1. Chapter 3 Creativity and generating new business ideas Week 17 Facilitated by Wesley Clarence

2. Learning Outcomes On completion if this chapter you will be able to:
Understand and describe creativity and how it manifests itself
Identify the barriers to creativity and how it can be overcome
Understand the myths surrounding creativity as well as the reality
about these myths
Understand the creativity process, its development and describe the entrepreneurial creativity process
Identify the sources that can be utilised when identifying new product or service ideas
Develop and practise methods that can be used in generating new ideas
Identify the characteristics of successful products and services
Do initial screening of business ideas and opportunities

3. Creativity Defined
A process of being sensitive to problems, deficiencies, gaps in knowledge, missing elements, disharmonies, and so on; identifying the difficulties, searching for solutions, making guesses, or formulating hypotheses about the deficiencies; testing and retesting them; and finally communicating the results.

4. Gap in the market Marketing opportunity exist when:
A problem that has arisen
Unsatisfied customer needs
Shortcomings or weaknesses of possible competitors or suppliers to those competitors
Changes in the environment that might create needs.

5. Techniques to address market gaps
Defining or identifying the need using analytical methods
transforming problems into opportunities
Breaking down any prior assumptions and making new connections for new ideas
Strategic assessment where possible future outcomes must be predicted

6. Barriers to creativity
Fear of failure
Negative beliefs and habits
Making assumptions
Following rules
Environment not willing to risk
Lack of financial support
Cultural barriers

7. Creativity Myths Creativity limited to small number of people
Only creative people have good ideas
Money is a creativity motivator
Time pressure fuels creativity
Competitive situations foster creativity better than cooperative situations
There are plenty of ideas around
Fear forces breakthrough

8. Entrepreneurial Creativity
Preparation
Information gathering
Idea generation
Evaluation of ideas
Implementation
Experimentation

9. Opportunity Recognition
An Idea: great product, untapped market and good timing
An opportunity: spot, create and exploit
The next frontiers: where do they lie?
The process of evaluation: include various methods

10. Sources of product ideas
Libraries
People
Organisations
Exhibitions, forums, workshops and seminars
Internet

11. Libraries Can obtain product ideas from: Newspapers Popular magazines
Subject related magazines
Research reports
Post-graduate research dissertations
Local and international magazines

12. People Can find ideas from: Close relatives and friends
Needs not satisfied
Complaints about existing products/service
Needs – a necessity
Wants – a desire

13. People Steps to attach products/services to needs or wants:
Identify basic or generic needs.
How can they be satisfied?
Break one need down into specific needs – how can it be satisfied?
Peruse list again and identify two or more needs – how can they be satisfied?

14. Organisations Internal sources Changes within organisation
External suppliers of parts of existing/new products
Changes in organisational structure
Outsourcing by organisations

15. Organisations External Sources Changes in external environment
Technological changes
Political and social changes
Export and import markets
Urban and rural markets

16. Exhibitions, forums, workshops and seminars
Product and service awareness
Business opportunities
Foreign markets
Government
Organized business

17. Generating product/service ideas
Accumulation of knowledge
Observation
Brainstorming
Nominal group technique
Delphi technique
Incubation of ideas

18. Initial screening – categorising
Perception of desirability
Economic consequences
Type of venture
Personal preferences
Level of support
Perception of feasibility
Resources needed
Experience
Propensity to act
Difference between entrepreneur and team
Low propensity
High propensity

19. Initial screening - classification
Worthwhile following
Profitable
Resources available and easy to acquire
Entrepreneur and team agree
Reject offhand
Not profitable
Resources not available and difficult to acquire
Entrepreneur and team disagree