Strategic Innovation (from the inside out)

Weekly Discussion: Leading Innovation

2011-12-03T15:16:00.000-06:00

Measure Twice, Cut Once

Why don’t we see a lot of innovation in education, healthcare or politics?

Weekly Discussion: Societal Constraints

2011-11-26T15:14:00.000-06:00

Describe one social innovation that has impressed you in the past 10 years. What do you think was the most critical barrier that was overcome?

Weekly Discussion: Industry Constraints

2011-11-12T15:11:00.000-06:00

What are today’s least innovative industries today? What have they done (or failed to do) that lead them to this state of affairs?

Weekly Discussion: Organizational Constraints

2011-11-05T15:06:00.000-05:00

Without naming them outright, tell us about the least innovative company you personally know about. What is/was the problem there?

Weekly Discussion: Group Constraints

2011-10-31T14:58:00.001-05:00

What behaviors have you observed in a group that absolutely killed the group’s brainstorming efforts?

Individual Innovation Constraints: Week 2

2011-10-24T09:08:00.001-05:00

What stops you from having good ideas? What advice can you give to others with the same problem? Leave your thoughts as a comment below. Also, feel free to comment on others' comments--this is a discussion.

Pragmatic Idealism versus Societal Constraints

2011-10-20T10:01:00.002-05:00

I got an email from a friend outlining Buffet's Congressional Reform Act. Talk about a proposition for change!

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," Warren Buffet told CNBC.

"You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election."

****Buffet's Congressional Reform Act of 2011*****

1. No Tenure / No Pension.
-A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
-All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
-Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.
--Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

2011-10-14T15:00:00.000-05:00

First Week's Discussion Question:

Hot or Hype? Talk to us about one failed innovation of the past 15 years, describe it, and give a brief analysis of why it failed. Do you think this is a common mode of failure?

PS: Use the "Comment" function to leave a post.

2011-10-14T08:35:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the 2011 Strategic Innovation MGT 449 Class at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management.We'll use this mechanism for discussions, trading ideas, and for practice in putting our ideas out there. Keep in mind that this is a PUBLIC blog, that everyone can see what you post, and that the internet never forgets. Aside from that, have at it!!

Innovation-Loving Lawyers Take on AT&T&T

2011-09-13T19:30:00.000-05:00

The Department of Justice's suit to block the AT&T - T-Mobile merger can be made to sound complicated (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index anyone?), but it is really a simple matter of the DOJ stepping in to stop the wanton killing (of innovation). And though others may not be able to bring themselves to say it, I will: Thank god for the lawyers!

Image Source: nextgadget.com

Economics teaches that innovation is the primary tool of competition. If you can make your stuff better, faster, and cheaper than the other guys' stuff, you win. But what the economists don't often admit is that innovation isn't easy, and it certainly isn't cheap. Innovation costs time, money, and attention. And, what's worse, after you've burned the midnight oil along with all of those scarce and valuable resources, you still run the risk that your idea is a dumb one, and that it simply won't work.

So what's a poor $167 billion corporation to do? Kill innovation, of course!

Instead of fixing their own broken innovation engines, some managers prefer an alternate strategy: to try to kill their rivals' ability to innovate. One way they do this is by promulgating "industry standards" as barriers to prevent new competitors from entering their markets. But creating standards requires cooperation (or collusion) and it takes a long time; that's hard work. An easier approach, it seems, is to buy the innovators in your industry and kill their incentive (and their ability) to innovate.

I guess I'm a romantic since I thought that this kind of strategy would be distasteful and repugnant to markets; after all don't we all want to invest our hard-earned capital with companies that actually create value (and in the process, make the world a better place)? But alas, the intended merger is announced and stock prices climb. We've become comfortable with this "buy and let die" approach to competition, while at the same time ignoring the high costs it brings. (Checked your mobile phone bill lately?)

The irony of this case is that people often blame lawyers for a lack of innovation in their firms. "Too expensive, too risk averse, or too much regulation" is the whiny refrain. But here's a clear case where the lawyers are fighting to make these companies become better innovators. I can only hope that they succeed. After all, it should be harder and more expensive to kill the innovations of others than it is to fix your own R&D.

DAO: Industry Contraints

Final Wrap..

2010-12-10T09:47:00.003-06:00

After 7 enlightening and engaging weeks with 50 really smart people, we've come to the end. All I can say is "Thank You!" And, in the spirit of the wonderful presentations from yesterday, I'll leave you with one by my visual friend (and fellow monkey-mind) Peter Durand. He's been innovating in the overlap between graphic facilitation, cartooning, painting, animation, and iPads. Enjoy and see you around!

Layered Paintings from Alphachimp Studio Inc. on Vimeo.

Societal Constraints??

2010-11-29T14:44:00.002-06:00

www.sickchirpse.com

What's the most constrained domain of social innovation of interest to you? Why is it that way? How might one go about changing that? Post your thoughts in the discussion forum.

Four-Loko? Society says, "Creative People Must be Stopped!"

2010-11-17T08:35:00.004-06:00

Photo @ Seattle Weekly Blogs

The NYTimes reported that "The company that produces the Four Loko beverage said it will remove the caffeine and two other ingredients from its products after facing a cascade of criticism and regulatory scrutiny for producing the energy drinks, which combine high levels of the stimulant with alcohol."
Article Here.
Society says "Innovative? Yes! Can we have it? No!"

Industry Innovation Constraints

2010-11-16T15:29:00.001-06:00

How could you measure innovation at the industry level of anlaysis? By your measure, what are the most innovative industries today? What industries do you think will continue to be innovative in our life-times? Why?

Type Z - Three Ideas to Improve Stapling at Owen

2010-11-12T15:56:00.001-06:00

Our stakeholder is Sarah Burfitt, a fellow second year Owen classmate and friend. Her problem is that, generally speaking, the stapler area is always chaotic, messy and disorganized. Specifically speaking, students are always sticking the wrong staples in a given stapler and leaving the resulting jammed stapler unrepaired. She'd like us to address the jamming problem in particular, and the messy/chaotic/disorganized problem as a secondary problem. This is something we all have experienced at one time or another.

Our three concepts are as follows:

1. Establish stapler “buckets” at each of the main Owen designated stapling stations: Two baskets would be placed at each Owen stapling location (1st floor library, 2nd floor library, 1st floor copy room, etc.)-one for jammed/empty staplers and one for working/full staplers. Student volunteer or library staff member to monitor "buckets" on regular basis (no less than 2x per day). Additional high quality Swingline staplers of the would be purchased to ensure sufficient supply of primary and back-up staplers.

2. Install organization station for staplers and staples at each stapling station: An organization station for staplers and staplers would be created at each designated Owen stapling station. This system would alleviate the problem or not knowing where staplers are or issues of putting the wrong staplers into a given stapler (since there are several types). It would increase the stapler supply and guarantee that operable back-up staplers are always available. Most significantly, a color coding system would be created for the staples/staplers (<10>50 pages, etc.), so it's easier to understand what goes where.

3. Create a swap program where inoperable staplers can be taken to library circulation desk and exchanged for operable staplers: This idea would increase the stapler supply and guarantee that operable back-up staplers are always available. It would require the support and commitment from library staff members, many those at the circulation desk.

We look forward to your feedback.

Type Z

(Kimberly Cochran, Barry Nielsen, Steve South)

Operation COPA

2010-11-12T13:46:00.001-06:00

Operation Clean & Organize Printing Areas (COPA)

Challenges:
The 2nd floor printing area outside of the library and the 1st floor printing room are in constant states of chaos. The shortage of supplies, messy tables, broken stationary items are constant pain points. These issues not only affect students, but they also present a bad image for Owen to the recruiters, alumni, and visitors. We need to find ways to have all students share the responsibilities of maintaining these areas, and not just rely on OSGA and IT services.

Client:
Claudia Escobedo - Owen Student Government Association (OSGA) Secretary of Finance and Facilities. She is basically the “go-to” person for any complaints/changes regarding the Owen facilities and is the liaison between the Dean’s Office (Sybil), IT Department, Library, and Students.

Goal:
Develop an adaptive and sustainable process/design to keep the printer/stationary areas clean and organized. Objective is to reach common adoption within Owen community.

Concepts:

Force change through physical environment – reconfigure areas so that students are forced to change habits, no verbal/written communications. Potential action items: Moving printer; taking away table; attach "stationary bucket" to the end of the printer; reconfigure 1st floor printing room, etc.
Organize change through guidelines, process, procedures – provide mechanisms to encourage change in behavior. Potential action items: Post 5S (Sorting, Straightening, Systematic cleaning, Standardizing, Sustaining) on the wall; provide contact information for assistance; use tape to outline where stationary items below; adding trays for unclaimed pages; encourage printing PDFs to low-traffic printers, etc.
Empowering change through incentives, creating meaning behind changing, why change, work with OSGA/admissions. Potential action items: cleaning contest, prizes for low usage students, OSGA keeping Owen clean campaign, etc.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Thanks,
Team KKT (Kelly Leo, Tom Hiramatsu, Jake Chang)

Team Austintatious - Concepts for a Better Life

2010-11-11T02:03:00.001-06:00

For your consideration: three concepts for the Owen Career Management Center, presented by Team Austintatious – M Chavez, M Chao, B Bellinger.

“Clothing Survival Kit”

The “Clothing Survival Kit” concept is one that would benefit the CMC’s clients, the students of Owen. How many times have students come to school unprepared or under dressed for an information session or interview? In order to enhance the professional image of Owen we need make sure that we adhere to the dress codes set by the CMC in order to maintain strong working relationships with the companies who recruit at Owen. The Clothing Survival Kit would also be a safety measure for handling potential accidents such as spills, stains, and tears. It would hold a sewing kit (needle & thread, buttons, etc.), extra ties, hosiery, Febreeze, and Tide stain pens. How many times does one student have to ask the next “How do I look?” This game changing innovation will help build a better image of the CMC and its clients.

“Full-Length Mirror”

The “Full-Length Mirror” concept primarily benefits students on their way to information sessions and interviews. This supports the CMC goal of each student putting his or her best foot forward. Before going in to meet, students will have one more chance to make sure that their outfit is coordinated, not missing any buttons, and that their clothes are free from stains and tears. One person noted “it even helps you check for scuffs on your shoes.” For the business student who is conscientious of presenting him or herself as the “total package,” the full length mirror puts all of you into view. No more having relying on friends to tell you if you look OK, you can have the self assurance that everything is in place, your name tag is on straight, and you are ready to go.

“Video Resume Book”

To enhance the marketability and provide a more detailed impression of Owen students, the CMC should adopt the concept of the “Video Resume Book.” The CMC would produce 60-90 second video introductions for each student, in which the student could give a brief description of their work experience and interests (elevator pitch, anyone?). This would provide students the opportunity to showcase their personality and experience in a much more personal and dynamic way than what is presently offered by the standard written resume. These video introductions could be hosted on the CMC recruiting website, and also sent to corporate recruiters, in compressed video format, along with the standard resumes. The CMC could use these video introductions to better “sell” their clients, the Owen students, to corporate recruiters.

