bmgt 485 week 5

bartina1988

week-5-customer-driven-innovation-jhWipD7a.pdf

Home >Business & Finance homework help >Operations Management homework help >bmgt 485 week 5

Managing Customers - the Key to Competitive Advantage

New Ideas and Design Thinking

Ethnography, Mapping Tools, and Competitive Edge

Cultivating Relationships

References

Week 5: Customer-driven Innovation

Skill #6: Develop new ideas that solve customer problems.

Lesson 1 of 4

New Ideas and Design Thinking

Remember my mantra: distinct... or extinct.

Tom Peters

No matter the size or type of organization, a key job of any manager is maintaining �nancial

sustainability. One strategy that has been used by leaders to help create sustainability for an

organization is known as competitive edge or competitive advantage. This concept is

predicated upon the notion that if a business creates value in producing a good or service that

is highly desirable to its customers, then the business will be set apart from others in the

same industry bringing more business than others in the same �eld. This notion has reigned

supreme and is still relevant today.

However, it has become noticeable to many leaders and business educators that technology

and its disruptive nature has in many ways leveled the playing �elds of many businesses.

Traditional methods of creating competitive edge, speed of production and delivery, direct

access to materials, market availability, etc. have lost their uniqueness to customers leaving

price an area where competition remains. So how does a leader separate his or her company

from competitors? Innovation is the answer and not just product innovation. Coming up with

the next generation of Apple product keeps customers coming back but can every company

always have the new “thing” that will keep or increase their customer base? Not realistically

but a manager survey again tells us that “Developing new ideas to solve customer’s

problems” is a key skill to have in this social media world (Moss, 2018). Many products and

services are sold today based on customer ratings and reviews. To get the �fth star or the

Triple A rating on Angie’s list requires that you more than exceed the customer’s needs.

Design Thinking

Design Thinking De�ned –

According to WhatIs.Com, "Design thinking is an iterative approach to problem solving that intentionally seeks out people with di�erent perspectives, knowledge, skills and experience and has them work together to create a practical solution for a real-world problem." There are Five Steps in Design Thinking:

1. Empathize

2. De�ne

https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/design-thinking

3. Ideate

4. Prototype

5. Test

Design Thinking Explained –

MIT Management provides an excellent explanation of Design Thinking. They talk about the importance of:

1. Understanding the problem

2. Involving Users

3. Developing Solutions

4. Prototyping

5. Testing

https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/design-thinking-explained

How do these steps relate to those that you learned about in the Design Thinking De�ned Tab?

Design Thinking Process –

Stanford created a Design Thinking Process document that provides more explanation for each of the steps in design thinking. It provides the What, Why, and How for each step and also provides a transition phase between each step. You can download the document here.

https://dschool-old.stanford.edu/sandbox/groups/designresources/wiki/36873/attachments/74b3d/ModeGuideBOOTCAMP2010L.pdf

Ethnography

According to the National Park Service's Ethnographic Research Center, "Ethnography is the study of people in their own environment through the use of methods such as participant observation and face-to-face interviewing." Read this article to learn more about the following (click titles on the right column within the article):

1. What is ethnographic research?

2. Why is ethnographic research conducted?

3. How is it di�erent from other social science research?

Lesson 2 of 4

Ethnography, Mapping Tools, and Competitive Edge

There is only one boss. The customer. And he can �re everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.

Sam Walton

W H AT I S E T H N O G R A P H Y R E S E A R C H ? W H E N A N D H O W T O U S E E T H N O G R A P. . .

https://www.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/ERCb.htm

4. Who uses ethnographic research?

According to Spotless, "Ethnography can help investigate very complicated or critical design challenges. A good researcher is essential when observing and/or interacting with target audiences in their real-life environment." Read through the rest of this article to �nd out more about:

1. What is ethnographic research?

2. Methods associated with ethnography

3. When to use ethnography

4. Advantages of ethnography

5. Disadvantages of ethnography

6. Risks associated with ethnography

W H AT I S E T H N O G R A P H Y R E S E A R C H ? W H E N A N D H O W T O U S E E T H N O G R A P. . .

What were the similarities and di�erences in these two articles in

terms of Ethnography and its uses? How can this be bene�cial

when looking at customers and their habits? What other ways can

businesses use ethnography to help with competitive advantage?

https://www.spotless.co.uk/insights/ethnography-when-and-how/

Customer Mapping

According to MindTools, "Customer journey mapping helps you to map out the ways your

customers experience your organization." Customer journey mapping is a way for an

organization to record and analyze the interactions that they have with their customers from

the time that they �rst interact with them through the the post-sale follow-up as a way to

improve retention. There are eight steps in customer journey mapping:

Read through the article for more detailed information on each of these eight steps. Each step

has its own section in the article that goes through all of the di�erent points to keep in mind

for that step. Some steps also have sub-steps.

