Creative market insight

Abstract

Empathy with customer needs is the primary, crucial condition for the success of a new business venture. The unsurpassable product idea can rarely muster the same competitive force as a concept originating in creative market understand-ing''. The function of the entrepreneur is precisely to uncover what has been overlooked. The view that without any profound insight into the market — no viable business seems to be so self-evident that it is surprising that entrepreneurs seem to underestimate this very aspect. Possibly, conceptual things are more fascinating than perceptual ones. Perhaps it is more motivating to think about a product idea and a functional possibility than to trace a need and see the world through the eyes of customers? Chapter 2 supplies a frame of reference for developing creative market un-derstanding concentrating on four themes that have been called the Four-Leaf-Clover Model, viz. occurrences, incongruities, innovations and missing links. Establishing a flexible, conceptual platform requires an analytical approach and imagination. Creative market understanding is definitely the first step on the way towards formulating new, viable business ideas. 2.1 Solution versus problem orientation Many business ideas are biased from the start; they suffer from market orienta-tion vitamin deficiency. Apparently, conceptual enthusiasm tends to overshadow 15 Drucker (1986) endorses this point, "For all the visibility, glamour and importance of science-based innovation, it is actually the least reliable and the least predictable one". Franklin (2003) refers to a study in which researchers analysed 197 product innova-tions out of which 111 had been successful, while 86 had failed. The study concludes that the successful innovations had one or more of the following features: they were moderately new to the market, based on known and tested technology; they allowed customers to save money and supported existing patterns of behaviour. Reversely, the failed innovations were based on new, untested technology.