1. Lecture 6 3/11/11

2. Questions to consider: 1. How has 3M’S innovation process evolved? 2. How does Lead user research differ from more traditional types of market research methods? 3. Do you think that they have applied the Lead user research method successfully? 4. What should the Medical-Surgical team recommend the three new product concepts or the new business strategy? 5. What are the risks associated with the Lead User method?

3. 3M: Overview 3M is a diversified technology company serving customers and communities with innovative products and services within businesses as office, health care, industrial and transportation. 3M is a global corporate employing more than 67.000 people. Yearly revenue exceeds 20 billion US$. Salient Points: Breakthrough products and services Development of Lead User Research - ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ Managing Change

4. 3M LEAD USERS

5. Traditional v Lead User Traditional 3M Process Developers lack direct access with customers Developers not directly responsible for understanding customer needs Marketing research outsourced Linear – incremental innovations Lead User Process Developers in direct contact with users Focus on few ‘lead’ experts Developers outside traditional business Pushes developers towards potentially new concepts Complimentary to traditional market research techniques

6. Lead Users Provide another way to obtain insights directly from the market. Defined as being at the leading edge of markets, and as having a high incentive to innovate. [9] Lead users’ needs can anticipate the general needs of the market. Lead user technique seeks and collects needs of existing users and ideas from users of similar products and services in the market. 6

7. Selection of a Lead User Group  A screening process is used with existing users to identify which of them have more demanding needs.  Extreme users are placed at the top of “the pyramid of users”.  Once the extreme users have been identified analogous fields are identified.  Important to identify analogous fields where similar but even more extreme challenges are faced than the ones in the current market place.  For each of the lead users identified, techniques such as observation and contextual interviewing should be used to understand their working environment. 7

8. Selection of a Lead User Group 8