Three Groundbreaking Ideas from "The Idea Distillery"

2010-11-10T16:38:00.001-06:00

Our stakeholders are the Owen student body, with the goal of improving experience for both current students, future candidates, and alumni. I could go more in-depth, but it is doubtful anybody is going to read these first sentences and are just going to skip to the meat of the post. So here it is:

1. Paper Campaign (Sustainability): Place a months supply of paper reams - which is 610 - by stairs to dramatically show the huge amount of paper used, and watch it quickly dwindle away as it is used. Alongside, each student will be emailed their individual paper totals each month (possibly with the average use among students for a benchmark), along with publicly displaying the total paper use numbers on the TVs throughout the building and percentage increase/decrease from previous month.

2. Massage Therapists (Morale): Partner with the Natural Health Institute (or other academy) to come in once a month to offer massages. We would reserve library rooms and sign ups for time slots could possibly be done online through GPS. The institute needs bodies for students to practice massages on, and Owen can provide those bodies. It is a win-win.

3. Owen Gear For Incoming Students (Awareness and Branding): Currently, the Vanderbilt name has much greater awareness and esteem than the Owen name. And while our solution is something small, it is something that we are surprised is not already done. (This might have been done in years past, but it didn't happen this year.) First year students were not given anything with Owen branded on it. Nothing. We would simply work with the school to provide simple items such as car stickers and coffee mugs to incoming students at orientation. Students are excited about being a part of Owen and will use them with pride, which will get the Owen name out there. And for the amount this school costs, the absolute least thing they could do is toss in a window sticker.

Cheers,

The Idea Distillery

(Brian Burchfield, Vineesh Kapoor, Blake Knight)

Three great ideas from team "Flush This"

2010-11-10T14:15:00.001-06:00

Our teams project is to help improve Owen's deplorable and unsanitary bathroom conditions. We chose our stake holder to be the custodian staff. We presume an innovation to help the staff keep the facilities clean will ultimately be beneficial to those who use the facilities.

1. Use antibacterial urinal cakes in urinals to reduce pungent smell of musty, dried urine.

2. Create mandatory cleaning standards and expectations. Certainly if the School of Divinity can have squeaky clean bathroom, so too can Owen.

3. Put bigger trash receptacles in bathrooms in order to fully capture all used paper towels.

For your consideration.....

A 10er's Top Three

2010-11-09T21:47:00.001-06:00

8 10 Café

Challenge:
Let’s go ahead and say what we’ve all been thinking: the 8:10 Café is a pretty dismal place. In this dark cave, you can find uneven chairs, sticky tables, the hypnotic drone of CNBC, and if you’re in luck at lunch time, the smell of overcooked Mexican lasagna being burnt in the microwave. There is nothing about this room that is a “Café”.

Client:
An obvious choice: Jimmy Chen. Currently, he eats lunch in the café daily, but as quickly as possible to avoid the noise, smell, and general discomfort that is brought on by prolonged exposure to this venue.

Goal:
Develop a place that people have a desire to spend more time in, or at the very least, add a feature that would make Jimmy Chen’s 8:10 experience a little less miserable.

Concepts:

Panini Press- There’s few pleasures with the current 8:10 experience, but after this innovation, you could at least have a warm sandwich. For anyone who ever was the recipient of a Panini press as a gift, these wonderful machines are first met with doubt. Could a press really make my turkey sandwich any better? I like my PBJ as is, why do I need it warm? Once you try one of these, you understand the revolution. Our only concern is how to keep this clean.
“Free” Coffee- At Owen, we pride ourselves on our culture and communal feel. At the same time, we work hard and are fueled by caffeine. We can address this need for coffee by having students bring fresh grinds and store them at the 8:10. We would keep this pot running and, when low, someone simply refills it with the grinds that other students have brought. Yes some people might mooch, but if this atmosphere is really as collaborative as we claim, this could be a success.
Air Fresheners- What better way to get rid of the classic “8:10 smell” than a Glade Woodland Grove air freshener? Keep these guys plugged in, perhaps turning up the dial during the lunchtime rush, and everyone’s experience would be a bit better.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Thanks,
Amy, Eric, and Ian

D.O.G.S. (Dog Owners in Graduate School)

2010-11-09T15:54:00.003-06:00

Challenge: Many Owen students are dog owners and as students, these dog owners are faced with the unique challenge of enduring the MBA experience while caring for the needs of their furry companion(s). Some Owen students are dog owners for their first time, learning what it's like to be a dog parent, and others are simply trying to find opportunities to network with other dog owners, while others simply need a place for their dog to stay while traveling for interview opportunities.

Concept: Team D.O.G.S. is working on the development of a web-based social network that will bring together dog owners at Owen. We are seeking feedback on the following three concepts.

Social networking - development of a Facebook page/group or development of a Ning network. We are looking for some pro's and con's of using these types of networks.
User profile's which include contact information and dog information so members can get a hold of one another. Dog sitting is a major issue for many dog owners at Owen.
Event planning for social events for dogs and their owners (e.g. "Whine and Wine" party, hiking events, big dog/small dog socialization hours, etc...)

We look forward to your feedback.

- Krystal, Lindsey, and Pete

Awesome Ideas for Increasing Student Satisfaction with Career Support

2010-11-08T13:52:00.004-06:00

Goal: Increase student satisfaction with career support.

Client: Dwyla Beard, 2nd year student

Idea 1: Provide Suggestion boxes near the CMC.

Although students have the opportunity to fill out a survey at the end of every school year, part of which concerns the career management services at Owen, there are not opportunities for continuous improvement throughout the academic year. Since Owen is often concerned with branding and appearances, this suggestion box does not necessarily have to take a physical form, but could also be through an online drop-box via Blackboard or informal monthly surveys, etc. It is our goal to increase student satisfaction with career support at Owen, and by offering students a voice, especially one in which they can be candid and honest with their anonymous feedback, the school is already allowing students the opportunity to be heard.

Idea 2: Start EMBA-MBA mentorship program with job posting site and social events.

The Owen EMBA program has many prominent and important Executives in Fortune 500 companies. Many of these firms do not recruit at Owen, so we believe that these Executive MBA students could be in a position to initiate on-campus recruiting or at least recommend specific students for consideration. This program would seek to leverage the tremendous influence, network, and experience of these EMBA students by creating a mentorship program in which they are paired with interested MBA students in their industry. The program may include monthly lunches or networking events, and participants would be encouraged to meet one-on-one and seek counsel with each other as much as possible. To facilitate the program and information, a password-protected website could be created for participants that contain jobs posted by EMBA students and planned social events.

Idea 3: Keep a supply of 10 interview portfolios, complete with legal pads and pens, in the CMC or library for student rental.

With all of the career-focused events going on at Owen, including information sessions, interviews, and mock interviews, it is easy for students to get dates and times mixed up. Students rush to get to school with all of their homework due for the day, and may even remember to bring their lunches; but unfortunately, many times students find themselves without the status-signifying leather portfolio (which, by the way, employers expect them to have clutched securely in their hands as they enter the interview/info session/[insert other event here]). This is where Team Awesome comes in. To help facilitate the smooth functioning of the career-search process, and help relieve unnecessary student stress that comes with the process, the CMC or Office of Academic Programs & Student Life should make available approximately ten leather-like portfolios (complete with pad and pen), either in the CMC office or the library, for student rental. This way, if a student forgets his or her portfolio at home, all he or she has to do is make a quick detour to the CMC or library to check-out a portfolio, and then make sure to return it the following morning. The check-out process should be very easy. Students should either be able to swipe their student ID, or legibly write their name on a list to ensure accountability.

So, what do you guys think?

-Team Awesome (Traci Galbreath, Jill Karen, Nana Kyei)

Balls to the Walls - Top 3

2010-11-07T19:39:00.006-06:00

Owen students spend a lot of time at school and it is frustrating when we feel that the Owen facilities are not comfortable. A lot of students feel like there are a lot of things that could be done to make our life easier. Our client - Jon Lehman - has heard the students' voice and our team is working with him to find ways to make things better.

We analyzed different ways to make Owen a better place from the facilities stand point, a place more conducive to learning. Based on our budgetary constraints and time constraints, here are a few that we thought can make a significant difference:

We have a great courtyard. And after a long morning in classes, who hasn't felt like they could use a place to sleep? What say we add a few hammocks to the beautiful courtyard, so we can take a short nap and rejuvenate?
It has been a long day at school, and we have a longer evening filled with group meetings and assignments. You need to relieve yourself and go to the restroom, only to see the toilet seat dirty. Frustrating isn't it? Why don't we have toilet seat covers in there?
Don't you think the trash-cans are ugly hunks of grey and blue? We spend so long on campus, so why do we have to keep staring at such ugliness? Why not cover the trash cans with some interesting art that makes it aesthetically appealing and also encourages people to use it more?

We are trying to improve comfort, hygiene and appeal of the Owen facilities. Let us know what you think.

-Ani Kidambi, Ilya Tokhner, Jonathan Sockell

Dunder Mifflin - Top 3 ideas

2010-11-07T17:20:00.002-06:00

Our client, Travis Dunn, identified the supply stations at Owen as a possible area for improvement. Not only are they poorly organized, but there is no effective maintenance and the areas lack a sense of general community responsibility.

Of our 303 ideas, we individually identified our favorites and placed them into 4 buckets: Education, Responsibility, Organization, and Innovation. Given individual behavior constraints and our lack of finances and time to implement, our top 3 ideas are from the “Responsibility” and “Education” buckets. They are as follows:

1. Signs at stations, which include rules for maintenance and contact information to report problems

· Students may want to help solve the problem, but there is a lack of information

· By identifying the primary contact, students may take personal initiative

2. Ask the students to maintain the stations

· No one has specifically asked the student body to maintain the stations

· Instill a sense of responsibility in the students and empower complaining constituents

3. Monitor the printing per student, per mod and advertise in the OSGA newsletter

· Ensure students are accountable and responsible with their printing

· Printing is the primary reason supply stations are utilized

Each top idea presented above by Dunder Mifflin contains the goal of maintaining the stations and making them useful and satisfactory. We welcome any feedback you may have – thanks.

Optimizing the Room Reservation Process

2010-11-07T15:55:00.002-06:00

Challenge: Currently, students are frustrated with the ease of making library room reservations as a result of a range of issues including availability, browser compatibility, display issues, and the time and number of clicks it takes to book a room.

Concept: We are seeking to optimize and increase the ease-of use of the library room reservation process to allow for more efficient library room booking.

Our 3 ideas:

Program the online room reservation system to adjust for the current time, showing only the room availability going forward. This would limit the need to scroll on the room reservation website and allow for a better picture of the availability of rooms.
Room allocation based on a questionnaire. Students are asked a number of questions such as size of the group, projector requirement, whiteboard requirement, time, duration, reason and the room is allocated by the system automatically according to these requirements
Students will be emailed a confirmation of their library room reservation 15 minutes before its start. This email would remind students that they reserved the room as well as offer them the chance to cancel the reservation without needing to log back into the room reservation system.

Thoughts?

-Cam, Rajeev, and Chris

Teach Owen How to Use Classroom Technology

2010-11-07T11:47:00.002-06:00

Challenge: Many faculty, staff and students do not know how to use technology in libraries and classrooms. This results in delayed classroom or meeting times because of technological issues with monitors, computers or confusing light settings in classrooms.

