The four phases of the innovative process in business

Innovative Process

Innovation in Business

The Four Basic Phases of the Innovative Process

The innovative process can be described as the evolution of four phases, idea generation, screening, feasibility, and implementation. Each phase requires a go/no go decision by management before moving on to the next phase. Because of this items that go through each development phase only to be rejected at one of the final phases involve significant investments in time and money. Consequently the sooner decision makers can identify a marginal project and drop it from further consideration the less time and money wasted.

Screening

In this phase with ideas are eliminated that do not mesh with overall organizational objectives or cannot be developed given the organizations recourses. Some organizations hold open discussion of new ideas with specialists who work in different functional areas in the organization.

Feasibility

During the feasibility phase new products and ideas are assessed to determine such things as potential sales, profits, growth rate, and competitive strengths and determining whether it fits with the company's product distribution and promotional recourses. This phase also may involve concept testing. This is marketing research designed to solicit initial customer reaction to new product ideas.

An actual product may be developed, subjected to a series of tests and revised. Functioning prototypes or detailed descriptions of the product may be created. These designs are normally a joint responsibility of the organization's development staff and it marketers, who provide feedback on customer reactions to the proposed product design, color and other physical features.

Test marketing introduces a new product supported by a complete marketing campaign to a selected city or TV coverage area. During this stage the item is sold in a limited area while the company examines both consumer responses to the new offering and the marketing effort used to support it. The results of test marketing can help managers determine a product's likely performance in a full scale introduction. This step is sometimes skipped because it may reveal product strategies to a competitor. Additionally the expense of doing limited production runs may make test marketing cost prohibitive in some cases.

Implementation

In this phase the product is made available in the market place. Considerable planning goes into this phase because the firm's distribution, promotion, and pricing strategies must all be geared to support the new offering. The need for a steady stream of new products to offer customers, the chances of product failure, and the potentially high cost of new product development make the innovative process a critical component of a successful organization.