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MODULE 2
GENERATING IDEAS: HARNESSING LOGIC AND CREATIVITY

SUBJECT: Entrepreneurship
LEVEL: 12
PREPARED BY: Jhoana S. Austero

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

a. identify the various sources of ideas for entrepreneurial ventures;
b. discuss the alternative methods for generating ideas for a new venture;
c. explain the factors that contribute to creative thinking; and
d. utilize some techniques in creative problem solving.
Sources of New Ideas for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs frequently use the following sources of ideas:

1. Consumers – the potential consumer should be the final focal point of ideas for the
entrepreneurs. The attention to inputs from potential consumers can take the form of
informally monitoring potential ideas or needs or formally arranging for consumers to have an
opportunity to express their concerns. Care needs to be taken to ensure that the new idea or the
needs represents a large enough market to support a new venture.

2. Existing Companies – with the help of an established formal methods potential entrepreneurs
and intrapreneurs can evaluate competitive products and services on the market which may
result in new and more market appealing products and services.

3. Distribution channels – members of the distribution channels are familiar with the needs of
the market and hence can prove to be excellent sources of new ideas. Not only do the channel
members help in finding out unmet or partially met demands leading to new products and
services, they also help in marketing the offerings so developed.

4. Government – it can be a source of new product ideas in two ways firstly, the patent office
files contain numerous product possibilities that can assist entrepreneurs in obtaining specific
product information, and secondly, response to government regulations can come in the form
of new product ideas.

5. Research and development – Entrepreneur’s own R&D is the largest source of new idea. A
formal and well-equipped research and development department enables the entrepreneur to
conceive and develop successful new product ideas.

Generating and Screening Ideas for New Products

Successful new product development (NPD) starts with identifying good product ideas
and using reliable criteria to decide which ideas to pursue.
You should take the following steps before you allocate funds to new product
development.

 Idea generation
Write a customer needs list based on the information you gather
from the sources identified below. You should try to identify existing
weaknesses in your products, gaps in your product range and areas for
product improvement.
  Brainstorm product issues
Work with your existing team members to brainstorm product
issues. Your sales and service staff speak to your customers daily,
hearing feedback about your products and the customers' needs. Capture
the feedback, product observations and ideas from your team. Make sure
you recognise their ideas and promote a shared culture of innovation.

 Use your research and development (R&D) processes

Use your business's existing R&D processes. Identify modifications you could make to
existing products, or adaptations for new products, consistent with feedback from your market
and customers.

 Review your quality assurance (QA) processes

Note any issues in your products and identify potential ideas for addressing gaps in
quality.

 Review your customer complaint records

Identify common weaknesses in your existing product range, and look for areas where
improvement is most needed. Learn about managing customer complaints.

 Review your research

Review your customer research and market research, and plan further market and
customer surveys if you identify research gaps. What are your customers telling you they're
looking for? What do they find frustrating or limiting about your products? How do they use
your products most?

 Talk to your suppliers and other business partners

Talk to manufacturers, retailers and sales reps to capture their knowledge of your
products and thoughts for improving them.

 Research and understand your competition

Try to understand your competition. Review your competitors' product range and
consider how the market is responding to them. Do any of their products seem to be meeting
needs that yours aren't?

 Study catalogues and product information

Make sure you have a comprehensive understanding of existing products available in
your market.

 Idea screening
With your list of potential new product ideas, you now need to decide which ideas to
pursue and which to discard. Consider your competition, your existing products, their
shortcomings, and the needs of your market. Draw on the customer needs list you have
developed, and the areas for product improvement you have identified.
Develop a set of criteria to evaluate your ideas against. Your criteria might include:
 most prominently identified customer needs
 product improvements most needed
 the benefits to your target market
 the technical feasibility of the idea
 the level and scope of research and development required
 the profitability of the idea. What is its potential appeal to the market? How
would you price it? What are the costs in bringing it to market — overall and per
unit?
 where the product fits in the market. Is there a gap? How close is it to competitor
products?
 the resources it will require in development
 the marketing potential of the idea
 the fit with your business profile and business objectives.

 SWOT analysis
A SWOT analysis can help you to identify the strengths and
weaknesses of each idea.

 Innovation support
Your innovative approach and your steps to foster innovation in your team will help you
realise your new product goals. Find out about innovation advice, grants and support.

Creativity in Entrepreneurship: Importance and Types

The major contributor to economic growth is the
entrepreneurship but there is a huge impact of creativity on it. Creative
thinking is a must-have skill that an entrepreneur must have to create
some inventive ideas and make the entrepreneurial process a big success.
Creativity allows the business to devise some interesting strategies that
give advantage to the entrepreneurs.
Creativity refers to the essential source of inventiveness and can
lead to the formation of new firms and to make improvements in existing
products of the company to become more efficient and competitive in
the marketplace. A blend of creativity and technology in the activities of
entrepreneurship to commercialize the idea related to products and services is helpful to
strengthen the entrepreneurship.