Concept: We would like to simplify the process of using the equipment in the schools so that everything is intuitive and easy to set up.

Here are our 3 ideas:

1. Post an instruction sheet at each computer along with a IT help number

2. Make tech training mandatory for everyone atOwen

3. Create a desktop background with instructions and put them on all classroom computers

Please let us know your thoughts.

Thanks,

Cindy, An, KJ, Todd

Team Rad+Fab's mission is to make Owen Green+Clean!

2010-11-07T09:24:00.015-06:00

Problem we are solving: The Owen community is wasteful with its resources. One of Owen's overall goals is to attract quality candidates--one selling point to achieve this goal is Owen's positive sustainable impact. Team Rad+Fab is interested in making Owen a more sustainable and environmentally-conscious community. Our stakeholder is Net Impact and together we are working on making Owen Green+Clean!

Here are our three ideas:

Post a weekly tip in ODN on becoming more "Green" both at Owen and at home

ODN is the perfect venue to reach the Owen community as everyone reads these little daily announcements and Team Rad+Fab thinks that ODN posts are the perfect venue to spread the "green" spirit. These ODN announcements will create awareness and buzz in the Owen community about the importance of being "green" and reducing one's carbon footprint both at Owen and in our everyday lives. These tips would serve as a way of educating the Owen community on different "green" initiatives.

Install filtration systems on tap water/have water cooler in 810 Café

The main idea here is to discourage water bottle usage by students & staff by providing them access to clean, tasty water. As we all know, the tap water provided in the Owen drinking fountains is disgusting (yuck!), which causes many of us to waste both $$ and plastic by purchasing water bottles. By placing PUR or Brita water filters on the faucets in the 810 Café, we would be encouraging students to refill their reusable water bottles. The challenge with this idea is the potential reluctance of 810 Café owners to work with us (as we would be stealing their water bottle profits). If this is the case, we could also install a water cooler for the same purpose. In this way, 810 Café owners could charge for each water bottle refilled.

Offer a sustainable business course

Businesses are becoming more environmentally conscious every year. As future business leaders, the opportunity to learn what is shaping this trend and how to gain buy-in within our firms is essential. Furthermore, this would provide Owen students with the knowledge to market our future company's sustainable business practice to consumers. Offering a relevant course that ties in green concepts, persuasion, and industry leaders as speakers will provide a platform and competitive advantage for Owen graduates.

Team Rad+Fab would love your thoughts. Go Green+Clean! :)
~Chrissy Byron, Stephanie Kaye Ramirez, and Annie Skidmore

Operation Improve Student Life at owen

2010-11-06T17:45:00.001-05:00

Our stakeholder is Jeff McCullen. He is a first year Owen student. He is an athlete and all around laid back guy. He finds himself spending significant amounts of time at Owen and his eating habits, social life and athletic ability have suffered. He gave us little direction but feels that pretty much anything we do will help improve his situation.

Three Concepts:

1- Lunch Orders. Wouldn't it be nice if you could log onto Owen Central right before your first class and input a lunch order so that by 12:50 you would have your lunch delivered to you? No more wasting time walking to Subway or fighting the evil Wendy's across the street. Grab lunch. Head to meeting. Continue on with life.

2- Owen Football. Long day of classes? Didn't have time to hit the gym? Wanna tackle the cute co-ed in your ops class? What about tackling the professor who gave you a lackluster P for what surely was a SP performance? Sign up for Owen Football!!

3- Owen's Got Talent. You spent 24 years of your life playing an instrument. You have perfected your singing voice. Or maybe you are a poet or a dancer. Time to showcase your talent at the Annual Owen Talent show. Even if you don't have a talent you can respectably showcase to your classmates - it is always nice to see others perform. Maybe your favorite professor will show you his ballroom dancing skills.

Tell us what you think.....

Owen Beautiful: Dramatic before and after

2010-11-06T14:54:00.011-05:00

Our clients are Owen stakeholders and restroom users (students, faculty&staff, visitors, etc). Our goal is to make/keep restroom clean and reduce paper waste. Here are our three innovation concepts:

-"Create comfortable environment"

e.g. Change bathroom tissue holders, also use better quality and colorful toilet paper.

- "Have fun"

e.g. Put a target (for men only) to prevent urinal splash.

- "Psychological approach"

e.g. Put some signs in restrooms to encourage users to keep restrooms clean.

We look forward to your feedback.

Owen beauty consultants: Hiro, Christy, and Hitoshi

Team EEEKK Innovation Concepts

2010-11-06T13:06:00.003-05:00

Our team's project focuses on figuring out a way to help improve the suit coat hanging space around Owen (and by "improve" we mean "add" suit coat hanging space). The specific issue came from a conversation we had with Jack Hartley (our client) about the issue, but we know that we all feel the pain of this problem when we have interviews, lunch and learns, information sessions, etc.

Our three concepts are as follows:

1. Add coat hangers and/or racks in the back of classrooms
2. Use the small library room in between library rooms 8 & 9 as a coat room (it currently contains only a desk and old equipment)
3. Use the extra space in 2nd floor bathrooms to add coat racks

We look forward to your feedback and/or other ideas!

-Kristen Schaefer, Emily Seekins, and Kate Haffey

Week 3 Discussion: Group Level Constraints

2010-10-31T11:04:00.001-05:00

We now move past the individual and considering what stops innovation in groups. Given the descriptions below, which of these three types of imagination do you practice most readily in groups? Which of the three types do you think is most deadly to a group's brainstorming efforts? Why?

Descriptive Imagination not only reveals what is happening in the oft-confusing world "out there," but it enables us to make sense of it and to see new possibilities and opportunities. It evokes images that describe a complex and confusing world "out there." This is the imagination that identifies patterns and regularities in the mass of data generated by rigorous analysis and informed by judgment based on years of experience.

Creative Imagination allows us to see what isn't there. It evokes new possibilities from the combination, recombination or transformation of things or concepts. It is the essential feature of visioning, "skunk works," brainstorming, and thinking "out of the box." Whereas Descriptive Imagination enables us to see what is there in a new way, creative imagination allows us to see what isn't there; that is, to create something really new, something totally different.

Challenging Imagination starts from scratch and assumes nothing. It overturns all the rules and wipes the slate clean. It is with challenging imagination that we negate, contradict and even destroy what currently exists in order to make space for something new. It is different from the other two kinds in that it does not merely add on a new element to what's already there.

Excerpted from the Reading: The Science of SeriousPlay. (www.seriousplay.com)

Week 2 Discussion: Individual Level Constraints

2010-10-23T07:06:00.004-05:00

What stops you from having good ideas? What advice can you give to others with the same problem?

Welcome and Discussion Question...

2010-10-18T19:01:00.003-05:00

Hello and welcome to the Innovation Strategy class for Fall 2010. We will host our weekly discussions here on the blog. The idea is to put our ideas "out there" and to see if we can spur each other to higher levels of contemplation (or at least, entertainment).

Our discussion question for this week:

Hot or Hype? Identify one failed innovation of the past 15 years, describe it, and give a brief analysis of why it failed. Do you think this was a common mode of failure?

Use the "Comment" function to leave a post.

ps. If you use a non-obvious name to post, please do send me an email to let me know what it is.

Weekly Discussion

2010-02-15T11:40:00.003-06:00

What is the most constrained domain of social innovation? Why is it that this kind of constraint is so difficult for us to see?

Goldener Saal, Augsburg 2008

Weekly Discussion

2010-02-08T12:50:00.002-06:00

Sleepy Printers

2010-02-06T00:52:00.002-06:00

Have you ever tried to print something out in the morning, a few minutes before class, and the printer tells you “warming up”? Our team wants to help the Owen IT department to keep students happy when they need to print something out early in the morning and printers are "asleep.” Here are our three ideas to fix the problem:

1. Schedule Signal from the Server to trigger warm up
We will write a code that will send a signal to the printers around school in the morning, making all of them "wake up."

2. Print out Owen Daily News early in the morning
We will schedule an automatic double-sided print job of the ODN, so the printer by the IT office is ready to go, and the paper isn't wasted.

3. Provide a 24 hour printer that doesn't sleep
We'll talk to the IT and find out if they have money in their budget to buy and "emergency" printer that never sleeps.

2010-02-02T09:40:00.001-06:00

PROBLEMS
A section of 21st Avenue between Owen and the fast food strip (Subway, Starbucks, and Panera) is a small two-way road where are busy from morning to night. So, crossing 21st Ave. is very dangerous, as cars tend to speed and there is a blind curve. However, many Owen students like to jaywalk between Owen and the other side of the street. This is not a safe habit. In fact, a fellow Owen student was hit by a car and there were many near-misses. Thus, we would like to prevent any further incidents caused by jaywalking.

SOLUTIONS
To prevent any further incidents, we are proposing three innovative ideas:
1. Sign on wall and other places between Owen and 21st Ave. We plan to create fliers with a warning for students not to jaywalk. We will post these fliers on the wall, electric pole, and Owen doors. We also will distribute these fliers to Owen students.
2. ODN Announcement to exercise caution. We plan to create awareness through ODN announcement that will show this caution daily for one week.
3. Start a rumor that police are going to give out tickets for jaywalking. We plan to create a rumor that jaywalking will be ticketed by the Police. We will spread it by using word-of-mouth by constantly talking about it to different students.

The Nati

2010-02-01T21:32:00.009-06:00

Challenge

The CMC is charged with ensuring that students are prepared for their interviews, and that includes making sure that they have all of the right materials with them. One object that helps students look more prepared and professional is a portfolio. If a student does not own one – or forgets it at home – he can borrow one from Karen Weist. Although Karen has portfolios in her office for student use, checking them out requires that she be in her office and available. The CMC has had difficulty making students aware that the school has them available for use and figuring out a way to make them more accessible.

#1 CMC Front Desk

When interviewing on campus, students are supposed to check in at the front desk of the CMC. The portfolios could be kept behind the front desk to be handed out upon request. The student would have to return the portfolio after his/her interview.

#2 Library Checkout

Give portfolios to the Walker Library to rent out, similar to class books. Each portfolio will have a tracking number, or barcode, that the librarian can scan when the student checks it out. The student then has 2 hours to use and return the portfolios, or receive an overdue fine. The library will have 5 to 10 portfolios to rent out at any given time.

#3 Library Waiting Area

Put a stack of portfolios in the first floor of Walker Library, near the couches that normally serve as a “waiting area” for students prior to going in to interviews. Students can take one as needed, and return after use. The portfolios will be near the “CMC Section” of the library, where past student resumes are kept.

810 Microwave

2010-02-01T21:22:00.002-06:00

Problem: Owned by the OSGA, the 8:10 micowaves have a sanitation issue. If students were to heat up a meal, snack, or drink, they wouldutilize one of 4 microwaves in the 8:10 cafe. Often times, students must wait for a microwave to be available only to find sauce, liquids, or chunks of foodscattered on all four walls of the microwave. At this point, no studentwould want to heat up their food risking food already stuck on the walls to drip into their food. We will use one mechanism or a combination of mechanisms to alleviate the filth issue we see everyday in the microwave.

Solution 1: We would make available cleaning supplies such as wet wipes, spray bottle and gloves forthe microwave cleaning use. Effectively, as students begin to see other students clean or wipe the filth of the microwave after use, they will begin to curve their behavior by modeling other student behavior.

