inKNOWvations: May 2011

Achieving Success in the Fuzzy Front End Phase of Innovation

Johan Frishammar and Henrik Florén

Activities in the front end of the innovation process are often difficult to anticipate, overview and perform. Yet they are critical to successful outcomes of the innovation process. In light of a growing managerial interest in the front end, this article identifies key success factors for managing the front end, balancing acts which innovation managers need to address, as well as key contingencies affecting front end activities. Proficiency in the front end is indeed no easy task, but will have an enormous positive impact on performance for those firms that succeed.

When was the last time you experienced your product like it was your first time?

Product development is a process of cycles -- followed by closure. We innovate and create a new concept. Assemble teams to research, develop, manufacture and market the product or service. We then ship it to market.

And then...what?

We often ask executives to tell us about their biggest innovation failures. A recent example is disconcertingly typical.

In interviews with a dozen senior managers from a large company, two particular failures came up over and over again. Clearly the company was painfully aware of these two failed projects. The problem came with the follow-up question, "Why did example A fail?"