Developing New Business Ideas: A Step-by-step Guide to Creating New Business Ideas Worth Backing

289 Pages·2006·1.58 MB·English

by  Andrew Bragg

About the authors DEVELOPING NEW D DEVELOPING NEW
E
Andrew Bragg’swide-ranging business career includes general BUSINESS IDEAS V BUSINESS IDEAS
management and marketing roles in the UK and mainland Europe E
across commercial and not-for-profit sectors.His chief executive ANDREW BRAGG L
A step-by-step guide to creating new
roles have covered the multimedia,print and packaging sectors A step-by-step guide to creating new business
O
and have involved a number of entrepreneurial start-ups.A ideas worth backing MARY BRAGG business ideas worth backing
P
graduate of Trinity College,Cambridge,Andrew also gained an
I
MBA from Cranfield University.
N
“My first business idea did not work.The next idea did,and has
Mary Bragg worked in marketing with GlaxoSmithKline,before G allowed me to run a successful company for the past sixteen years.
How do you take a promising thought and develop it into an enterprise worth backing?Developing New
undertaking management consultancy with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Had this book been around all those years ago,it could have saved me
Business Ideasis an imaginative and interactive companion to converting creativity into successful enterprise. N
both in the UK and internationally.Her professional qualifications a lot of time and money pursuing my first idea in the belief that it was
include a Masters Degree from London University.She combines E also the best.Acknowledging that intuition is as important as practical
independent management consultancy with a university career “Having had your bright,fresh,original idea,the really hard part is turning it into successful reality.By detailing W business logic,this mind-widening book should be prescribed reading
four structured steps to developing saleable products or services from that first idea,this excellent and
as Principal Lecturer on entrepreneurship and creativity.A Fellow for all those considering starting their own company.”
imaginative guide significantly simplifies that task.Essential reading for all would-be entrepreneurs.”
of the Royal Society of Arts,Mary was a founding trustee of the B Sue Stedman,founder and managing director,Sue Stedman
Trevor Baylis OBE,the inventor of the clockwork radio A step-by-step guide to creating
Academy of Enterprise.Her earlier book,Re-inventing Influence, U Corporate Clothing
won the Management Consultancies’ Association award for best new business ideas worth backing
“Andrew and Mary Bragg have assembled a fascinating and formidable cast of entrepreneurial thought-masters S
management book of the year in 1996.
to demonstrate the power of their own effective and crystal-clear principles of idea generation,development I At some time in their life,almost everyone in business has an idea
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and implementation – lessons that anyone can exploit.Their book is a wonderful read which is a powerful idea for a new enterprise.The idea could be for a new venture for your
“Developing New Business Ideasis a very important and timely – or rather set of interlinked ideas – in itself.Read,enjoy,learn,do – and profit.” E business to launch,or for new business of your own.But most ideas
book.It draws on practical examples and relevant research to Robert Heller,management writer and founding editor of Management Today S remain just that:ideas.
show,step-by-step,how new business ideas can be developed S
into viable commercial opportunities.This book is essential “If you are eager to leave the corporate rat-race for an entrepreneurial journey,the Braggs' Chapter Four is We struggle to develop them,wondering if they will work,why
reading for an age in which entrepreneurship depends on your ticket out.Thanks to this book,finding a viable new business idea just got easier.” I nobody has already thought of them and how we could ever turn
D
innovation as never before.” Professor John Mullins,London Business School,author of The New Business Road Test them into a profitable reality.How do you take a promising thought
E
John Child,Professor of Commerce,Birmingham Business School and develop it into an enterprise worth backing?
“In Developing New Business IdeasBragg and Bragg highlight how creativity is essential to the ‘front-end’ of A
“This book does just what the title promises:it provides an the innovation process.They explain how the creative process can be explicitly employed to identify business S That is the question that this book sets out to answer.In Developing
accessible,no-nonsense guide to nurturing great ideas and seeing opportunities and to develop original ideas in response to such opportunities.These real-life stories,in combination New Business Ideas,Andrew and Mary Bragg provide a practical
them through to the creation of thriving business ventures.It is with an array of practical creativity tools,render this book both an enjoyable read and profoundly useful. guide to creating,shaping,evaluating,refining and implementing
loaded with practical techniques,useful advice and real-world Developing New Business Ideashas the potential to help many people realise their dreams.” new business ideas.
examples of how and why imaginative inventors,designers, Gerard J.Puccio,Ph.D.,Chair and Professor,International Center for Studies in Creativity,
M A The book demonstrates that it is within absolutely everybody’s
entrepreneurs and companies have turned fresh thinking into Buffalo State College – State University of New York A N power to take the first germ of a business idea and to systematically
sitp aelcl twaceunlta sr esruiocucselsys w srtoonrige.sH –ig ahlloy nrge cwomithm ae nfedwed t.h”at describe how “Here is a way of thinking that will enable the reader not just to generate new business ideas but,perhaps RY DR creatively challenge and commercially develop that idea into a viable
more importantly,to see opportunities,initiate change and cope with uncertainty.This is what entrepreneurship E business opportunity.Using a practical four-step creative process,
Jim Bodoh,Director,Lloyd Northover,branding and design specialists B
is really about.A way of thinking and behaving that enables people to see opportunities and innovate.Mary R W Developing New Business Ideasoffers a wide-range of hands-on,
and Andrew Bragg ‘break the mould’ with a book that is not aboutentrepreneurship and the functional A B how-to-actually-do-it techniques to help you add value and viability