Solution 2: A guest list available for microwave users to sign before using microwave would curve negative microwavebehavior. Because a log tracks who uses the microwave and when it was used, students are less likely to leavefood uncovered or microwave items cooking for too long. Moreover, students are more likely to clean after using the microwave.

Solution 3: Each student at Owen must clean the microwave once per year to fulfill ethics requirement. With as many students as there are days in a year, each student is assigned one day in the year when he must clean the inside of the microwave before 8:00am classes.Not meeting ethics requirement at Owen will bar a student from graduating.

Vanderbilt Graduate Student Social Network

2010-02-01T20:27:00.003-06:00

PROBLEM:
Student Life has not been able to coordinate graduate students at Vanderbilt consistently. Dean Lehman would like our help to create long-term solutions to expand Owen’s social/business network to other graduate programs. We seek to diversify the core of the relationship to benefit personal and professional relationships for graduate administrators, faculty and especially students.
SATCO SATURDAYS: NETWORK, MEET AND EAT!!!

Satco Saturday’s 2:00-4:00 pm. Enjoy some sun, fun, and tacos at SATCO every Saturday from 2-4 pm. Network with other graduate students over tacos and beers on the Satco deck. Graduate school students will receive a discount for specified buckets and tacos. Marketing will come from weekly reminders on the Vanderbilt University Events Website, Owen Daily News, Facebook pages, and word of mouth. The idea here is to create a traditional meeting spot.
VANDERBILT GRADUATE STUDENT SOCIAL NETWORK

facebook/LinkedIn Graduate Student Page
The goal of the Vanderbilt Graduate Student Social Network is to bring Vanderbilt graduate students together for social and business networking. This is done by reaching out through social networks to fellow graduate students at Vanderbilt and planning some fun events. The ‘home’ would be a dedicated web page with event board, suggestion forum, calendar, etc, on facebook and/or LinkedIn. Membership growth through word of mouth, ODN, flyers in buildings on campus. Minimal cost and majority of student population have accounts on these networks already.
GRADUATE CORK BOARD

Cork boards will be placed in every graduate school as a medium for graduate students to communicate with other graduate school students. These boards will allow graduate students to post messages ranging from (but not limited to) social events, collaboration opportunities, housing, and clubs. Each cork board will contain an overview of the project and its purpose, as well, it will include the locations of the other places the boards are on campus.
Short term goal- To immediately increase awareness of the greater Vanderbilt graduate school community and to bring graduate school students together. In addition, the board will be linked to a Facebook page so students will have a centralized location to make all postings.
Long term vision- Should this initiative be successful we hope to eventually upgrade to a graduate version of “Owen Daily News” and create an email system where graduate students can automatically receive periodic reminders of school wide events and opportunities. As well, we hope to broadcast these opportunities through a network of televisions located in the different graduate facilities on campus.

Goldilocks Temperature Control

2010-02-01T20:22:00.000-06:00

Hello! We are Team Goldilocks Temperature Control. We think that Owen classrooms temperatures are terribly inconsistent – sometimes freezing cold and others time unbearably hot. Our goal is to achieve regulated classroom temperatures that are conducive to learning in every season. To maximize our learning, we need to be not warm, not cold, but just right.

OSGA Temperature Protocols: Our first idea is to lobby OSGA to legislate temperature protocols. Once the protocols have been passed by the representatives of the student body, we would initiate a marketing campaign to ensure every student is aware and understands the temperature protocols and why they have been put into place. If deemed necessary, the temperature protocols could be expanded to include a clause that makes tampering with any thermostats at Owen an Honor Code violation.
Owen Snuggies: Who doesn’t love to snuggle when it’s cold outside? The same people that hate puppies. Anyway…as a solution to the poorly regulated temperature throughout the Owen building, we plan to promote the sale of Owen-branded snuggies for students to wear in class or the library when they find the temperature to be too cold. They will be for sale in the bookstore and available in two colors, black and gold, with a small Owen logo on the front. We will encourage students to store them in their lockers to ensure their comfort at Owen every day.
Posted Thermostat Guidelines: The next possible solution to the fluctuating temperatures at Owen is a series of escalated attempts to get people to follow the new thermostat rules that we have designed. First, we plan to simply post guidelines next to each thermostat. If that approach proves to be too mild, we will then post a sign by each thermostat discouraging manual adjustment, highlighted with a red STOP sign for additional emphasis. Then, if that does not work, we plan to take matters into our own hands and set the thermostats in each room to the optimal temperature and cover them with duct tape that has "out of order" written on it to discourage anyone from even trying to adjust them.

Walker, Library Ranger - A New Database / FAQ

2010-02-01T20:16:00.002-06:00

Problem: The library will be releasing a new database near the end of the mod. The database is an FAQ, and is the first place students should seek help for research. The librarians do not want students to miss or ignore this new service. Walker, Library Ranger is tasked with creating a name for the service and publicizing the new database to Owen with an ultimate goal of 90% student awareness on launch day.

Concept #1 – Trivia contest. Get Owen students involved with database immediately by having a trivia contest that uses the FAQ for source material. Students would be asked questions daily through the week and a winner would be announced at our Thursday social. Advertising the contest would involve traditional means – a mass email, daily posting of questions in ODN, and flyers with links to the database for their use. A prize would be promised to the winner. This method should raise awareness, and should incentivize students to utilize the service immediately. A contest to name the database could be tied in, perhaps as bonus points.

Concept #2 – Words of our Founders. The database site and research tips will be posted as “text bubbles” on/around the portraits of Owen deans that line the school atrium and halls. This method will easily call the attention of anyone that walks through the school, and should leave a memorable impression. The messages could be in different dialects to reflect a comical portrayal of each portrait subject. Utilizing the school monitors to send vague messages should also pique the curiosity of students: a countdown or unanswered questions may be best.

Concept #3 – Guerilla marketing campaign. Get the attention of students through several traditional and non-traditional means. By tying together the many different means of communication – email, ODN, Owen Central, mailbox flyers – with several “guerilla” tactics – Owen monitor messages, inconspicuous or mysterious signs around campus, perhaps use ideas from concept #2 – we should easily gain 90% awareness for the database. While students often overlook these means of communication individually, an integrated campaign will catch

Innovation idea - Library Rooms

2010-02-01T19:24:00.013-06:00

Challenge: A current problem exists in the library room reservation system where groups who are finished with their current rooms are unable to indicate in the system that they no longer need the room. Library study rooms are in short supply especially during finals week when every room is reserved for extended periods of time. This is a problem that we as a group will address. The following are the 3 best ideas that our team has come up with in order to solve this problem:

1) Create a system where students or library staff can cancel reservations on the online system which will then indicate to students searching for a free room through email or some other method of communication that a room as just opened up. This will involve changing the current online software program.

2) Build some sort of physical sign system where occupants of a room can change the sign outside of the room to indicate if the room is open or occupied. Groups who leave their room early would be able to change the sign to indicate that they have left the room early. The sign could take many different forms.

3) Our final idea would be to limit room reservations to groups only which will reduce the traffic in the rooms. We would do this by requiring more than just one person in order to reserve a single room through the online reservation system. This will decrease traffic to all rooms in the library and allow for better groups study times.

Oasis Center

2010-02-01T19:22:00.006-06:00

Context:
Oasis Center works to help young people (15-21 yrs old) overcome serious challenges that prevent them from transitioning into a healthy adulthood. Oasis partners with these young people to address challenges such as homelessness, violence, depression, low self esteem, disconnection, and failing schools. Over the past year, Oasis has been in the initial stages of considering how the development of a social enterprise might advance its youth mission and generate a new source of income. www.oasiscenter.org

Project:
Conceptualize and develop an innovative social enterprise for the Oasis Center that both advances its youth mission and creates a source of sustainable revenue.

1. Food Vendors
The Oasis Center youths will work at mobile food vending carts that are positioned in high foot traffic locations such as the downtown Broadway area of Nashville. The youths will sell food items such as hot dogs, soft pretzels, and soft drinks to visitors and residents. Hours of operation would be from 10:30 AM until 9PM from Sunday through Thursday, while operating until 3AM on Friday and Saturday evenings. It is assumed, until proven otherwise, that all necessary permits and licenses can be obtained for this business. The youths will be paid as employees of the Oasis Center’s business.

2. Flyer Distribution & Sign Holding service
The Oasis Center youths will pass out flyers and/or hold signs for clients who are looking to promote their products or services. Oasis Center employees will manage operation, sales, and financial aspects of the business. The youths will be paid as employees of the Oasis Center’s business.

3. Local Moving Company
The Oasis Center youths will provide the service of moving, delivering, and removing furniture, appliances, and other items for local residents. Oasis Center employees will manage operation, sales, and financial aspects of the business. Customers will pay Oasis Center for labor and all moving equipment. Oasis Center youths will rent necessary equipment such as trucks, moving blankets, and carts and conduct moving services for customers. The youths will be paid as employees of the Oasis Center’s business.

Team Tetris

2010-02-01T17:57:00.002-06:00

We have decided to improve the utility of room 106. We are looking for ways to limit/eliminate time wasted organizing the room for all classes that meet in room 106. These are our potential solutions…

1. Propose a set of design options for the layout of the room. That could include making marks on the carpet to indicate optimal room set-up (Use tape, paint, markers, or custom carpet). It could also include diagrams that show the layout for each class that is meeting (e.g. 7 tables in front with 15 chairs for the 8am class, and 3 tables in the front with 6 chairs 4 tables in the back with 9 chairs for the 9:40am class).

2. Remove some number of tables and/or chairs from the room.

3. Launch multi-faceted awareness campaign that makes people take note of the issues in room 106. This might include… Enlisting the help of Deans Bradford and Lehman to raise awareness about the problem, Create a Facebook group called "I'm mad as hell about Room 106 being a mess!", Quantify and advertise the amount of time and money the school (i.e., faculty, students) are losing, Employ the use of blogs to raise awareness about the problem, Post on door, screen-saver on room PC, Create room policy that specifies SOPs for before and after class for students, faculty, etc…

8:10 Cafe Changes

2010-02-01T13:00:00.001-06:00

The 8:10 café is used by ALL Owen students, providing quick snacks and refreshment for all. However, the 8:10 café’s image and product line have suffered in the recent past. This is a problem because the café is a central meeting place for students, visitors, and faculty.

The café’s has NEW OWNERSHIP (Todd Johnson and Abhi Pardeshi) are committed to turning around the cafe’s image and producing an environment that creates more sales of more products/food items that people want. This is our chance to CHANGE 8:10 FOR THE BETTER. Here are our 3 simple, yet profitable ideas that will begin the transformation for the 8:10 café:

1. Offer breakfast items

Many students have 8am class. Others arrive at Owen during breakfast hours having not eaten breakfast. These early hours are a critical purchase decision time for students as hunger is at its peak—just look at the amount of donuts and pastry bags we see from Starbucks every morning at Owen. At this critical time, students lack time and food. Targeting this critical purchase time is critical to enhancing sales revenue for 8:10; students’ willingness to pay will be higher at this time. Additionally, the 8:10 café is a virtual captive market—with breakfast products right there, it will be too much of a chore to walk over to Breugger’s or Starbucks.