Importance of Creativity in Entrepreneurship

Do you know what factors made creativity so much important to the entrepreneurial
process and works perfectly in the work-life of an entrepreneur? It leads to success due to some
reasons as given below:

 Creation of innovative ideas

The entire procedure of entrepreneurship rotated around the creation and
exploration of some innovative ideas. When an entrepreneur gets innovative that is
efficient and in favour of the business, then they can stay ahead o the curve and beat the
competition in a very proper manner. It is a kind of learning skill that is possessed by
some individuals to explore some inventive ideas and thoughts that can create a huge
difference and help the business to stay always in the hit list.

 Novel ways to develop and improve the products

Creativity is all the way associated with making changes in the products or
services in such a way that it creates something different. Chances of improvement in any
product are high but it just needs some sort of creative thinking to know what is missing
in the products. This thing can only be assessed by a creative entrepreneur.

 Thinking out of the world

The intention and imagination of producing something different with unique ideas
are called Creativity. Imagination is always a must to cross the boundaries between the
normal and unique and come up with something that can help you think outside of the
box. The creative entrepreneur always thinks out of the world and replaces the traditional
solutions with inventive ones. Creativity meant to be creates something new, interesting
and versatile to get some potential.

 Searching the same patters but the areas are different

Somehow, due to monotonous routine and surroundings, we always go with the
same procedures all the time. A connection between the dissimilar and unrelated subjects
allows creativity to happen and make some successful ideas for entrepreneurship. The
creation of new niches comes by merging the different ideas and fields which may give
something innovative and interesting intersection. There is no fear of bringing the various
disciplines together but some may have however interesting ideas comes by mixing the
different fields.

 Growth of new niches with creativity and entrepreneurship

It is vital to explore the new aspects of conventional business in the
entrepreneurship. It can be done in various ways such as by changing the manufacturing
techniques, mode of delivery or make some changes in the service or product. All these
changes create a big difference in business strategies and give birth to a new niche.
 Startup success is not enough
Sometimes, the entrepreneurs get some initial ideas that establish a creative image
of the entrepreneur in the eyes of the people and they think that it is not required to be
creative again in the future. But this is not at all enough to succeed in the avenue of
business as creativity keeps a business to remain ahead of the curve.
Things keep changing all the time and when you discover a new idea instead of
the old one, then you need to find something inventive all the time to stabilize uniqueness
in your business. Moving forward with some ideas and thoughts is an integral part of
every business and paved the way to success.

 A table full of untraditional ideas

Conventional thinking leads to the same procedure for a long time if everyone is
doing a particular work in the same way. But if you want to succeed, then you have to
challenge the conventional techniques and bring something new in the marketplace. The
breed of creativity is Disruption.
To exemplify, Apple Inc, change the vision of people how they look forward to
the mobile phone and what the company discovered. No one never thought about mobile
phones can be something different and changed the entire mental image of a device.
The whole concept is changed by Apple and when someone heard of “phone”,
and then a shadow like a screen emerged. That is called the creativity that fills the table
and shows the creativity of an entrepreneur by nature.

 Stand out from the crowd

A startup with huge success is something remarkable that can set an example that
you are completely unique from others. Need to get up from the crowd.
For instance, when people think about the reasons behind the crash of an
application on a mobile device, the entrepreneur should find out the perfect way out to
deal with the problem. It was quite tedious and irritating for people to deal with all these
issues and the solution seems utterly amazing. Afterwards, people use the solutions and
give feedback too. If it is perfectly fine with the device, then it creates a status quo of the
entrepreneur and gives a breath of relief.

 Pushing your potential and never stay settle down

If the business is running smoothly and the entrepreneur is comfortable with the
whole process, then it is quite dangerous as well as monotonous too. Although the
business is doing fine it does not mean that you can’t do better.
However, it shifts the benefit in the hand of the competitor and they can
something innovate to put your business down and seems conventional. Never settle as it
is not your job place but the business. The business always needs some creativity in the
procedure, your products, your knowledge and ideas.

 Become a solution
Creativity is not just a flash of motivation but sometimes, the great designers,
artists and writers fail in front of the creativity. Continuous working on the problem is the
only solution to make it right.
 It may take a couple of attempts in some cases and others may take days and even
months too. But no need to settle down as you can do better no matter how much time it
takes. For example, a perfect logo takes 15 to 20 days to get done with all the accurate
colour combinations.

