HBSP and MIT Sloan Articles
These articles which are available for purchase, provide a concise look at some of the ideas and theories
that support the outcome-driven innovation philosophy. The articles
authored by Anthony Ulwick are focused on key outcome-driven concepts
while those authored by Clayton Christensen support the idea of making
the “job” the unit of analysis using “jobs” as a bases for market
segmentation.
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NEW!
The
Customer-Centered Innovation Map
Anthony W. Ulwick, Lance Bettencourt, Harvard Business Review, May 2008
We all know that people "hire" products and services to get a job done.
Surgeons hire scalpels to dissect soft tissue. Janitors hire soap
dispensers and paper towels to remove grime from their hands. To find
ways to innovate, it's critical to deconstruct the job the customer is
trying to get done from beginning to end, to gain a complete view of all
the points at which a customer might desire more help from a product or
service. A methodology called job mapping helps companies analyze the
biggest drawbacks of the products and services customers currently use
and discover opportunities for innovation. It involves breaking down the
task the customer wants to accomplish into the eight universal steps of
a job: (1) defining the objectives, (2) locating the necessary inputs,
(3) preparing the physical environment, (4) confirming that everything
is ready, (5) executing the task, (6) monitoring its progress, (7)
making modifications as necessary, and (8) concluding the job. Job
mapping differs substantively from process mapping in that the goal is
to identify what customers are trying to get done at every step, not
what they are doing currently. For example, when an anesthesiologist
checks a monitor during a surgical procedure, the action taken is just a
means to the end. Detecting a change in patient vital signs is the job
the doctor is trying to get done. Within each of the discrete steps lie
multiple opportunities for making the job simpler, easier, or faster. By
mapping out every step of the job and locating those opportunities,
companies can discover new ways to differentiate their offerings. |
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NEW!
Giving Customers a Fair Hearing
Anthony W. Ulwick, Lance Bettencourt, Sloan Management Review, April
2008
Eager to grow through innovation, companies are looking to customers to
guide them toward unmet needs. But these entities often end up with
vague, unusable — or even misleading — customer input. Why? Ulwick and
Bettencourt say that companies often think that customers do not know,
or cannot effectively communicate, their actual needs and requirements.
The truth is that customers know, and can communicate their needs
perfectly well. The problem is that companies do not know what a “need”
is or how to listen to customers. In this article, the authors – after
gathering 10,000 introduce a set of timeless standards that define the
purpose, structure, content, and format of a customer need statement,
transforming the art of requirements gathering, and hence innovation,
into a rules-based discipline. |
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Turn Customer Input Into Innovation
Anthony W. Ulwick, Harvard Business Review, January 2002
Using Cordis Corp. as an example, this article describes a series of
effective steps for capturing, analyzing, and utilizing customer input. |
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Marketing Malpractice: The Cause and the Cure
Clayton M. Christensen, Scott Cook, Taddy Hall, Harvard Business Review,
December 2005
The marketer's task is to understand what jobs periodically arise in
customers' lives for which they might hire products the company could
make. |
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Finding the Right Job for your Product
Clayton M. Christensen, MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring 2007 |
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NEW!
Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail
John P. Kotter, Harvard Business Review, January 2007
In this popular article, Kotter shares the results of his observations
regarding organizational change, outlining the eight largest errors that
can doom these efforts and explaining the general lessons that encourage
success. This is helpful to companies trying to create a culture of
innovation. |
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These articles represent
some of the original thinking that has since been updated.
Those interested in knowing how the theories evolved may
find these articles interesting.
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A Prescription for Health Care Cost Reform
Anthony W. Ulwick, Clayton M. Christensen, Jerome H. Grossman,
Strategy & Innovation, March 2003
Consumers want inexpensive products that they can use to achieve better
health without having to visit their doctors repeatedly. This finding
signals that the health care market is ripe for disruption, as consumers
want products that do not currently exist. |
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Do You Really Know What Your Customers Are Trying to Get Done?
Anthony W. Ulwick, Strategy & Innovation, March 2003
Most companies come up with a new product or service and then see
whether a customer will buy it. But what they should do instead is first
determine the customer's desired outcomes and then use those outcomes to
guide the innovation process. Read the six steps you should follow if
you want your new product or service to be successful. |
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Lost in Translation
Anthony W. Ulwick, Strategy & Innovation, May 2004
Learn about the three types of customer feedback that, when captured,
ensure that all participants in the feedback process are speaking the
same language. Knowing how to get this feedback and how to apply it will
help you successfully grow new and existing markets. |
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