Anthony W. Ulwick

THE NEEDS-FIRST APPROACH IS OFTEN FLAWED IN EXECUTION

Those who have recognized the inherent flaws in the ideas-
first approach often attempt to follow a needs-first approach to innovation. Using this approach, companies first attempt to understand the customer’s needs, and then figure out which are unmet and devise a concept that addresses those unmet needs.
UNCOVE R

NEEDS
SCOPING

IDEAS


DEVELOPMENT
TESTING + VALIDATION
LAUNCH

This thinking, though different from the ideas-first approach, is also supported by many academics, businesses, and suppliers.


Theodore Levitt, for example, in his 1960 landmark Harvard Business Review article, “Marketing Myopia,” states, “An industry begins with the customer and his or her needs, not with a patent, a raw material, or a selling skill.” [Theodore Levitt, “Marketing Myopia,” Harvard Business Review 38, no. 4 (July-August 1960).]

Since then, others have drawn a similar conclusion.

Harvard Business School professor David Garvin has noted, “Studies comparing successful and unsuccessful innovation have found that the primary discriminator was the degree to which user needs were fully understood.” [David Garvin, A Note on Corporate Venturing and New Business Creation (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002), 5.]

In theory, if all the customer’s unmet needs are known, then ideas can be generated to address them—and these ideas will have obvious value.

Over the years, many methods have been utilized to capture customer needs. These include focus groups, personal interviews, customer visits, and ethnographic, contextual, and observational research methods in addition to interviewing techniques such as voice of the customer (VOC), lead user analysis, and storytelling.