Breakfast items will include fresh items such as bagels, fruit, breakfast sandwiches and granola. Hot items would include microwaveable breakfast burritos and other hot breakfast options. Although these items will have a shorter lifespan “on the shelf”, they will serve the specific purpose of satisfying the breakfast meal for students.

2. Stock Frozen Meals

According to a qualitative study done in one of Owen’s qualitative marketing courses, researchers found that students do not consider the 8:10 café to be a viable “meal” option—only a “snacking” option. The research also showed that “dinner options” would be a big help to those who remained at Owen after the last class. By offering full frozen meals we seek to allow the café to occupy a different space in the consumer’s mind—the space occupied by an actual “meal place” rather than just a quick snacking option. We believe that by making 8:10 an option from which a full meal can be purchased, sales from those meals (and resulting cross-sales of drinks and other items) will help enhance revenue.

These frozen items will be kept in the freezer in 8:10; outside the freezer will be a list and pictures of the food inside. Prices will also be listed on the outside of the freezer. Students can enjoy these frozen meals for lunch, dinner, or any other occasion they feel appropriate. The point is that you shouldn’t have to leave Owen in order to get a full, satisfying meal. Lean Cuisine, TV Dinners, and small frozen personal pizza’s would be the types of items on the list.

3. Add a ‘Suggestion Box’

The reputation of the 8:10 café as a business entity has fallen over the past months due to improper inventory and product offerings. By giving students a forum to express their opinions and interests, it not only can expose the items that customers want, but give them a sense of loyalty that the 8:10 cares about them. A suggestion box can allow customers to request items that are not being sold and can further expose areas that need improvement. We expect that increased item sales will increase revenues and the feeling of loyalty will increase traffic and purchase volume.

The suggestion box can come in two formats, physical or virtual, or both. A physical box would allow for spontaneous input, as the students are there experiencing the café. It can also provide for anonymity. An electronic version can allow customers to give their feedback from anywhere, but may spur some privacy issues.

As a further idea, Todd and Abhi can use the box as a promotional tool, possibly offering a prize for the best suggestion…

Innovation Ideas

2010-02-01T11:26:00.001-06:00

Problem:
As the Vanderbilt MAcc program is only three years old, there exists significant room for improvement. From year to year the program has developed under the leadership of Karl Hackenbrack and Amy Johnson who are both open to innovation and responsive to the feedback of students. After six months in the program, we see the critical problem requiring attention as a lack of student preparation for the program as well as a need for more ongoing support throughout the program. By addressing this issue with innovative solutions we believe we will be able to improve the MAcc program to ensure that the Class of 2011 has an even better experience than we have had.

Solution #1: “So This is the MAcc Program…”
The MAcc program is a unique one-year experience and no one understands it better than current MAcc students. Although Owen distributes a Welcome Package to all incoming students, we want to provide incoming MAcc students with additional information that is specific to their experience. Our “So This is the MAcc Program…” packet will include photos of the necessary wardrobe, syllabi for the core classes, housing suggestions, study tips, etc.
We will also share a compilation of our classes’ best insider tips including our favorite restaurants, bars, stores, activities, etc. We will also include contact information for services such as dry cleaners, beauty salons, and tailors in the area. The packet will be full of relevant student advice and colorful anecdotes and will be distributed to incoming students over the summer.

Solution #2: “Buddy System”
Beginning at Welcome Weekend we propose that every incoming student be paired with a current MAcc student who will serve as a host for the weekend. Although current students already participate in many Welcome Weekend events, we feel that this will provide a more thorough experience and offer critical insight into student life. By facilitating more informal interaction, incoming students will feel more comfortable building relationships with current students so they can ask more questions both during Welcome Weekend, over the summer, and throughout the MAcc program.
Since incoming students would stay with their MAcc buddy, the program would save money on hotel and transportation expenses. This peer mentor relationship will also model what the students will experience when they start work at a Big Four accounting firm.

Solution #3: “Contact Families”
Since many MAcc students are new to the Nashville area we think they would benefit from building relationships with contact families. This program would provide many of the comforts of home while enriching and expanding the students’ Nashville experience. We would draw on Owen alumni to act as contact families in order to facilitate networking and relationship building. The families would be expected to reach out to the students on a monthly basis by inviting them into their homes for a meal, taking them to a sporting or cultural event, etc.

What makes a good idea a GOOD IDEA! ?

2010-02-01T10:07:00.001-06:00

For this week's discussion topic I'd like you to think a few deep thoughts in response to the question of what makes a good idea a good idea. I need you to think about your position on this since you will be giving feedback to others on their ideas this week. A few thoughts as were suggested in class:
1) Ideas are like babies; even ugly ones need love
2) Bad ideas are bad ideas and need to be stopped
3) Sometimes it's the expression that's bad and not the idea

Remember to give feedback to at least 5 ideas to the teams as they post above.

Dave

What Flavor is Your Imagination?

2010-01-25T11:05:00.001-06:00

Which of the three types of imagination do you practice most readily [Descriptive, Creative, or Challenging]? Why? Which type is most conducive to individual ideation and which type is more conducive to group brainstorming? (Find the original article in the class website for this week.)

"Seriously Cool Workspaces"

2010-01-19T08:47:00.001-06:00

Some data suggesting that the environment does matter to facilitating creativity and innovation. (Thanks Joshua!)
Seriously Cool Workspaces

Creativity Websites

2010-01-17T13:42:00.001-06:00

Blackboard lists four websites with differing approaches to the problem of individual-level creativity (Whack on the Side of the Head; Debono's Lateral Thinking; Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain; and ideation TRIZ). Based on your investigation of these approaches and your personal experience with the problem of generating good ideas, which of the four different approaches would you recommend to people seeking to improve their ideation ability? Do any of the approaches offered fit particular kinds of problem better (or worse)?

Welcome to MGT 449 Innovation Strategy Mod 3/2010

2010-01-08T15:42:00.005-06:00

Friends of Innovation!

We'll use this site to share our insights and understandings as the course moves along. Please keep in mind that this is a public forum (for reasons I explain in class).

To ease your entry into the blogosphere, you can simply "reply" to this post with your insights from the Week 1 Blog assignment.

Assignment: In your opinion, what is the most innovative product that has been produced in the last 15 years? What is the most over-hyped product? Please think hard about this and register your opinion in the blog as a "comment" to the post corresponding to this question. (Do an internet search of the phrase "most innovative product" if you need a little help with your thinking or download and review this pdf from Business Week.) When you are convinced you have a good answer, please post a reply to this entry (by clicking "POST COMMENT" below) after entering your ideas along with a very brief explanation of your position.

Note: If you use a goofy username, that's ok, but please let me know so that I can be sure to track your assignments over the course of the mod.

Measure Twice, Cut Once ?

2009-04-20T13:18:00.006-05:00

I hope your project came out better than this!

Please share some insights (and documentation) about the process and outcome of your innovation project.

Convenience Store Final Presentation

2009-04-15T15:14:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to our final presentation

http://www.screencast.com/t/nmUebXgC

-Andrew

Social Innovation?!?! (Discussion of the Week)

2009-04-13T10:25:00.007-05:00

What's the most constrained domain of social innovation of interest to you? Why is it that way? How might one go about changing that?

This week’s discussion

2009-04-05T22:54:00.002-05:00

How could you measure innovation at the industry level of analysis? By your measure, what are the most innovative industries today? What industries do you think will continue to be innovative in our life-times? Why?

PCCT

2009-04-01T12:00:00.003-05:00

Pastoral Counseling Centers of Tennessee (PCCT) is an organization that oversees pastoral counseling at multiple locations around Middle Tennessee. Its leadership hub is in Nashville, with clinicians at satellite locations. At present, PCCT does not have outcomes to measure “success,” a grant-seeking process to procure new moneys, or an efficient reporting process between clinicians and leadership.

1. Develop and sustain “success” outcomes: How do we measure success within the organization?
- Improve accuracy and timeliness of reporting
- Measure client, clinician, and leadership satisfaction
- Develop performance metrics
- Get everyone on the same page, working towards the same clear and measurable goals

2. Refine grant-seeking process: How do we get money?
- Educate staff (grant-writing/grant-seeking process)
- Develop listservs of interest; find specific grants
- Create grant templates
- Get better info from clients (intake sheet)

3. Reform reporting process: How can we make the paperwork easier/faster/more accurately?
- Move from triple-documentation to double-documentation (Microsoft Outlook & paper form. No others.)
- Eliminate redundancies
- Closed communication loop (ie. implement a receipt system)

Team Rock Your Face Off

2009-03-31T23:39:00.002-05:00

The Problem:
Per Shannon Frank’s mom who is a preschool teacher in San Diego, California:
Thanks to your team for taking on our problem! It seems that allergies are becoming more frequent and more serious with each passing year. Our most common and most serious allergies are to eggs and peanuts. This year, we also have several children in different classrooms with allergies to soy, oats, and all tree nuts. We have managed the problem, but I’m sure there must be a more efficient way to do it.
This year, I had the mother of my little boy (severe egg, nuts, soy, and oats) go to the kitchen and make a detailed list of all products that he could and could not eat (fish crackers, nutrigrain bars, etc.). I keep this list at my desk. I asked his mother to send a snack in every day just in case he cannot have what we are having. Unfortunately our snacks change, and frequently what we are having is not on the list. The snack cart is out on the playground, and I cannot leave my children to go to the kitchen and read the teeny, tiny print to see if it is OK for him to eat. I grab his special snack, but he would much rather eat what the other kids are having. Also, sometimes the actual ingredients on the box are OK, but in even tinier print is a warning that the product was produced in a factory that also handles peanuts.
I look forward to your ideas on handling allergies, and making our school safer and more efficient!

Method #1: Color-Coded Labels
Our first method of solving this problem would be to use colored stickers to identify the products that contain allergens. We envision the process to go as follows:
When snacks are purchased and brought to the kitchen, a sticker would be affixed to the box if an allergen is in the snack.
There would be a master list of snacks classified by allergen. Each allergen would correspond to a different color. This list would be checked when the snacks are purchased. A key to the color-coding would also be placed on the snack cart.
When the snack preparer prepares a snack in the morning she would the snacks in individual baggies and place a sticker on them based on the sticker on the bulk package. Snacks that do not have any of the potential allergens would be labeled with stickers as well.

Method #2: Repackaging Snack Products
Similar to the above method. Snacks would be repackaged when they are purchased. Instead of using color-coded stickers to distinguish allergens, this method would use different shaped containers. Products with allergens would then be stored together in the pantry.

Method #3: Product Allergen List
The third method would be a master list. This list would contain all of the snacks served at the preschool. The snack products would be listed alphabetically, and each product would indicate the allergens that it contains (if any). This list would be placed on the snack cart and would be updated and reprinted whenever a new snack product was purchased. The teachers would check this list before distributing snacks to their students.

