiliteit en kan met gemak
temperaturen tot 120° C aan.
Maar in 2003 wist niemand of het polycarbonaat in staat zou zijn om aan de hoge optische eisen van
een „LCD-backlight‟ te voldoen. Rüdiger begon verscheidene Makrolon® -schermen uit zijn collectie
te testen en te vergelijken met PMMA. De eerste tests waren ontgoochelend. Zijn standaard
Makrolon® liet bij diverse metingen weliswaar evenveel licht door als PMMA, maar toen hij een
diffusiescherm onder de „filmsandwich‟ van de „backlight unit‟ plaatste, daalde de helderheid
drastisch. Rüdiger en zijn collega‟s vonden de oorzaak vlug: de functie van de filmlaagjes is
gebaseerd op het principe van lichtrecyclage. Alle ongewilde lichtquanta worden weerkaatst naar de
reflector aan de achterwand van de televisie, vanwaar zij opnieuw op dezelfde reis gestuurd worden.
Tijdens dit „optische heen en weer‟ worden de lichtquanta omgeleid en kunnen bij hun tweede
poging ongehinderd door het systeem dringen.
Het licht wordt echter steeds zwakker wanneer het meerdere keren heen en weer schiet door het
Makrolon®-diffusiescherm. Daarom moest Rüdiger de optische kenmerken van de Makrolon®
verbeteren. Dit was buitengewoon moeilijk omdat een diffusiefilm niet alleen uit Makrolon® bestaat,
maar ook minuscule pigmenten bevat waarop het licht van de fluorescerende tubes wordt verspreid.
Rüdiger en zijn team testten honderden verschillende samenstellingen van Makrolon®, vermengd
met verschillende pigmenten, en varieerden de grootte van de partikels keer op keer. Het resultaat
bleef echter ontgoochelend – de helderheid verhoogde, maar slechts tot 80% van die bij PMMA.
Toen zette Rüdiger de beslissende stap: in plaats van gekende samenstellingen van Makrolon® te
testen, opteerde hij dit keer voor een speciaal type carbonaat “dat nog nooit eerder in deze vorm
gebruikt was”. Het werkte en de helderheid klom tot 102 %. Dat was de doorbraak. Toen had
Rüdiger een materiaal met stabiele afmetingen dat zelfs betere optische kenmerken had dan PMMA.
Intussen heeft Rüdiger, door herhaalde optimalisatie, 105 % bereikt. En zo schijnen „flatscreens‟ uit
polycarbonaat nog feller dan die uit PMMA. “We zijn wereldwijd een van de weinige producenten
die het robuuste polycarbonaat in deze kwaliteit kunnen maken.”
Rüdiger en zijn collega‟s waken nu over een hele reeks diffusiesamenstellingen in hun laboratoria.
Het Makrolon® wordt geproduceerd in Map Ta Phut in Thailand en geperst tot schermen bij Bayer
Sheet Korea, omdat Azië veruit de meeste „flat screens‟ produceert. In Stollwercks testlaboratorium
worden deze „units‟ dan bedekt met diffusieschermen uit Makrolon®. Hij onderzoekt of de
helderheidswaarden door Rüdigers samenstellingen verbeterd kunnen worden. Afhankelijk van het
aantal lampen of de structuur van de BLU zal altijd een ander polycarbonaat optimaal zijn. Op het
einde wordt getest of de diffusieschermen het licht echt homogeen verspreiden en de gewenste
helderheid brengen. Dit gebeurt door een meettoestel gecreëerd door Andreas Lyding: een robotarm
met een licht- en kleursensor scant de verlichte BLU van binnen volgens een gegeven patroon.
De volgende generatie diffusieschermen zal nauwelijks nog pigmenten bevatten, maar zal het licht
doelgericht naar het LCD-scherm leiden door een micro-oppervlaktestructuur. De gestructureerde
diffusieschermen verhogen dus de vrijheid van design en verminderen tezelfdertijd de kosten. Bayer
Sheet Korea voorziet al twee grote tv-producenten van de eerste generatie van het nieuwe materiaal
en bestrijkt zo een groot deel van de markt voor LCD-tv‟s. “De toekomst van Makrolon voor LCD-
tv‟s ziet er veelbelovend uit”, zegt Rüdiger.