De�ne your objectives1

Gather information2

Identify your customer "touchpoints"3

Outline the key stages of your customer experience4

Start mapping5

Validate your results6

Analyze your map7

Treat your map as a living document8

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_85.htm

Customer Journey Maps

Harvard Business Review developed an article about improving the customer experience

through the use of customer journey maps. You can view that article here.

Innovation Going back to what we covered in the last module, innovation and creativity are still at the

forefront of the success of the 21st century leader, so while these tools are important to learn

more about the customer and his or her needs, preferences, and habits, creativity and

innovation are what will be needed in order to satisfy those needs, preferences and habits.

Read the Creativity and Innovation article to learn more about this concept.

http://www.iimagineservicedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Experience-Maps-Using-Customer-Journey-Maps-to-Improve-Customer-Experience.pdf

https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/jsl/vol1iss1/JSL_Vol1iss1_Agbor.pdf

Skill #7: Cultivate your customers and their employees on every level of the organization.

Isn’t cultivating customer relationships a duh point you ask? Of course, you have to get along

with your customers. No that is one of the biggest mistakes a manager can make. All the new

ideas in the world will not get you to keep your customers if you cannot get their attention.

Cultivating customers means getting to know their business and the problems they face.

Intimate contact with the customer and/or their employees is the only way to collect this

information. Trust raises its ugly head again in our skill set. How does a manager build the

kind of relationships with their customers that will a�ord them the opportunity?

Lesson 3 of 4

Cultivating Relationships

Five Ways to Build Customer Relationships –

According to Entrepreneur.Com, "To create customer relationships, and keep them strong, you must do all you can to engage customers." They provide a list of �ve ways that you can build relationships with customers to ensure they return:

1. Communicate

2. Exceed expectations

3. Ask for feedback

4. Connect

5. Show appreciation

Make sure to read the entire article to gain more detailed and speci�c information about these �ve ways to build relationships with customers.

Managing Customer Relationships –

According to Business.gov.au, there are three main areas important in managing customer relationships:

1. Build customer relationships

2. Maintain strong customer relationships

3. Measure customer relationships

According to the article, each of these three main areas has several subpoints that are important to read about as well, as these are very general topic areas. Make sure to read the entire article to capture the important details.

How to Build Personal Relationships With Customers: CRM –

According to Inc.com, "Companies in all industries and of all sizes understand that customers are perhaps their most valuable assets. Improving the overall customer experience is vital for continued success and survival, and always has been." They provide �ve main ways to build personal relationships with customers:

1. Communication

2. Rewards

3. Enhanced customer services

4. Start small and emphasize human touch

5. Be �exible

There are many more details to each of these �ve points, so make sure that you read the entire article to capture all of the important speci�cs. As you are reading, make sure that you are

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/282364

http://business.gov.au/

https://www.business.gov.au/people/customers/how-to-manage-customer-relationships

https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/08/how-to-build-personal-relationships-with-customers.html

noting the similarities and di�erences in the articles.

Six Strategies for Building Relationships to Succeed in Business –

According to Inc.com, building a good product is not enough. It is also important to have strong interpersonal skills to have a successful business. Here are six ways to step up your relationship results:

1. Build new relationships by diversifying your networks

2. Give as much as you expect to get from every relationship

3. Selectively spend quality time on key relationships

4. Keep your focus on the local social and business landscape

5. Apply your time, brand, and resources to key social issues

6. Prune, renew, and reshape your networks frequently

Make sure to read the entire article to understand the context of these six concepts. Although these can apply to relationships in general, how can they relate to the other articles and what they said about customer relationships speci�cally? What about leader/employee relationships as a leader for the 21st century?

Considerations for Building Strong International Relationships –

According to TradeReady, strong relationships are especially important in international business. They provided �ve considerations for building strong international relationships:

1. Focus on building credibility with global business partners

2. Set the right expectations so you can always follow-through

3. Listen to your global customers and adapt your o�erings accordingly

4. Share any knowledge that will help your partnerships succeed

5. It comes down to trust for building long-term international business relationships

http://inc.com/

https://www.inc.com/martin-zwilling/6-strategies-for-building-relationships-you-need-to-succeed-in-business.html

Make sure to read the entire article for more context and depth on these �ve considerations. Although this is about international relationships, how do these concepts relate to those in the other articles about customer relationships? What is similar and what is di�erent?

http://www.tradeready.ca/2015/trade-takeaways/5-considerations-building-strong-international-business-relationships/

Lesson 4 of 4

References

An introduction to design thinking process guide. (n.d.) Institute of Design at

Stanford. https://dschool-

old.stanford.edu/sandbox/groups/designresources/wiki/36873/attachments/74b3

d/ModeGuideBOOTCAMP2010L.pdf

Agbor, E. (2008). Creativity and innovation: The leadership dynamics.

https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/jsl/vol1iss1/JSL_Vol1iss1_Agbo

r.pdf

Anonymous. (2020) How to manage customer relationships.

https://www.business.gov.au/people/customers/how-to-manage-customer-