Constraints:
Three of the major constraints to consider during review are:
1. We need a fool proof system; we do not want children to get sick from the snacks.
2. There are budget constraints; the solution cannot add additional costs to the budget.
3. Whoever takes ownership needs to be able to understand and implement the system.
Stakeholders
1. Teachers
2. Assistants
3. Parents
4. Administration
5. Preschool children
6. School accreditation organization

Kegs are crashing

2009-03-31T23:08:00.008-05:00

Problem: A quintessential pillar of business school is the incredible network of classmates that we gain. At Owen it is epitomized by the Thursday night Kegs…an opportunity to network with classmates, build friendships, talk over business ideas and blow off some steam from a week of class. So “what’s the problem” you ask? We aren’t crushing on your mellow; we just think there is room for improvement. Let’s face it, not everyone attends and we have settled into a comfortable rut of people we always hang out with. – Ted Griffith and David Spencer say “let’s shake it up.”

1) Motion Study – do the keg shuffle
Ever notice that there is a ton of space in the downstairs of Owen but we cluster together? We will analyze security camera data to understand student traffic flows during kegs and propose a new keg placement to disperse the crowd create more opportunity for conversation.
2) More faculty – connect graduating students with Profs
Maybe the Deans will come over once in a while, or they are there for trivia night, but let’s face it -- faculty, staff and administration tends to shy away from Kegs. We say invite them out! Let’s have a night where faculty and staff attend to say farewell to their favorite students. MACC, MSF and second year MBA students are graduating – get your picture taken with Sagi before you leave.
3) Alt Beverages – soda, water, other liquids
Maybe you do not like beer (blasphemy!), maybe you are a wine gal, or maybe you would prefer a cool soda while chatting with friends. We realize not everyone is always game for a beer, so we say “have more liquids.” Have some non-alcoholic drinks and mixers if you want to make your own.

Keeping the Tables Plugged in Part Deux

2009-03-31T22:55:00.004-05:00

Problem Statement: See previous post.

Solution 1:
Place signs on the table with instructions for plugging in the table. The signs can be placed on the table top (laminated into the top) or can be placed on the side. The signs are more likely to be read if they are on top of the top. The sign could also just say "Please plug in outlets when moving." or something like that. Most people have no idea how to plug the tables in so having some sort of sign on the table would be helpful.

Solution 2:
Place the outlets on the outside of the table. Right now the outlets are hidden inside the center of the table. While it look better to hide the outlets, it makes it a lot harder to know if the outlet is plugged in or not. Having the outlet on the outside make it much more easy to see if the outlet is plugged in or not. Also, it eliminates the need to tilt the tables to plug them back in.

Solution 3:
Hire a student to check the tables. Right now a student is paid to check the markers in the study rooms and classrooms. The student also checks the thermostats in the classrooms. This same student could also be tasked with checking the lobby tables and ensuring they are plugged in.

Keeping Owen's Lobby Tables plugged in

2009-03-31T21:57:00.004-05:00

(Diagram for Option 3)

Problem Description

The round tables on the first floor of Owen are equipped with electrical outlets. Unfortunately, a majority of the time, the tables are not plugged in, rendering the outlets ineffective. To plug in the tables, the power cord must be located, and the table must be lifted, a tough task when people are already working or eating on them. A result is that the tables remain unpowered for extended periods of time.

Proposed Solutions

#1 Bolt the Tables to the floor

Place attach small L brackets to the inside of the tables, drill sockets into the floor so that the tables can be bolted down. Tables will not be able to be moved without removing the bolts. This will make moving (and unplugging) and replacing the tables a more deliberate action. It will also eliminate incidental moving that occurs when people put their feet on them, bump into them etc… which also can jar the plugs under the tables loose.

#2 Attach a power strip to the side of the table

Rather than have to lift the table upwards or onto its side to plug in the table, we propose to attach an outlet on the side of the table and that will make plugging in the table easier, eliminating the need to disturb people that may already be sitting there. It will also make it clear when the table is unplugged, and remove the “mystery” as to why a table might not be working.

The first step in this process would be to affix a “permanent” male plug into the floor outlet with a 2 foot extension cord. A small mouse hole will be made at the base of the table where the cord could be fed out to the side of the table. When the table is to be plugged in, the extension cord can simply be plugged into the power strip affixed to the side of the table base.

# 3: Create a base into which the tables will fit w/ an automatic link to the power source. The idea is to keep the tables stationary and equip them with a fixed plug that will only work when the table is aligned with its designated foot housings.

One of the reasons tables become unplugged is because they slide around the floors and their plugs get ripped out of the floor. Having designated sink points for the base will avoid the problem.
Another issue is that the tables have floppy cords. This rigid power connection will help solve that problem.

I Run for the Party - Heidi, Roe, Chris Brown

2009-03-31T21:41:00.004-05:00

Problem Statement: I Run for the Party is a Nashville area for-profit race company which hosts large scale running races around the city throughout the year. The concept that I Run for the Party owner, Emmit Martin, came up with is to provide an outlet for encouraging running by throwing a large party after each race. He currently hosts a 5K race at Cinco de Mayo, a 10K race on July 4, and a costume-based 5K race at Halloween. His company has been up and running for the past three years, but race registration has stagnated. Although he yields more runners than the average 5K/10K races (1200-1400), he wants to grow the number of people at each of his events. Our mission is to come up with innovative ways to increase race registration and participation going forward, with a particular focus on the upcoming Cinco de Mayo 5K.

Solution 1: Hold a registration booth at Vanderbilt's Rites of Spring Festival. This annual event brings in a large number of people who make-up Emmit's target audience: young people who both exercise and party. By hosting a registration booth during the Festival, Emmit can reach directly to the target market segment and hold on-the-spot registration for these participants. He can also have volunteers walk around with race information brochures to further spread the word to his main target market.

Solution 2: Have race pamphlet information included in race packets for Country Music Marathon and 1/2 Marathon participants. The Country Music Marathon is held in Nashville the week before the Cinco de Mayo 5K. By reaching out to the race organizers, Emmit can get his race pamphlets included in the race packets received by all Marathon participants. This market of runners is a strong target because a majority of race participants are Nashville residents who clearly enjoy running events. They will also likely be interested in the more casual 5K experience the following weekend, which will be a much shorter distance with a great party celebration afterwards.

Solution 3: Hand stamps with race website and information. Emmit can purchase hand stamps with the race information printed on them and can use the stamps to promote the event at local bars or other Nashville area events. He can also work with bars to have the hand stamps be used when checking IDs when people enter bars. Again this hits his target market which is definitely a younger crowd which is historically drawn to the event because of the running, but also because of the party element of the races.

Lucky Pup

2009-03-31T18:35:00.003-05:00

Problem Statement: Lucky Pup is a local store that provides bathing facilities for dogs. Currently, the owner of Lucky Pup estimates that more than 50% of her customer traffic occurs on Saturdays between 11 & 3. She would like to develop a process that encourages her customers to come during the week so the wait on Saturdays is not so long. Currently, all Saturday baths are self-serve, while baths during the week can be arranged by appointment and a staff member can bathe the dog (at a higher cost).

Solution 1:
Online Appointments on Saturday: Customers will need to book appointments on Saturday. Appointments will be for 15-minute time slots with the staff closely monitoring the process. An additional 5 minutes will be given for drying the dogs in the designated drying area. The concept would control the Saturday traffic. With limited appointments those customers not able to book for Saturday may come on a different day. The strict scheduling also allows for customers to more definitively plan their days, since there won't be unexpected waits when they come to the store. However, this would be a drastic change from the current process in which no appointments are allowed, everything is strictly "first come, first serve." There is also the possibility of customers abusing the system and attempting to lock in bath appointments for months at a time. This would also require strict time limit enforcement by the staff.

Solution 2: Raise prices on Saturday: On Saturday, raising the price from $10, $12, and $15 to $15, $17, and $20 would release some traffic on Saturday.
Favorable feature: Encourage people to visit the store during week days.
Likely Constraints: may lose many customers or push loyal customers to visit other stores with cheaper prices.

Soultion 3: Charity: Hold charity nights during the week in which premium service is offered for $20 (usually $15). Of the $20, $10 will go towards a specific charity. This concept could strengthen the store image in the pet-owning community as well as attract new customers and current weekend customers. Likely constraints are that it is a temporary solution and the higher price may be too much to overcome.

Stapler is not at its place!

2009-03-31T17:26:00.004-05:00

Problem: Though Owen has a lot of printers and staplers it is hard to find staplers at its required place. Thus, students have to go to different printer areas to staple the documents.

Solution # 1: Replace the hand held staplers with heavy electronic staplers that have to be plugged into the wall. It is too heavy to move these and they staple automatically. Moreover, put a note on the wall with each stapler on how to operate it.

Solution # 2: Have somebody from the library to check the staplers everyday and if moved bring it back to it's original location. Moreover, put a note on the wall "Please do not move the staplers, thank you for your cooperation."

Solution # 3: Chain the stapler to the desks/wall in their current locations. Henceforth, solving all the issues.

Adding a Suit Station at Owen

2009-03-31T15:00:00.004-05:00

Problem Statement: While Owen has a huge focus on professional appearance when participating in information sessions and interviews on campus, there is not an adequate space in which to hang suits and suit jackets while not interviewing. Thus, students are forced to wear or carry around their suits during the day which can potentially result in wrinkling and stains and thus decrease the quality of a student's professional appearance.

Solution #1: Install an adjustable hanging bar in the locker room. This solution involves a simple installion of an adjustable hanging bar, most likely at the entrance of the locker room above where the Lost and Found is currently located. This solution is inexpensive and easy to implement and students would be able to leave their suits hanging all day long if necessary. Some of the downsides would be potentially not enough space for all of the suits and the suits hanging there may be jostled (and potentially wrinkled) due to the proximity to the entrance of the locker room.

Solution #2: Install department store hanging rack and portable steamer in the locker room. This solution would involve the installation of a department store-like hanging suit rack in the locker room, either in the entrance or in one of the corners that allows students to hang and steam their suits in preparation for info sessions and interviews. This pros of this solution are many in that it can be used for both business casual and business formal attire, students can leave their suit jackets in their lockers and then steam before the event, and it would be specifically for student use (as opposed to placing it in the lobby where all can use it). Some downsides include cost (this is our most expensive option) and spacial considerations (is there room for it in the locker room? Could students leave their suits there all day long or would it be for last minute use?).

Solution #3: Install hanging bars or hooks in all of the bathrooms. This simple solution would allow for more than one area for hanging suits while not in use for interviews. This solution makes sense because there is more space available in the bathrooms, the suit would hang in the same room as where a student would change, and it would be out of the way, i.e. not be an eyesore for potential recruiters and perspective students. Downsides to this may include cleanliness issues (is the bathroom clean enough to store apparel) and potential space issues (can the smaller bathrooms accommodate this change? Is there room for this in the Men's Bathroom?).

Blane and Steffens

2009-03-31T14:01:00.002-05:00

Problem:

Grace Clayton Real Estate is a one woman Real Estate Company. Currently, this company is functioning within a difficult economy and working to gain a competitive advantage. The problem we are addressing is creating a strategy to help Ms. Clayton gain a competitive advantage in this marketplace and innovate some specific aspect of her business.

Database Solution:

Currently GC Real Estate is outdated on its record keeping. The all important database is currently on multiple word documents as well as hand written notes. We propose to create a database that will allow for this important information to be more readily available and easily found. To do this, we would create a functioning excel data keeping system that would also allow for sorting by specific characteristics such as location or age.