105
Appendix 7
Secretaressedag bij Bayer BioScience: een collectief gebeuren
In de laatste tien jaar is het beroep van secretaresse sterk veranderd: niet enkel de opdrachten
evolueerden, maar ook de naam (management assistant). Het zou er bijna op gaan lijken dat enkel
„Secretaressedag‟ ongewijzigd is gebleven. Op 17 april traden de secretaresses weer even uit de
schaduw van hun bazen. We@Bayer legde het oor te luister bij vier secretaresses van Bayer
BioScience …
In de huidige bedrijfscontext ziet het beroep van secretaresse er helemaal anders uit dan 10 jaar
geleden: het uitvoerende werk maakt meer plaats voor een veelheid aan creatieve en uitdagende
taken. “De nadruk ligt veel meer op meedenken met de baas, zowel aanvullend als zelfstandig”, zegt
Sabine Claeys van het departement communicatie. Ook Secretaressedag heeft bij Bayer BioScience
een andere invulling gekregen. Vanuit het bedrijf wordt een halve dag voor de management
assistants georganiseerd, waarin de ongeveer 20-koppige administratieve ploeg samen gaat eten. De
traditionele en eerder individueel georiënteerde bloemetjes en pralines worden zo vervangen door
een collectieve ervaring. “Op die manier kan je eens met collega‟s uit andere afdelingen praten, met
wie je anders weinig contact hebt”, aldus research management assistant Malika De Beir. Dit
initiatief wordt door de secretaresses heel positief onthaald, maar sluit uiteraard een bijkomende actie
van de directe baas niet uit: “Een kleine attentie van de baas is ook altijd leuk”, verduidelijkt Ann
Guilbert uit de IP-afdeling. Toch wordt de Secretaressedag vooral als een extraatje gezien, en komt
de appreciatie nog steeds meer uit het dagdagelijkse werk. “Als je een goede samenwerking en
verstandhouding met je baas hebt, volgt de waardering tijdens het werk zelf wel”, besluit Anne-
Marie Popelier van het juridisch departement.
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Appendix 8
André Roef: “Leiden is voor een groot deel dienstverlening aan de medewerkers”
André Roef is zowel afgevaardigd bestuurder van Bayer BioScience N.V. alshoofd van het juridisch
departement van de BioScience subgroep van Bayer CropScience. Een gesprek over deze
combinatie, die in de praktijk heel wat inspanning vergt, maar ook voordelen en uitdagingen biedt.
In welke mate vallen de twee aspecten van uw job met elkaar te vergelijken?
“Strikt genomen hebben de twee functies niet echt iets met elkaar te maken, maar het is wel handig
dat ik als hoofd van de juridische dienst weet hoe een vennootschap juridisch gezien geleid moet
worden. Dit is belangrijk omdat je als afgevaardigd bestuurder een aantal aansprakelijkheden hebt.”
De combinatie van beide functies heeft voordelen en uitdagingen. Zijn er elementen uit beide
functies die u helpen bij het vervullen van de andere functie?
“Het leiden van een vennootschap en het leiden van een juridisch departement vertoont uiteraard
gelijkenissen. Op dat vlak had ik dus wel al wat ervaring, wat een voordeel is. Het komt erop aan een
groepsgevoel te creëren, je open te stellen voor de vragen en bezorgdheden van je medewerkers en
hen te coachen waar nodig. Als hoofd van de juridische dienst ben ik bovendien betrokken bij alle
strategische beslissingen binnen BioScience, wat me toelaat de medewerkers van Bayer BioScience
N.V. te informeren en de lokale projecten te kaderen in het groter geheel.
Omgekeerd kom ik als afgevaardigd bestuurder ook veel in contact met politieke en administratieve
overheden. Dat helpt soms om te trachten de regelgeving met betrekking tot onze activiteiten in de
goede richting te sturen.
Anderzijds is deze combinatie ook een uitdaging, omdat meer dan de helft van de medewerkers hier
bezig is met wetenschappelijke activiteiten. Ikzelf heb geen achtergrond als exacte wetenschapper,
en dat ervaar ik ook wel als een gemis.”
Hoe slaagt u er, ondanks de hoge werkdruk, in het overzicht te behouden?
