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Flawed Tools: The Efficacy of Group Research Methods to Generate Customer Ideas
Author(s) -
Schirr Gary R.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of product innovation management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1540-5885
pISSN - 0737-6782
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5885.2012.00918.x
Subject(s) - brainstorming , rationalization (economics) , new product development , voice of the customer , knowledge management , product (mathematics) , empirical research , focus group , computer science , process management , marketing , service (business) , business , customer retention , management , service quality , economics , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , epistemology
Group customer and user research methods, brainstorming, and focus groups continue to be used in innovation efforts to uncover customer needs, generate new product and service ideas, and evaluate decisions, despite extensive empirical evidence that group methods are ineffective for such purposes. This paper summarizes the strong evidence of the ineffectiveness of group research methods for these purposes, much of which has been published outside of the new product development or business literature. The paper shows that the most common rationalization for the continued use of group methods—cost and speed advantages—are questionable, and then proposes an organizational market learning framework for evaluating the use of group methods. This framework provides guidance for the proper use of these research tools and suggests areas for future research on research methods for product innovation.