Standardizing Services:

One of the major issues that Residential Real Estate Agents must learn to deal with is the amount of time wasted during the home buying process. This is typically due to the lack of a specific plan by the Real Estate Agent and the lack of the clients knowing exactly what they want. We believe we can create a standardized template by which Ms. Clayton can optimize her time with each specific client. This would consist of an initial survey which would help the client think about what is important to them before the process begins. Additionally, it would specifically lay out the services that Ms. Clayton would provide and the limits on her time.

Website Redesign:

GC Real Estate currently has a website but it is extremely basic and outdated. In today’s society, a website is a must for expansion of business as the web has become a major channel for finding potential clients. We propose to help redesign the look of the website and the functionality so as it becomes a significant asset to GC Real Estate.

Noise Problem on the Second Floor of the Owen Library

2009-03-31T13:52:00.003-05:00

Problem: The second floor of the Owen library is too noisy according to student surveys. In particular, the library doors (and area around the doors) are very loud and create distractions for students studying in the library.

Concept #1: Move the denali printer from outside the library doors to the area directly behind the elevator on the second floor (the fish bowl). Much of the noise heard by students in the library is created by other students huddled outside the library around the denali printer. This will also encourage students to use the printers inside the library, reducing the need for students to frequently enter/exit the library doors.

Concept #2: Place cloth/carpet door stops on the second floor library doors to reduce noise created by students entering/exiting the library.

Concept #3: Information Campaign - Inform students of library policies via e-mail, post library rules outside and within the library, post noise reminders on library tables (as stickers), incorporate library noise within the Owen Honor Code.

Concept #4: Assign an Owen Librarian to sit at a table upstairs. This will hopefully discourage student's from talking.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Improving the Interview Feedback at the Owen Career Management Center

2009-03-31T00:41:00.005-05:00

Description of the Problem:
The CMC has a great resource that helps Owen students prepare for interviews – the interview feedback binder. Many people have seen/used it, but it is not always accessible as it is not available outside CMC hours, nor is it updated as frequently as it could be because it is paper based. At times valuable comments are not legible because the forms are all filled out by hand.

The CMC needs a more accessible resource that students can easily update and one that they are more likely to update following their interviews.

Our Proposed Solutions
1. Quick and Easy (Scan Current Interview Feedback forms and store on Owen’s BlackBoard.)
Blackboard will store historical records of Interview Feedback forms that will be scanned into the system. In the future, feedback forms will be filled out digitally and the CMC will put them on the site/share folder. This new system will allow 24/7 accessibility to Owen students. In addition, students will find it easier to read digital feedback forms instead of the hand-written forms currently used.

2. The Tech Solution
This solution will utilize software currently available at no additional cost. We see this coming in a survey form tailored to look similar to the Interview Feedback Forms currently used by the CMC. Historical records will be transferred into this new form by student workers in the CMC.

3. The Paper Trail
The Paper Trail will maintain the resource in hard-copy form, but it will be stored in an area that is accessible to Owen students 24 hrs every day. Improvements would be primarily focused toward increasing the volume of feedback.

Gilda's Club

2009-03-30T22:10:00.002-05:00

Problem
Gilda’s club needs our help in developing creative ideas for inexpensive marketing and a more significant online presence. The end goal is ultimately to help them raise funds through greater awareness.

1. Gilda’s club Facebook page
Create a Facebook page for Gilda’s club with the intentions of increasing their online presence and reaching out to a younger demographic

2. Email marketing campaign
Work with Emma to develop an email marketing communication plan in order to decrease current mailing costs. This could also be used for future fundraising

3. Employee/Volunteer/Member blogs
Create a blog where employees/volunteers/ and members can post info about what’s going on at Gilda’s club, opportunities to volunteer etc. It also could serve as a forum where people could ask questions and receive answer from people associated with the organization.

Solving: Lack of knowledge-sharing at Owen

2009-03-30T17:22:00.004-05:00

Team: J. Robella, S. Kaiser, and T. Shirachi

Problem: Lack of knowledge-sharing amongst MBAs at Owen to relate "real world" issues to "academic" issues and vice versa in terms of what we're learning in the classroom and amidst things we read and learn from the WSJ, magazines, panels, conferences, etc. This is an important problem because as MBAs graduate, we won't be able to properly synthesize the knowledge we've obtained and apply it successfully to our jobs. The affected stakeholders are companies, students, the school, community, and staff/professors and affects students directly.

Concept#1: Breakfast Club: Incorporate prospective students, current students, alums to network and talk about current events in specific industries or in general. Share what individuals are learning in class and in readings, etc.

Concept #2: Quiz Show: Host meals at sponsoring restaurants and invite prospective students, current students, alums, and Sig-Os to event to "compete" against each other on a specific set of industry questions for class points. The quiz will be used as an ice-breaker that can lead to other topic discussions

Concept #3: Club seminars for current and prospective students providing students with industry background and education on what is in the news and relevant to specific jobs/markets.

Special Requests: Other forums for effective knowledge-sharing that will help MBAs apply more of their education to real world topics/events?

Convienence Store - 3 Ideas

2009-03-30T17:18:00.003-05:00

Problem Statement: Our Client owns a convienence store in Milan, TN and has struggled to grow profit from its current stagnant point. We are trying to innovate a unique idea to increase profit at this store that is easy to implement and has the potential to make a significant impact.

1. Franchised Food Item

- Implement a product that can be franchised form an existing company such as a slushee machine, hunt brothers pizza, stefano’s sandwhiches, etc..

- http://huntbrotherspizza.com/

2. Customer Loyalty Promotion

- Have a punchcard system that rewards frequent drink purchases, coffee, beer, soda that will increase repeat purchases and hopefully brought in by this promotion will by complimentary products as well.

3. Outdoor Goods Sales/Consignment

- The store has a section of land outside that could be used to allow other people or companies to sell goods on consignment. For example, he could let outdoorsman sell their old boats, hunting supplies, etc. Also, could take advantage of holidays, fireworks for 4^th of July, Pumpkins for Halloween etc.

I Run for the Party Ideas

2009-03-30T17:17:00.003-05:00

Problem Statement: Bringing in more participants and volunteers to events and increase general marketing, advertising, and awareness of the events and volunteer oppotunities.

Concept #1: Website Improvement (irunfortheparty.com)
- Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Volunteer and Participant Blogging.
- Calendar of events
- More information: Volunteer opportunities, Races, Sponsors, Etc.

Concept #2: Have based runs with other options and have a Grand Marshall for the event:
I ________ for the __________ .
- Run -Party
- Tri -Charity
- Walk -Etc.

Concept #3: Water coolers/small cups on a running loop. (Vanderbilt campus loop, Centennial Park, etc.)
- Advertisements/Bumper stickers with "irunfortheparty.com"
- Banner and traning group to train/exercise at this area

All Team Concepts Are Posted Above This LIne

2009-03-30T17:08:00.006-05:00

Make your mark on all ideas above this post.

What's a good idea? (Weekly Assignment)

2009-03-30T08:55:00.004-05:00

In this entry I'd like you to add something to the discussion about what makes a good idea a "good idea"? Is a good idea an idea that may be mundane but that is easy to do (that is one that favors execution) or is a good idea one that drives important change, but that may be very difficult to implement? Please consider reading your colleagues comments when composing your own. Let's see if we can make this a true discussion.

Imagination...?

2009-03-22T16:32:00.003-05:00

Which of the three types of imagination do you practice most readily? Why? Which type is most conducive to individual ideation? To group brainstorming? (Find the original article in the class website for this week.)

Who needs a team?? Who needs a member??

2009-03-12T09:23:00.004-05:00

If you need a team (or want to find another member for your team) please respond in the comments area to this message. Let's get this done, people!!

Thanks!!!

Creativity Sites Assignment for Monday...

2009-03-11T17:28:00.010-05:00

And if you need some examples....

2009-03-10T19:34:00.008-05:00

In the blog I wrote about what makes a good client, I said that I think good clients fall into three categories. I always think examples are helpful, so I came up with at least one personal example that would fall into each of the categories I listed. If I were to take this class again, this is basically the list of clients I would consider choosing to work with for my innovation project:

1) Tom Snyder Productions – This company is a subsidiary of Scholastic that produces education software. I met the president at a conference about two months ago, and he showed a lot of interest in my dissertation research. I have been meaning to follow up with him ever since I met him, and this project would give me the perfect excuse to do that.

2) A surf photographer – Photography is my favorite hobby and surfing is my favorite sport. As a result, I am fascinated by surf photography. I know that the guy who sold me my last three surfboards is friends with a few surf photographers who shoot all the big surf competitions in Hawaii, and I don’t think he would mind putting me in touch with one of them. Working with a surf photographer for seven weeks just sounds really cool to me, and the fact that I think it's cool would probably translate into me getting more out of the class and doing a better job on the final project.

3) A service learning project conveniently located either on or near campus - I am going to post a list of clients that fall into this category on Blackboard. All the clients on the list have told me they would welcome innovation ideas from students taking this course, and I have done enough leg work for you to determine that the problems they are facing within their organizations fall within the general scope of what Professor Owens expects you to accomplish. The contact people are all very well connected individuals who have managed to pull off some pretty impressive innovations using fairly limited resources. They are also all at a point where they would benefit from just a little extra help from you as opposed to being at a point where they need so much help that whatever you are able to accomplish in seven weeks is unlikely to have any real impact. I am happy to answer any questions you may have about these potential clients, but I also encourage you to seek out similar individuals on your own.

I listed their websites below, and I encourage you to check them out. Even if you aren't interested in these particular clients, it might help you think of some new ideas. I also encourage you to post on the Blogspot if you could use some help finding a particular type of client or if you know of a good opportunity with a client that isn't a perfect fit for your group but might be a perfect fit for another group.

Cinco De Mayo 5k and Block Party
http://www.irunfortheparty.com

Music Therapist - Vanderbilt Children's Hospital
http://www.vanderbiltchildrens.com/interior.php?mid=3880

School Program - Vanderbilt Children's Hospital
http://www.vanderbiltchildrens.com/interior.php?mid=277

Child Life Services -Vanderbilt Children's Hospital
http://www.vanderbiltchildrens.com/interior.php?mid=1095

Vanderbilt Instruction in Biomedical Engineering for Secondary Science (VIBES)
http://www.vanth.org/vibes

Gilda's Club Nashville
http://www.gildasclubnashville.org/

There is also an opportunity to work on a new Internet microsite with the School of Engineering.

What Makes a Good Client?

2009-03-10T19:30:00.005-05:00

In class yesterday, Professor Owens asked the class what makes a good client. There was some thoughtful discussion about the answer to that question in class, but I thought it was an important enough discussion to introduce on the Blogspot as well.

When I took this course in the spring of 2007, I was surprised to see what a big difference students’ choices about a client made in both the overall experience they had in the course and the final projects they produced. For the most part, the teams who chose good clients had good experiences in the class and produced the best final projects. The teams who chose cheesy clients (and trust me, there were definitely a few of those) struggled to fulfill the course requirements and had pretty cheesy final projects. There were some exceptions, but that was the general trend that I saw.