It is vital to understand the importance of creativity in the life of an entrepreneur as it is

crucial for all the aspects of the business and plays an outstanding role. Do you ever know about
the psychology behind creativity? It is not simple to understand it as it is of different types. As
people think that it is a kind of natural skill or talent that very few people have and others think
you can learn how to become more creative. But it does not like that

Types of Creativity in Entrepreneurship

Anyway, here we would like to identify four different types of creativity which may
create huge differences in the entrepreneurial process as some of the entrepreneurs do have one.
Let us have a quick look at various kinds of creativity.

 Deliberate and Cognitive creativity

These characteristics possessed by people who are purposeful. These people have a huge
amount of knowledge regarding a particular subject and they utilize their skills and abilities to
prepare a plan to accomplish something. When people work in a definite niche for a long time,
then they can be built such type of creativity and it takes some time.
People equipped with this creativity are usually very good at research, problem-solving,
proper investigation and experimentation. This kind of creativity is in the front part of the brain,
which is known as the brain’s prefrontal cortex. A long span of time is spent by these people
each day to develop some new ideas and solutions.
For example, one prominent example of this type of creativity is Sir Thomas Alva Edison
as he was a creative person. He went through a lot of experiments before inventing electricity,
the light bulb and telecommunication. Hence, wide knowledge, dedication and a long time are
required for deliberate and cognitive creativity.

 Deliberate and Emotional Creativity

These are a category of people whose work is swayed by their emotions as these people
are very emotional as well as sensitive in nature. Relatively, these people need some personal
and quiet time to reflect and they like to write a diary. However, their decisions are always
logical and rational at the same time.
Their creativity is always a blend of products having deliberate emotional thinking and
logical actions. In the human brain, it is located in the amygdala and cingulate cortex parts as
amygdale is responsible for human emotions and cingulated is helpful in learning and
information procedure. This creativity occurs at random moments and these moments are “a-ha!”
moments when a solution is suddenly stuck into the mind of a person to sort out problems or
think about the innovative ideas.
To exemplify, this creativity is a situation when a person is low and emotional which a
point of distraction for people is. In such type of situations, it takes a few seconds to keep aside
all the emotional and sad things and just keep the focus on the work to get some new and
inventive creative ideas. In this way, people get off the cuff results and down their work easily.
“Quiet time” is required for deliberate and emotional creativity.

 Spontaneous and Cognitive Creativity

It is a time when you get into the problem and spend a lot of time to find out the relevant
solutions but no solution is to figure out. For instance, when you want a definite schedule for a
month to done the job in a timely manner but you do not have any particular idea about the
possible way and when you find time for relaxation, you suddenly get an idea in your mind with
a perfect solution and everything is done here.
To exemplify, the same thing has happened with the great scientist, Sir Isaac Newton as
he got the idea about the law of gravity when he was sitting under a tree. This type of creativity
gives a “Eureka!!” moment and it happens when a person has the knowledge to do the job but he
needs motivation and wants the right avenue to walk through. This occurs at very convenient
hours of the day as when you are on the bed or taking a shower. In spontaneous and cognitive
creativity, the conscious mind stops working and the unconscious mind starts working to get a
chance for work.
The person stops think consciously as they required to think “out of the box”. The
unconscious mind connects with the unique as well as unrelated tasks to link their ideas in a very
different way and provide some creative solutions to the problem.

 Spontaneous and Emotional Creativity

This type of creativity is associated with the “amygdale” part of the human brain as it is
responsible for emotional thinking in the human’s mind. When the prefrontal, as well as the
conscious mind, is resting, then this type of creativity happens. Mostly, it can be seen in great
artists such as musicians, painters and writers.
It is attached with “epiphanies”. It is a situation when a person realizes something
suddenly. This creativity has a major role in scientific breakthrough, religious and philosophical
discoveries too. The person looks at the problems or situations in a deep way and gets a deeper
viewpoint. These are “rare” moments when discovery takes place. It does not require any
specific knowledge about a particular area but there should be a talent such as writing, musical or
maybe artistic as well. It cannot be acquired by working.

Factors Affecting Creativity

Creativity is something which cannot be taught as well as not something you are born
with either. But it certainly is the most important part of any brilliant innovator’s success. When
talking about creativity, the conversation can’t be constrained to artists like musicians, dancers,
painters, etc. It is a broader term under which multiple segments flow and it includes everyone
from a school student trying to embellish his school project to an entrepreneur with his budding
brilliant idea. But why some turn out to be amazing while some fail? Well, there are several
factors that influence one’s creativity, have a look at them and find out why you are so creative
or why you are not. It also includes the reason why one’s creativity levels fluctuate.
  Experience
Experiences are a key player in creative thinking, the more you experience more
influenced you get. These experiences define your ideas and creativity which are
presented through your work.

