Walking parallel paths or taking the same road? The effect of collaborative incentives in innovation contests

We examine the role of participants’ interactions in innovation contests. In contrast to the dominant view of a competitive organisation of innovation contests, we suggest that, especially for ideation projects, a collaborative setting may be beneficial in terms of the amount of ideation activity and the quality of the generated ideas. Using two experiments, we show the usefulness of a collaborative approach when two particular conditions are met: first, the overall effort must be compensated according to performance criteria in such a way that participants are aware of the impact of their actions. Thus, the reward mechanism has to ensure that all contributors to a specific idea benefit from their involvement. Second, the host has to provide feedback throughout the contest to make it clear for participants what idea(s) to focus on. Our results show that, while the elaboration effort can be increased by introducing a collaborative reward mechanism alone, the best results are achieved when both conditions are met

Smart Wallet New Product Development Log

The “Smart Wallet” (Dolor Peram) is a wallet that can easily fits within an individual’s daily activities. This paper details the new product development process that the team followed for developing this product including product planning and concept development, followed by the design phase, product development economics, and lessons learned. The team will follow the development process used in Product Design and Development book by Ulrich

Finex Marketing Plan

The purpose of this marketing plan is to find an appropriate target market for the Finex 12” cast iron skillet. Within this market, a marketing strategy needs to be developed which caters to the need of the customer and assures financial stability for the company. From extensive research and customer surveys, the most promising customer identified for the Finex skillet are “prestige customers” who value boutique goods with a superior design and very high quality. Accordingly, a price reflecting the high quality of the skillet is set within the marketing strategy section. Within the unique value proposition for this product, the features most desired by the customer segment are highlighted. Also the promotion and placement strategy are tuned to the needs of the prestige customer segment. Overall, the marketing plan allows Finex to continue to sell a successful and profitable product

Energy Efficient Outdoor Lighting: Case Study, Economic Analysis, Model Development, and Application

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the vast majority (70%) of light bulbs in the United States are still inefficient [1]. More and more companies are converting outside lighting to state-of-the-art high efficient long lasting options such as Light-Emitting Diode (LED). Proponents of high efficiency lighting assert that upgrading older bulbs to new efficient ones will generate savings even though the installation costs may be high. Firms often compare upgrade costs and perceived benefits using different approaches and analysis methods. This project investigates one firm’s upgrade economic model, provides critical analysis, and proposes an improved model which could be used for future upgrade projects at the firm. In addition to the proposed model, three (3) different use cases are examined in an effort to better understand under what conditions lighting upgrades make the most sense

An Analysis of Electric Vehicles in the Portland Market

The objective of this paper is to compare consumer expectations and current market offerings concerning the plug-in electric vehicle (PEV). Consumer expectations in regards to vehicles are derived from existing studies and organized into seven categories. For each of these categories, an evaluation of whether the current PEV offerings from both industry and all levels of government are met is conducted. In particular, a special focus is put on marketing strategies in the city of Portland, Oregon as a vanguard of the propagation of large-scale PEV adoption