The Process of Capturing Innovation

Abstract

Due to the sheer number of market analysis tools available, no standard strategic planning methodology has been consistently adopted. Businesses can quickly lose focus and become guilty of instilling ‘form-over-substance’ as they implement tools they don’t completely understand, or which they execute without understanding the relevance of the steps they are taking, nor where these steps fall within the overall strategic planning process. This paper addresses these shortcomings by defining an overarching process framework for leveraging innovative tools and techniques to develop strategies that result in competitive advantage. A highlight of the paper is a series of work flow diagrams that have been gradually decomposed into increasing levels of detail. They describe in complex terms a strategic planning process asserted to capture innovation. The result is a framework of detailed processes that businesses can use to capture innovative market strategies. Within this framework some key market analysis tools have been integrated to promote effective decision making. Altman’s Z-scores, Pareto’s rule, Trend analysis, SWOT analysis, environmental analysis, Ansoff’s matrix, PUV charts, customer value matrices, Gaussian life cycle curves, inflection analysis graphs, and several forms of slope analysis curves are relied on to estimate future market conditions. Sixteen figures have been incorporated into this paper to demonstrate how to use the recommended market analysis tools. The functions indicated in the work flow diagrams can be treated as a knowledge map used to store the information required for an organization’s innovation strategies. Organizing the information behind these strategies allows us to capture the innovation built into them.