 Fearlessness
Fearlessness is a major factor having impact on one’s creativity. A person who
thinks that he is not creative can never be. Having doubts is ok, but being worried about
the success of an idea clearly shows that you lack faith in your ideology. Experts say “Be
fearless with your creativity and you’ll open more doors for new ideas.”

 Desire
Desire is a factor of creativity which is often overlooked but it is as vital as any
other criterion for growing as a creative individual. Science bluntly states that, if you
simply don’t want to change things (or solve problems or inspire others or do new things)
then you won’t.

 Atmosphere and Environment

Yes! It is all about the world around us. Atmosphere and environment both go
hand in hand to influence an individual’s creativity levels. Environmental Factors
Affecting Creativity and Innovation says: Although innovation and creativity can emerge
in a variety of settings and situations, some environments are more conducive to the
creative process. In one large study, it was found that having a vision, being task-
oriented, and engaging in external communication had a strong relationship to creativity
and innovation.

 Space and Time

Productivity may increase under pressure but creativity has no positive influence
if the undisturbed space and right amount of time is not provided. John Cleese’s talk on
creativity states: Having a start and end to keep your creative space open is essential.
Without a dedicated time block, it is easy to leave a creative mindset to focus on trivial
matters that are easier to deal with than to take the time to do things that are important. It
also takes time to get into your creative mode. He says that you must realize that it will
take time to achieve something truly original and creative. There is a sense of comfort.

ACTIVITIES:
True or False: Write true if the statement is correct and false if it is not.
__________ 1. It is vital to understand the importance of creativity in the life of an entrepreneur
as it is crucial for all the aspects of the business and plays an outstanding role
__________ 2. Creativity is not just a flash of motivation but sometimes, the great designers,
artists
and writers fail in front of the creativity.
__________ 3. The potential consumer should be the final focal point of ideas for the
entrepreneurs.
__________ 4. Make sure you have a comprehensive understanding of existing products
available
in your market.
__________ 5. You should try to identify existing weaknesses in your products, gaps in your
product range and areas for product improvement.
__________ 6. People equipped with this creativity are usually not good at research, problem-
solving, proper investigation and experimentation.
__________ 7. If the business is running smoothly and the entrepreneur is comfortable with the
whole process, then it is quite dangerous as well as monotonous too.
__________ 8. Successful new product development (NPD) starts with identifying good product
ideas and using reliable criteria to decide which ideas to pursue.
__________ 9. A SWOT analysis can help you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each
idea.
_________ 10. The creative entrepreneur always thinks out of the world and replaces the
traditional solutions with inventive ones.

Identification. Write the word or a group of words to what is being described by the
statement.
____________________ 1. It is a factor of creativity which is often overlooked but it is as vital
as any other criterion for growing as a creative individual.
____________________ 2. It may increase under pressure but creativity has no positive
influence if the undisturbed space and right amount of time is not
provided.
____________________ 3. It is a major factor having impact on one’s creativity.
____________________ 4. They are a key player in creative thinking, the more you experience
more influenced you get.
____________________ 5. This type of creativity is associated with the “amygdale” part of the
human brain as it is responsible for emotional thinking in the
human’s mind.
____________________ 6. It leads to the same procedure for a long time if everyone is doing a
particular work in the same way.
____________________ 7. It is a must-have skill that an entrepreneur must have to create some
inventive ideas and make the entrepreneurial process a big success.
____________________ 8. It can be a source of new product ideas in two ways firstly, the patent
office files contain numerous product possibilities that can assist
entrepreneurs in obtaining specific product information, and
secondly, response to government regulations can come in the form
of new product ideas.
____________________ 9. He got the idea about the law of gravity when he was sitting under a
tree.
___________________ 10. It changed the vision of people how they look forward to the mobile
phone and what the company discovered.

References:

Sources of New Ideas for Entrepreneurs

Link: https://abhishekkatiyar.wordpress.com/2005/07/21/sources-of-new-ideas-for-
entrepreneurs-2/#:~:text=Entrepreneurs%20frequently%20use%20the%20following
%20sources%20of%20ideas%3A,sources%20of%20new%20ideas.%20...%20More
%20items...%20

Generating and Screening Ideas for New Products

Link: https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-business/growing-business/becoming-
innovative/developing-products/new-products/ideas

Creativity in Entrepreneurship: Importance and Types

Link: https://101entrepreneurship.org/creativity-in-entrepreneurship/

Factors Affecting Creativity

Link: https://theintactone.com/2018/04/07/mtic-u4-topic-2-factors-affecting-creativity/