Results of the Executive Innovation Survey.

1. RESULTS OF THE
EXECUTIVE
INNOVATION
SURVEY
STEFAN GEISSEL
Hamburg, February 2008

2. • Breakthrough innovations strongly drive a company’s future growth.
• Innovation satisfaction leaves room for improvement.
• “Company culture” and “consumer understanding” best drive innovation
performance.
• Understanding “consumers’ needs and desires” best helps to improve
consumer understanding.
• Companies are largely unaware of newer market research methods.
• Employees represent the best source for innovative ideas.
• Companies believe to train their own employees is the best way to increase
consumer understanding.
• Employee training is the least risky investment to increase consumer
understanding.
• A partnership with a university seems ideal for experimental research projects.
• A university partnership can also provide “company workshops” and
“employee education” for companies.
Quick Facts
Executive Innovation Survey.

3. • more than 150 participants
• more than 50% of the participants work in large companies (more than 1,000
employees)
• 2/3 men, 1/3 women
• 47% of the respondents are between 26 - 34 years of age, 33% are between
35 and 44 years.
• 2/3 have a management related job position
Demographics of the research.
Survey Participants.

4. 26%
7%
6%
8% 11%
15%
28%
Consumer Goods
Industrial Goods
Media
Telecommunications
Retail
Financial Services
Other
11%
3%
4%
5%
20%
57%
Germany
USA
England
Switzerland
Austria
Other
Industries Countries
The consumer goods industry represents the
strongest industry in the survey
Germany and the USA are the two countries
most represented in the survey
Industries and countries represented.
Survey Participants.

5. Innovation Performance1

6. very important
important
moderate
less important
not important
0% 17.5% 35.0% 52.5% 70.0%
total
consumer goods industry
More than 80% believe that breakthrough innovations are either important or very important for
their companies future growth. Consumer goods companies tend to value innovation some
more than the total of all other industries.
Breakthrough innovations strongly drive a company’s future growth.
How important are breakthrough innovations for your company’s future growth?

7. industry leader
improved
average
less than average
0% 12.5% 25.0% 37.5% 50.0%
total
consumer goods industry
More than 1/3 rate their company performance as “average” or “less than average”.
Innovation satisfaction leaves room for improvement.
Rate your innovation performance compared to competitors.

8. “Company culture” and “consumer understanding” best drive
innovation performance.
Companies can best improve
their innovation performance
by improving its “company
culture”, and “consumer
understanding”.
strongly
disagree
disagree
neither agree
nor disagree
agree
strongly
agree
total
consumer goods industry
better consumer
understanding
external partnerships
innovative company
culture
better structured R&D
processes
knowledge management
system
outsourcing of R&D
cross-functional teams
What is needed to improve your innovation performance?

9. What Kind of Information Is
Needed for Better Consumer
Understanding?
2

10. Understanding “consumers’ needs and desires” best helps to improve
consumer understanding.
Companies see the most
potential for creating better
innovations in gaining
additional knowledge about
“consumers’ needs and
desires”, “trends”, and “the
decision making process”.
strongly
disagree
disagree
neither agree
nor disagree
agree
strongly
agree
brand experience
decision making process
product usage
possible influencers
lead users
consumers’ needs and
desires
advertising effectiveness
How much consumer understanding is present?
How to improve consumer understanding?
trends
status quo
scenario w/ est. better consumer understanding

11. surveys
interviews
focus group interviews
consumer panels
in-depth interviews
eyewitness testimony interviews
responce latency interviews
neuroimaging
metaphor elicitation technique
consensus maps
ethnographic analysis
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
known
unknown
Most of the more recent market research methods are hardly known. More than 1/3 of the
respondents was not aware of “neuroimaging”, “consensus maps”, or “ethnographic analysis”.
Companies are largely unaware of newer market research methods.
Which market research methods are you aware of?

12. Where Do Companies Acquire
Ideas and Insights From?
3

13. Employees represent the best source for innovative ideas.
For most companies their
own employees are the best
source for innovative ideas.
Companies see most
potential in improving
customer and business
partner relationships.
strongly
disagree
disagree
neither agree
nor disagree
agree
strongly
agree
business partners
R&D department
customers
academia
consultants
employees
competitors
Where do you get most innovative ideas from?
I see most potential for getting innovative ideas in the future through...
current source for ideas
potential source for ideas

14. Companies believe to train their own employees is the best way to
increase consumer understanding.
Companies would rather build consumer knowledge within their own company.
strongly
disagree
disagree
neither agree
nor disagree
agree
strongly
agree
employee training
hiring an external market
research company
Our company would best increase consumer understanding by...
partnering with a university
consumer competence center

15. Employee training is the least risky investment to increase consumer
understanding.
Companies would rather spend money for training their own employees than for
external help.
strongly
disagree
disagree
neither agree
nor disagree
agree
strongly
agree
employee training
hiring an external market
research company
The most risky investment seems to be...
partnering with a university
consumer competence center

16. much more expensive
more expensive
about the same
less expensive
far less expensive
0% 15% 30% 45% 60%
Two out of three companies believe that a collaboration with a university is less expensive
than hiring a market research company. This fact leads to the conclusion that a university
partnership seems perfect for experimental research projects.
A partnership with a university seems ideal for experimental research
projects.
Compared with hiring a company, partnering with a university is probably...

17. A university partnership can also provide “company workshops” and
“employee education” for companies.
Besides specific research
projects, companies are
especially interested in
“employee education” and
“company workshops”
provided by a university
collaboration.
strongly
disagree
disagree
neither agree
nor disagree
agree
strongly
agree
employee education
company workshops
recruitment
exchange of research
advances with other
companies
laboratory research
projects
Besides improved consumer intelligence a university partnership could provide additional
benefits. How interested would you be in gaining special access to...

18. This survey found that there are two key sources of innovation. Participants
clearly believe that their companies will get most innovative ideas in the future
from employees as well as consumers. Employees represent a rich source of
innovative ideas, which companies need to benefit from. Being exposed to a
company’s products day in and day out, employees deploy a deep functional
understanding that can bring many ideas for improvement. Understanding the
consumer is equally important, since goods are produced to meet the
consumer’s needs. Understanding these needs will directly translate into
products that are more successful.
Two key sources of innovation.
Executive Innovation Survey.

19. Today a great mismatch exists between the way consumers experience and
think about their world and how marketers use methods to collect this
information. This is also demonstrated by the fact, that companies are largely
unaware of newer market research methods (slide 11). Companies that
improve learning on how people think by employing more recent market
research tools, will be able to generate more successful innovative products.
Companies need to understand how people think and feel, instead
of simply asking them about their needs and wants.
Executive Innovation Survey.

20. Questions?