Innovation and product development activities are becoming increasingly global. The global insights track covers three areas where globalization affects the NPD process: market research, IP, and relationships and alliances.

Innovative leaders from around the world will share practical insights, tools, and information on emerging methods.

Forget political correctness and expect this track to fuel lively debates and controversial viewpoints.

Session Topics include:

• Market Research (Creating New Markets)
• Market Research (Emerging/Converging Methodologies & Techniques)
• Intellectual Property
• Outsourcing/Alliances

Track Chair:

• Claire-Juliette Beale, Director of Strategy & Business Development, Bresslergroup, Inc.

Track Team:

• Jonathan Propp, SBC Global [Bio]
• Patrina Mack, Managing Partner, Vision and Execution [Bio]

Intellectual Property and New Product Development in a Global Age

Many companies view intellectual property as a competitive advantage in generating revenues and profits, from new products and R&D, to creating business opportunities from disputes. Yet protecting intellectual property is becoming harder than ever in today's global marketplace. Unclear or nonexistent patent protections in countries such as China and India limit companies' willingness to develop products there or to engage in joint ventures. Counterfeit products took away over $500 billion in potential company sales last year and seriously damaged some companies' reputations because of their lower quality. Software piracy reduces the return that software companies get on their significant R&D investment. Now some countries, such as Brazil and South Africa, are taking an aggressive stance against intellectual property, insisting that only open source software or generic drugs be sold in their markets. What strategies can companies take to protect and exploit their intellectual property in a global marketplace??

Panel Session: Market Research: Emerging Methodologies & Techniques: Breakthroughs in Consumer Insights
Moderator:

Market and consumer research play a key part in marketing decisions and the product development process, but they are often criticized by product development professionals as a means of driving innovation and spotting new opportunities. Yet market research is evolving. New web-based tools and methods are revolutionizing the way companies are connecting with their customers.

Panelists will present and discuss innovative research techniques used by global companies such as UniLever, Wyeth, Honda, and Kraft to drive innovation and/or product or service development. Participate in a candid discussion on how:

• to make informed business decisions and deliver new concepts to market quicker than the competition.
• to reduce product and brand development risks.
• to improve our chances for global success by analyzing geographically diverse insights in real-time.
• to focus resources on high potential ideas early in the development cycle.
• these companies use technology and new qualiquant methods to gain instant insight on product concepts.

Krisis: Instigating Conflict to Uncover True Consumer Needs

The projective methods used to gather information in qualitative groups were developed during earlier market phases when consumers were bound to brands, institutions and other advertisers. The public's relationship with brands has become more complex and ambivalent. Their words and messages have become more difficult to decode and anticipate. Qualitative research has to adapt to the new age of consumer disenchantment in which individuals have less and less belief in brands.

These are the considerations that lie at core of Krisis, a new qualitative tool constructed around the central notion of human conflict. The intention of Krisis is to allow consumers to re-enact their internal conflicts and transient modes of resolution on a public stage; to access individual disputes beneath the mask of collective agreement; and to identify the deep-seated mechanisms of involvement and distancing. Krisis forces individuals to defend their positions, and in doing so they reveal their deep-seated desires.

Three learning points:

1. Learn how qualitative research can be used to uncover true consumer needs and wants, and not just brand perceptions, so that you can truly innovate based on underlying consumer desires.
2. Learn how you can use Krisis to stimulate consumers to think out of the box, free from the constraints of typical group dynamics
3. Learn how to apply the results of Krisis to form a long-term strategy of innovation and proactive brand growth.

Market Research: Creating New Markets / The Shop Owner's Management Assistant (SOMA) Project

With GDP growth more than double that of the United States and the United Kingdom during the past decade, and with forecast continued real annual growth of almost 7 percent, India is one of the world's most promising and fastest-growing economies, and multinational companies are eagerly investing there. Yet, as highlighted in recent research by McKinsey & Company (The Right Passage to India, February 2005), companies attracted to the country's potential must do more than merely transplant products and systems that have succeeded elsewhere.

This session will focus on the multi-disciplinary approach taken by Hewlett-Packard Labs in India to create a new product, and ultimately carve a new market in Asia and in emerging markets, with a new ICT based product and solution for unorganized retail, a multi-billion dollars business in India only. The SOMA (Shop Owner's Management Assistant) project aims to build a low cost, easy-to-use appliance platform, directed towards small and medium scale retail businesses for their automation and computational requirements. Highlights include a new process for innovation as well as the development of ecosystem and business solutions.

The authors will also share their first-hand experiences of key challenges in developing new business solutions for emerging markets.

Panel Session: Outsourcing
Moderator:

Outsourcing plays a key role in Global Product Development. While major physical product manufacturers have long contained costs by outsourcing tasks such as physical assembly to areas with a lower cost of living, outsourcing has moved far beyond those not so humble beginnings. Today, even relatively small firms routinely outsource various aspects of their product development; occasionally the entire product development process beginning with innovation is outsourced.

Panelists in this session will participate in a candid discussion on:

• What does it take to use outsourcing most effectively?
• Are there limits to the kinds of products and services that can be outsourced?
• What opportunities does outsourcing present beyond immediate cost containment?
• Are we helping to create our own competition?