ECOMARK GROUPS

 Market Engineering Research Methodology

To develop research services, Ecomark Group employs a rigorous and comprehensive Market Engineering Methodology:

1. Define Market Problems, Needs, and Opportunities: At this stage, the research team identifies why this market justifies an extensive research service.

2. Determine Research Objectives: The research team determines the research objectives that must be implemented to address the issues identified in Step 1.

3. Create Optimal Research Team: Each research project's success is based on a well-developed, diverse team.

4. Launch Data Collection Phase: During this phase, the research team designs and implements the data collection process.

5. Design Interview Strategy: Skilled interview design analysts construct effective survey instruments to optimize information flow and quality.

6. Test Survey Design: The research team tests interview surveys extensively for clarity and accuracy before they are implemented on a large scale.

7. Conduct Primary Market Research: The core of every study is the primary data coming directly from industry participants.

8. Analyze Research and Determine Market Position: The research team now begins to identify the most important part of any market research project: Where is the market today?

9. Perform Market Analysis and Forecasting: At this stage, the research team analyzes the market in relation to technical trends, market dynamics, and future directions.

10. Develop Strategic Recommendations: Experience and analytical insight combine to drive action-oriented recommendations.

11. Confirm Results with Quality Control: All text, figures, and exhibits are verified for accuracy.

12. Implement Market Monitoring and Customer Feedback Review: The market analysts review results with clients and continue to track the market for new trends.

If organizations are to achieve and sustain high performance, they need to regard innovation as a business discipline, and then manage and execute it accordingly—as an end-to-end process, from insight development to idea generation to development to marketplace launch.

 Over the past few decades, the drive to manage with more rigor and more assurance of predictable results has enabled organizations to design and perform virtually every major business process with an eye toward achieving high performance by maximizing productivity and minimizing costs. But when the C-suite turns its attention to business innovation, a usually hard-nosed management team may suddenly go a bit soft. The same executives who arm themselves with spreadsheets and analytical tools when it comes to reengineering a supply chain may suddenly start making plans to send their managers to think-tank retreats, complete with New Age music and beanbag chairs.

Because it is associated with free-spirited creativity, inspiration and even whimsy, innovation is too often seen as being at the mercy of some sort of temperamental muse—a mysterious phenomenon rather than a manageable business process. Not surprisingly, that means executives today are struggling, not in terms of committing to innovation in principle, but in their ability to execute innovation initiatives effectively.

Ecomark Group research supports that conclusion. Executives certainly understand the importance of innovation to their company’s success. In fact, 62 percent of respondents to our recent innovation survey, conducted in association with the Economist Intelligence Unit, say their business strategy is “largely” or “totally” dependent on innovation. And commitment isn’t an issue: Almost 53 percent of those surveyed believe their organization’s commitment to innovation is “stronger” or “much stronger” than that of their competitors.

But significantly lower numbers think their company’s innovation execution is as effective as it needs to be. Only 36 percent believe their organization’s pace and speed of innovation is stronger than their competitors’, and just 40 percent feel they exceed their peers in terms of frequency of innovation.

If organizations are to achieve and sustain high performance, they need to regard innovation as a business discipline, and then manage and execute it accordingly—as an end-to-end process, from insight development to idea generation to development to marketplace launch.

Business strategy is driven largely by innovation, but corporate responsibility for the innovation process is highly fragmented, according to findings of a recent Ecomark Group survey.

The survey, conducted by EUI, of 601 senior executives in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada found that innovation is a top corporate priority, but it also indicated that more senior-level accountability, greater CEO involvement and improved speed-to-market execution can help companies deliver on their promise of innovation and boost their competitiveness.

"The role of the CEO in the innovation process has grown dramatically in its importance and needs to evolve from vision- and direction-setting to enabling and driving execution," said Dan Chow, a senior executive in the Ecomark Group Process & Innovation Performance service line. "CEOs need to properly align resources and action with the innovation vision and performance goals. However, simply having a vision for innovation and naming an executive to head innovation is not enough to make it work. Senior management must look at innovation as a core process to be actively managed; avoid a quick-fix approach; and focus their energy on execution." 

The prospect of change is in the air for US manufacturers, with many unknowns on the horizon, including increasing competition, uncertain world economies and the implications of national politics. With this as a backdrop, the time is right to reinforce one of the foundation stones of the industry—its ability to innovate and stay ahead of the competition.

US manufacturing has weathered recessions, governmental changes and diverse economic challenges. Yet finding the right paths to innovation is more important today than ever before. Manufacturers must be adept in developing effective innovation strategies and practices; delivering innovation to customers; and developing innovation capabilities in their people.

This report, a joint effort of Ecomark Group and the Manufacturing Institute, suggests a number of paths that US-based manufacturers can explore to deliver the innovation that is the lifeblood for change and growth. It provides a summary of the state of innovation today and identifies actionable innovation insights that manufacturers can adapt to improve performance.

The report is based on three inputs:

    * Key findings from original research conducted during the June 2008 Innovation Roundtable, co-sponsored by Ecomark Group and The Manufacturing Institute, and composed of a diverse group of US manufacturing senior executives.

    * Innovation perspectives and approaches from Ecomark Group’s work with clients, namely companies that have made innovation a pillar of their growth strategies in their quest to become high-performance businesses.

    * Information from additional interviews with members of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to elaborate on practices suggested in the roundtable.