The structure of this class requires that you spend a lot of time thinking about, talking about, and interacting with your clients. Your time is valuable, but you can’t charge your clients for your services. Therefore, I think it’s important to think about how you stand to benefit from the services you are providing to your client for free. In my opinion, the best clients fall into one of these three categories:

1) They have the potential to have a positive impact on your career.
2) They give you a legitimate excuse to indulge one of your favorite hobbies, passions, or interests.
3) They give you the opportunity to have a positive impact on the Nashville community or another community in which you hope to build strong connections.

Pick a good client. It will make a bigger difference than you might think.

So Who’s That Girl With the Video Camera? And Why is She Posting Blogs?

2009-03-10T19:23:00.004-05:00

I just added a blog about what makes a good client, but I also thought it might be helpful if I took a quick moment to introduce myself.

As Professor Owens mentioned in class, I’ll be working as a TA for the Innovation Strategy course this semester. I took this class in the spring of 2007, but I’m not actually an Owen student. I’m in my third year of the doctoral program in education policy over at Peabody. If you ever want to hear about my research, I would be more than happy to explain it to you in detail. However, I am going to assume most of you are not nearly as interested in virtual manipulative models of basic fraction concepts as I am, so I am going to keep the explanation of what I actually do pretty simple. Basically, my research looks at how technology impacts learning. I also spend a lot of time thinking about why kids hate math so much and what teachers can do to help them understand it better. I’ve been working on a prototype of a technology-based, elementary mathematics curriculum for the past couple of years, and I hope to eventually license to a publisher. In a previous life (i.e. the one before I started graduate school) I was a math teacher at a high school in Maui. I also spent some time working in sports.

Professor Owens and I have been working together off and on over the past couple of months to try and develop a strategy that would allow him to deliver the content of his course to a broader audience. We’ve also been thinking about how he might be able to use technology to enhance learning for the students he already has in his classes. You probably won’t hear from me much during class given what we’re trying to accomplish, but you’ll see posts from me from time to time on the Blogspot and Blackboard. I would love to hear any ideas or suggestions for improvement that you guys might have about the class. I’m also always happy to answer questions about the course or about your projects.

Welcome to Innovation Strategy Mod 4, 2009

2009-03-06T17:21:00.007-06:00

We'll use this site to share our insights and understandings as the course moves along. Please keep in mind that this is a public forum (for reasons I explain in class).

To ease your entry into the blogosphere, you can simply "reply" to this post with your insights from the Week 1 Blog assignment.

Assignment: In your opinion, what is the most innovative product that has been produced in the last 50 years? What is the most over-hyped product? Please think hard about this and register your opinion in the blog as a "comment" to the post corresponding to this question. (Do an internet search of the phrase "most innovative product" if you need a little help with your thinking.) Please post a reply (by clicking "COMMENTS" below) with your insights along with a very brief explanation of your position.

Note: If you use a goofy username, that's ok, but please let me know so that I can be sure to track your assignments over the course of the mod.

Frist Photo Show

2008-12-19T21:04:00.002-06:00

See the curvy green pepper! Cool images abound at this show.

Fresher cookers: User-Focused Design

2008-12-08T22:54:00.001-06:00

Dec 4th 2008

From The Economist print edition

Technology and development: The humble cooking stove is being overhauled around the world with the help of “user focused” design

Environfit International

IF USER demand were the sole driver of innovation, the biomass cooking stove would be one of the most sophisticated devices in the world. Depending on which development agency you ask, between two-and-a-half and three billion people—nearly half the world’s population—use a stove every day, in conjunction with solid fuel such as wood, dung or coal. Yet in many parts of the world the stove has barely progressed beyond the Stone Age. FULL ARTICLE >>

The grand finale, this was pretty FUN

2008-12-08T10:25:00.001-06:00

Our innovation project was a lot of fun because of the task and my group. First our client has been attempting to fix this problem over many mods. The attempts at fixing the problem first started in her leading change class where she had to call her change partner every week and report on her progress. Needless to say, nothing was fixed. Therefore we took it upon ourselves to try and fix the problem as she could not fix it herself. It was also a lot of fun because it not only benefited our client, but myself too as she is constantly late for our workout sessions. The final presentation filming was hysterical and hopefully she stops hitting snooze so we can work out at 7 not 7 15 or even 7 30!!!!

Societal Innovation

2008-12-02T11:57:00.003-06:00

What is the most constrained domain of social innovation of interest to you? Why is it that way? How might one go about changing that?

Weekly Discussion Topic...

2008-11-16T20:35:00.005-06:00

Africa: Innovating within Constraints

2008-11-14T10:40:00.005-06:00

In this Worldchanging.com column, Ethan Zuckerman describes falling in love with innovation in Africa. For a recent conference on "social change organizations" in Barcelona, this uber-blogger who covers technology on and about the African continent, asked himself:

How should social change organizations innovate? I realized that I didn’t have a lot of great examples of innovation initiated by social change organizations… but I had lots of great stories about ambitious and smart Africans innovating.

This post is a fun narrative of Ethan's path from making musical instruments out of junk in art school to working with Kenyans to develop SMS/GoogleMap mash-ups to record social unrest.

His 7 Points of Innovation in Africa can help out in pretty much any environment where constraints are as plentiful as gumption and need.

Graphic Facilitation and Innovation

2008-11-13T15:10:00.010-06:00

These are the images produced by Peter Durand during Prof. Owens' class on Nov. 11, 2008. To learn more about graphic facilitation, visit The Center for Graphic Facilitation.

(click thumbnails for large view)

Subsidizing Innovation in the Auto Industry

2008-11-12T18:54:00.005-06:00

Thomas Friedman wrote an interesting Op-Ed about the car industry bailout in the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/opinion/12friedman.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin.

Particularly interesting is Friedman's reaction to Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli's assertion that the proposed government loan is not a bailout, but " a retooling for innovation". Friedman's response: “We have to subsidize Detroit so that it will innovate? What business were you people in other than innovation? If we give you another $25 billion, will you also do accounting?".

While the bailout might address the car companies' financial constraints, do we really think that the companies will be able to address any of the other constraints to innovation? Friedman has a proposal for that to- enlisting Steve Jobs to take over the industry!

Any other thoughts (I'm confident that Bryan will address the Unions!)?

Improving the Owen Consulting Club

2008-11-11T18:51:00.005-06:00

Our group has taken up the task to come up with innovative ideas to improve the Owen Consulting Club. The club has taken some recent initiatives of generating new activities and is making effort to build up a base of structured tutoring sessions. They have approached us to suggest and implement solutions to increase clubs outreach and performance.

After an idea generation process, we refined the top ideas on three different fronts.

1) Innovate club activities to improve member involvement

This front adds innovative activities like trips and case challenges to increase the outreach and impact of the club. Collaboration with several groups like the executive MBA students and Owen faculty would also help add aspects to the club that could aid the overall performance of members.

2) Improving Club Awareness and promotion.

This front deals with increasing the awareness of club with in Owen and gaining momentum on its activities. Innovative ideas like having club merchandise or the consulting pod can help create positive culture around the student community and help in developing a problem solving attitude in general.

The teasers to be put up in lobby or restrooms can be innovation play fields to get the ball rolling for the club even with non members.

3) Increase Club’s presence and activities through an online sharing platform.

An online sharing platform like an internal website or a share point site for resource assimilation and communication is of utmost need to the club. Currently being dragged on shared folders and emails, the club lacks a central repository and platform for members to learn and interact. It can increase accessibility as well as usage of resources.

This can also provide a space to innovate with activities like weekly polls on issues, discussion forums, case book sharing, video pod casts from experts etc.

8:10 Cafe Top Three Ideas

2008-11-10T14:21:00.005-06:00

Our client, the owner of the 8:10 cafe, would like to increase her revenues. We have been asked to find additional revenue streams as well as making it easier for the customers to pay for items immediately versus the traditional IOU system or worse the five finger discount mode of payment. Please help us with this monumental challenge!!

1. Implement Pay Pal system (more revenue, easier access for customers). Have formal 8:10 tabs to complete and turn in. Erika sends out Pay Pal invoice at the end of the month.

2. Install ATM inside the cafe. This will allow those without cash an opportunity to complete purhases and will cut down on th large amounts of IOU's, which is currently around 30% of purchases.

3. Sell Cigarettes to increase revenues.

Strategic Innovation (from the inside out)

Weekly Discussion: Leading Innovation

Weekly Discussion: Societal Constraints

Weekly Discussion: Industry Constraints

Weekly Discussion: Organizational Constraints

Weekly Discussion: Group Constraints

Individual Innovation Constraints: Week 2

Pragmatic Idealism versus Societal Constraints

Innovation-Loving Lawyers Take on AT&T&T

Final Wrap..

Societal Constraints??

Four-Loko? Society says, "Creative People Must be Stopped!"

Industry Innovation Constraints

Type Z - Three Ideas to Improve Stapling at Owen

Operation COPA

Team Austintatious - Concepts for a Better Life

Three Groundbreaking Ideas from "The Idea Distillery"

Three great ideas from team "Flush This"

A 10er's Top Three

D.O.G.S. (Dog Owners in Graduate School)

Awesome Ideas for Increasing Student Satisfaction with Career Support

Balls to the Walls - Top 3

Dunder Mifflin - Top 3 ideas

Optimizing the Room Reservation Process

Teach Owen How to Use Classroom Technology

Team Rad+Fab's mission is to make Owen *Green+Clean!*

Operation Improve Student Life at owen

Owen Beautiful: Dramatic before and after

Team EEEKK Innovation Concepts

Week 3 Discussion: Group Level Constraints

Week 2 Discussion: Individual Level Constraints

Welcome and Discussion Question...

Weekly Discussion

Weekly Discussion

Sleepy Printers

The Nati

810 Microwave

Vanderbilt Graduate Student Social Network

Goldilocks Temperature Control

Walker, Library Ranger - A New Database / FAQ

Innovation idea - Library Rooms

Oasis Center

Team Tetris

8:10 Cafe Changes

Innovation Ideas

What makes a good idea a GOOD IDEA! ?

What Flavor is Your Imagination?

"Seriously Cool Workspaces"

Creativity Websites

Welcome to MGT 449 Innovation Strategy Mod 3/2010

Measure Twice, Cut Once ?

Convenience Store Final Presentation

Social Innovation?!?! (Discussion of the Week)

This week’s discussion

PCCT

Team Rock Your Face Off

Kegs are crashing

Keeping the Tables Plugged in Part Deux

Keeping Owen's Lobby Tables plugged in

I Run for the Party - Heidi, Roe, Chris Brown

Lucky Pup

Stapler is not at its place!

Adding a Suit Station at Owen

Blane and Steffens

Noise Problem on the Second Floor of the Owen Library

Improving the Interview Feedback at the Owen Career Management Center

Gilda's Club

Solving: Lack of knowledge-sharing at Owen

Convienence Store - 3 Ideas

I Run for the Party Ideas

All Team Concepts Are Posted Above This LIne

What's a good idea? (Weekly Assignment)

Imagination...?

Who needs a team?? Who needs a member??

Creativity Sites Assignment for Monday...

And if you need some examples....

What Makes a Good Client?

So Who’s That Girl With the Video Camera? And Why is She Posting Blogs?

Welcome to Innovation Strategy Mod 4, 2009

Frist Photo Show

Team Rad+Fab's mission is to make Owen Green+Clean!