The authors have prepared some useful tools to help develop your business competences of the entrepreneur,but instead educates the reader forentrepreneurship by G R to your original idea.It will also introduce you to the experiences of a
commercial creativity.You can find them at: developing the right-brain attributes of the successful entrepreneur.” G A range of today’s successful entrepreneurs,enabling you to learn from
www.pearson-books.com/DevelopingNewBusinessIdeas/ Professor David A.Kirby,School of Management,University of Surrey and author of Entrepreneurship G the creative lessons that they learned as they built their businesses.
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Supported by its own set of online tools,Developing New Business
Ideasis an imaginative and interactive companion to converting
Visit our website at ––––––––––––––––––––––– creativity into successful enterprise.
Visit our website at www.pearson-books.com NEW BUSINESS
–––––––––––––––––––––––
www.pearson-books.com
Front Cover Image:
An imprint of Pearson Education © Silvia Otte/Photonica
DNBI_A01.QXD 22/3/05 11:00 am Page i
developing
new business
ideas
DNBI_A01.QXD 22/3/05 11:00 am Page ii
In an increasingly competitive world, we believe it’s quality of
thinking that will give you the edge – an idea that opens new
doors, a technique that solves a problem, or an insight that
simply makes sense of it all. The more you know, the smarter
and faster you can go.
That’s why we work with the best minds in business and finance
to bring cutting-edge thinking and best learning practice to a
global market.
Under a range of leading imprints, including Financial Times
Prentice Hall, we create world-class print publications and
electronic products bringing our readers knowledge, skills and
understanding which can be applied whether studying or at work.
To find out more about our business publications, or tell us
about the books you’d like to find, you can visit us at
www.pearsoned.co.uk
DNBI_A01.QXD 22/3/05 11:00 am Page iii
developing
new business
ideas
A step-by-step guide to creating
new business ideas worth backing
Andrew Bragg and Mary Bragg
DNBI_A01.QXD 22/3/05 11:00 am Page iv
Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow CM20 2JE
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
website: www.pearsoned.co.uk
First published in Great Britain in 2005
© Pearson Education Limited 2005
The rights of Andrew Bragg and Mary Bragg to be identified as authors of this work have been
asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting
restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd,
90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. This book may not be lent, resold, hired out or
otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which
it is published, without the prior consent of the Publishers.
ISBN 0 273 66325 9
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bragg, Andrew.
Developing new business ideas: the fast-track to creating viable new businesses for
executives and entrepreneurs/Andrew Bragg and Mary Bragg.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographica l references and index.
ISBN 0–273–66325—9 (alk. paper.)
1. Creative ability in business. 2. New business enterprises. I. Bragg Mary. II. Title.
HD53.B714 2005
658.1’1—dc22
2004066263
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
09 08 07 06 05
Designed by Sue Lamble
Typeset in Melior and Din by 70
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell &Bain Ltd, Glasgow
The publishers’ policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests.
DNBI_A01.QXD 22/3/05 11:00 am Page v
dedication
to my mother
,
Peggy Mroczek (née Hurley), whose selfless
devotion and love made me all I am, and all I ever will be
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DNBI_A01.QXD 22/3/05 11:00 am Page vii
about the authors
Andrew Bragg’s wide-ranging business career includes general
management and marketing roles across the UK and mainland Europe.
His chief executive roles have covered the multimedia, print and
packaging sectors and have involved a number of entrepreneurial start-
ups. He has also worked for book and newspaper publishers and
launched a European lighting brand for a major American corporation.
He was European General Manager of a leading stationery brand and
has also held senior roles in the not-for-profit sector. A graduate of
Trinity College, Cambridge, Andrew also gained an MBA from Cranfield
University.
Mary Bragg undertook marketing roles within the multinational
GlaxoSmithKline before executing a range of consultancy projects in
human resource management when seconded to
PricewaterhouseCoopers, both in the UK and internationally. Her
professional qualifications include a Masters Degree in Organisational
Behaviour from Birkbeck College, London University. She combines
independent management consultancy with a University career. As
Principal Lecturer on entrepreneurship and creativity at London
Metropolitan University, she recently designed a portfolio of degree

courses on entrepreneurship. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of
Arts and was a founding trustee of the Academy of Enterprise. Her
earlier book, Re-inventing Influence – how to get things done in a world
without authority, won the Management Consultancies’ Association
award for best management book of the year in 1996. Mary was the first
woman in the Association’s history to receive this award.
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contents
Publisher’s acknowledgements/ xii
Authors’ acknowledgements/ xiii
Introduction/ xv
chapter 1 the importance of developing strong ideas/ 1
• James Dyson – using the idea development process to clean
up/ 2
• demystifying the idea development process/ 5
• slaying the myth that entrepreneurs are born, not
made/ 9
• the four steps in the idea development process/ 12
• and another thing: benefits of the idea development
process/ 18
• call in the cavalry or do it yourself?/ 25
• Sir Clive Sinclair and the C5 – the perils of a flawed process

of idea development/ 26
chapter 2 applying creativity to the idea development
process/ 29
• Phil Knight and Nike – combining logic and intuition into
record-breaking success/ 30
• why is creativity a must?/ 33
• reconnect with your creativity/ 37
• creativity and the idea development process/ 41
• mastering whole-brain thinking/ 43
• Ingvar Kamprad – using logic and intuition to break the
mould with IKEA/ 52
ix