Carnegie Mellon Qatar 2006 - 2012 Robert T. Monroe Course 70-446 Identifying The Opportunity I: Social, Economic, and Technology Factors and Product Opportunity

Carnegie Mellon Qatar ©2006 - 2012 Robert T. Monroe Course 70-446

Identifying The Opportunity I:Social, Economic, and Technology Factors

and Product Opportunity Gaps

Robert MonroeJanuary 25, 2012


Goals - By The End Of Class Today, You Should:

• Be able to use the SET factor analysis to identify, evaluate, and understand how broad Social, Economic, and Technology changes can create Product Opportunity Gaps

• Understand the 10 clues to opportunity proposed by Donald Sull, and be able to recognize when they might be appropriate to apply in your search for new market opportunities

• Have practiced using these techniques


Phase 1: Identify The Opportunity

• Goals:– Identify and evaluate a set of promising Product Opportunity Gap (POG’s)– Choose the most appropriate POG to move forward with

• Primary results:– Product opportunity statement (hypothesis)– Initial scenario that illustrates the opportunity

• Methods– Brainstorming, observing, researching Social, Economic, and Technology (SET)

factors– Generating POGs based on SET factors– Evaluating and filtering POG ideas generated– Scenario generation, feedback, and refinement

Source: Cagan and Vogel, Creating Breakthrough Products, Chapter 5.

Launch* Realize Conceptualize UnderstandIdentify


SET Factors

Social• Social and cultural trends• Government and regulatory

changes• Major demographic shifts

Technical• Introduction of new technologies• Re-evaluating existing technologies• Incremental Refinement and

improvement of existing technologies

Economic• State of the economy• Change in focus on where to spend money• Levels of disposable income

Product Opportunity Gap

Source: [CV02] page 9


SET Factor Exercise

• Divide into three groups (one S, one E, one T)

• Work as a group to come up with a list of at least 20 broad forces / changes / trends for your assigned factor (S, E, or T) that affect personal transportation in some way

• Identify trends that are applicable to:– Qatar– The GCC countries– Across the MENA region– Throughout the world

• Write them down and be prepared to present them for discussion using the whiteboards around the room.


SET Factor Discussion

• Do you see some common themes emerging?

• Which of these SET factors are mostly the same throughout the GCC nations? Throughout MENA? Globally?

• Which of these SET factors vary considerably throughout the GCC nations? Throughout MENA? Globally?

• Which of these should Honda be looking at carefully?– How should you decide the answer to this question?


Product Opportunity Gaps (POG’s)

• The next step is to identify Product Opportunity Gaps, or POGs based on your SET factor analysis.

• A Product Opportunity Gap is the gap between what is currently on the market and the possibility for new, or significantly improved, products that result from emerging trends.– Source: [CV02] page xxxi (glossary)


Examples of Product Opportunity Gaps

• A vegetable peeler that is easily used by people suffering from arthritis in their hands

• A light source that can be pointed and held focused on a specific point in cramped or difficult locations without requiring the use of the person’s hands to hold it

• A financial instrument that allows young people to move out of their families homes to live on their own before they are married

• Training tools and materials that help working adults without deep technical expertise develop skills with fast-changing information technologies


Donald Sull’s ‘10 Clues to Opportunity’

1. This product should already exist, but it doesn’tExample: Kate Spade handbags

2. This customer experience doesn’t have to be time consuming, arduous, expensive, or annoying, but it is

Examples: Netflix, Quicken, Schwab brokeage

3. This resource could be worth something but it is still priced too low

Examples: Google’s search data, LinkedIn network

Source: [Sull11]



4. This discovery must be good for something, but it’s not (yet) clear what that is

Example: ArthroCare’s move to orthopedics

5. This product or service should be everywhere, but it isn’tExamples: McDonalds, Starbucks

6. Customers have adopted our produce or service to new uses, but not with our support

Examples: Haier clothes / vegetable washing machines

7. Customers shouldn’t want this product, but they doExamples: Honda 50cc motorcycles

Source: [Sull11]



8. Customers have discovered a product, but not the one that we offer

Example: Glucosamine ‘joint juice’

9. This product or service is thriving elsewhere, but nobody offers it here

Example: Storage units in Europe,

10. That product or service shouldn’t make much money, but it doesExample: Goldman Sachs discovering investment management fees

Source: [Sull11]


POG Exercise

• Continue working in the groups you put together for SET exercise

• Based on the SET factors identified (by all three groups), where should Honda be looking for gaps to fill with innovative new products or services? – Are they doing so currently?– If not, why not?

• Come up with a list of at least 20 POGs that your group thinks that Honda should be exploring

• Be prepared to share your top 5 POGs with the class


So What Conclusions Can We Draw?

• Take a few minutes to think about what conclusions you can draw from all of the examples and exercises discussed in class today.

• Write down two conclusions / observations that you are willing to share with the class


References

[CE09] Robert G. Cooper and Scott J. Edgett, Successful Product Innovation, Product Development Institute, Inc., 2009. ISBN: 978-1-4392-4918-5.

[CV02] Jonathan Cagan and Craig M. Vogel, Creating Breakthrough Products, Prentice Hall, 2002, ISBN: 0-13-969694-6.

[Sull11] Donald Sull, 10 Clues to Opportunity, Booz&Co's strategy+business journal http://www.strategy-business.com/article/11304

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Carnegie Mellon Qatar 2006 - 2012 Robert T. Monroe Course 70-446 Identifying The Opportunity I: Social, Economic, and Technology Factors and Product Opportunity