“Wat het bestuur van de vennootschap betreft heb ik een aantal medewerkers die mij goed terzijde
staan, zoals HR, planning en controlling, communicatie en facility management. Zij bereiden heel
wat zaken voor, en brengen mij via regelmatige brainstormingsessies op de hoogte van wat reilt en
zeilt op hun gebied. Op het juridische vlak heb ik een aantal taken moeten overdragen aan andere
juristen en heb ik zelf ook een tandje moeten bijsteken. We houden eveneens maandelijks een
telefoonconferentie met het volledige juridische team, dus ook met alle buitenlandse juristen.
Iedereen geeft er een overzicht van zijn activiteiten van de laatste maand en er wordt ook van
gedachten gewisseld.”
Voor uw juridische job bent u vaak op zakenreis. Hoe valt dit te rijmen met het dagelijkse bestuur?
“De mensen die mij dagelijks bijstaan volgen het voor een stuk op, zoals ik daarnet aanhaalde. Maar
ook de moderne communicatiemiddelen laten je toe op de voet te volgen wat er gebeurt; ik krijg van
overal e-mails. Fysieke aanwezigheid is echter nog altijd belangrijk, omdat je beschikbaar moet zijn
voor de medewerkers. De taak van afgevaardigd bestuurder is eigenlijk voor een groot deel een
107
dienstverlening naar de medewerkers toe. Het is belangrijk om geen afstand te creëren. De
medewerkers moeten bij je terecht kunnen als ze problemen of voorstellen hebben. Mijn deur staat
altijd open, dus ze kunnen binnenspringen als ze met een probleem zitten. En dat geeft ook de
grootste voldoening, als je iets kunt doen waardoor de medewerkers tevreden zijn en optimaal
kunnen functioneren.”
Tot slot: wat drijft u om de twee functies te blijven combineren?
“Mijn belangrijkste drijfveer is dat ik wil proberen om de toptechnologie die hier in dit Vlaams
bedrijf is ontstaan, verder uit te bouwen en te commercialiseren op internationaal vlak ten behoeve
van onze aandeelhouders. Dit creëert direct en indirect welvaart in deze streek. Bovendien vind ik
het erg belangrijk dat onze medewerkers het hier naar hun zin hebben en dat ze elke dag met plezier
komen werken.”
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Appendix 9
Triple-i workshop Animal Health in Antwerpen
Op vrijdag 6 juni vond in Antwerpen een Triple-i workshop voor Animal Health plaats. Bayer
Antwerpen stelde zijn deuren open voor een aantal medewerkers van de Bayer-vestigingen in de
BeLux. De bedoeling van de workshop was ideeën te genereren voor potentiële nieuwe producten
en diensten voor de gezondheid en het welzijn van huisdieren.
Tijdens de workshop werden de werknemers en fervente dierenliefhebbers gestimuleerd om door
oefeningen en brainstormsessies hun creativiteit de vrije loop te laten. Een presentatie van Animal
Health maakte bovendien duidelijk wat er al op de markt was, wat een extra uitdaging werd om
vernieuwend uit de hoek te komen. Zo kwamen een 40-tal ideeën voor mogelijke producten of
diensten voor huisdieren (meer bepaald honden en katten) uit de bus.
De workshop kaderde binnen het concernwijde „Triple-i‟-initiatief. Dit staat voor „inspiratie, ideeën
en innovatie‟ en heeft de bedoeling het innovatiepotentieel van alle Bayer-medewerkers wereldwijd
te benutten om nieuwe businessopportuniteiten te genereren. Waar in een eerste fase van het project
de ideeën over elk mogelijk onderwerp vrij konden worden gepost, wordt er in deze tweede fase veel
gerichter gewerkt door wereldwijd workshops te organiseren. Animal Health is de eerste afdeling
waarop deze werkwijze wordt getest. Andere afdelingen zullen zeker volgen.
Dankzij enthousiaste deelnemers en leuke interacties werd de workshop een dag vol inventiviteit.
Het zal zeker een aanzet zijn voor de deelnemers om in de toekomst vlugger met nieuwe ideeën op
de proppen te komen. Alvast bedankt iedereen voor de inzet!
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