Source of Finance

The most important source of finance for innovator in Malaysia is through Government’s financial assistance. It related to technology-based companies can be classified into two groups: government funding schemes and grants. Most funding schemes and grants for technology venture are channeled through MAVCAP, MDeC, MTDC, MOSTI, SMIDEC and CRADLE.

In innovation class, I'm introduce to you a Cradle Investment Program is (CIP) which is subsidiaries of MAVCAP and Ministry of Finance (MOF) is Malaysia’s first development and pre-seed funding programme for technology ideas.
It enables budding innovators and aspiring innovative entrepreneurs to make the jump from just having an innovative technology idea to becoming a successful start-up. 

Cradle is approving conditional grants of up to RM150, 000 per tranche per idea for innovative technology ideas with good commercialisation potential, submitted by aspiring groups of individual Malaysian tecnonepreneurs.
Application can be apply through online and feedback of idea will be given by CIP for improving the idea or reject the idea. After approval of idea CIP call applicant to pitching the idea.


Then the source of finance for commercialization like the fund to set up factory is through Venture Capital.

Venture capital (VC) is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as biotechnology, IT, software, etc.

The typical venture capital investment occurs after the seed funding round as growth funding round. VC interest is generating a return through an eventual realization event, such as an IPO or trade sale of the company. It is important to note that VC is a subset of private equity.

Important Due

1. Report Submission: 8 July 2011 (Friday) before 5pm
2. Presentation : 9 July 2011 (Saturday) start at 3-5 pm**
3. Final Exam : 12 July 2011 (Tuesday)


** Preparation for Final Exam after presentation finish. 

Download Slides / Assignment

You can download the following slides & assignment by click the names:
1. ASSIGNMENT 1
2. COURSE ROAD MAP
3. Topic 1
4. Topic 2
5. Topic 3
6. Topic 4
7. Topic 5&6
8. Topic 7
9. Topic 8
10. Topic 9
11 Topic 10 

PAST YEAR QUESTION

NOTICE BOARD

Assalamulaikum & Selamat Sejahtera,


Welcome to my course blog and I believe that most of audience here is my students for Innovation Management from UniKL-BMI. Please exploring this blog and you can refer the slides notes and any useful information for your reference.


Thank you very much and good luck for exploring this subject.


Please complete your personal detail to let me know you and have database that I can use in future especially in this subject.  




Complete your personal detail:
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MAHFUZ ABD MALEK

Semester 1, 2011

Welcome Note:

Assalamualaikum & greeting everybody,

Thank for visit this blog. This blog is created for reference of my students from UniKL-BMI in Innovation Management subject. WBB10202 is the code of this subject.

Dear students, please bring your creative idea into commercialization products / services.

This week we just meet for COURSE ROAD MAP....

Thank you.

P/S : Please get this book

WELCOME

Salam & Good Day,

I would like to thank to you because spend your time to visit this blog. Probably you are my students or someone who wanted to gain innovation management knowledge. For your info, this blog is created by Mahfuz Abd Malek, a lecturer from Universiti Kuala Lumpur, British Malaysian Institute (UniKL-BMI). Graduate from International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in MBA specialize in Techno Entrepreneurship.

I would like to share something of innovation especially for my students audience in Innovation Management (WBB10202).The concept of innovation as a management discipline focuses on achieving the organizational vision. It searches for unique opportunities in determining whether they fit the organizational strategic direction. The process involves evaluating opportunities and their rate of success.

Good Luck for exploring your innovation...

New Product Development

This is the process of new product development.

NPD process

In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) is the term used to describe the complete process of bringing a new product or service to market. There are two parallel paths involved in the NPD process: one involves the idea generation, product design, and detail engineering; the other involves market research and marketing analysis. Companies typically see new product development as the first stage in generating and commercializing new products within the overall strategic process of product life cycle management used to maintain or grow their market share.

The process

1. Idea Generation is often called the "fuzzy front end" of the NPD process
   • Ideas for new products can be obtained from basic research using a SWOT analysis (Strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats), Market and consumer trends, company's R&D department, competitors, focus groups, employees, salespeople, corporate spies, trade shows, or Ethnographic discovery methods (searching for user patterns and habits) may also be used to get an insight into new product lines or product features.
   • Idea Generation or Brainstorming of new product, service, or store concepts - idea generation techniques can begin when you have done your OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS to support your ideas in the Idea Screening Phase (shown in the next development step).
2. Idea Screening
   • The object is to eliminate unsound concepts prior to devoting resources to them.
   • The screeners must ask at least three questions:
     • Will the customer in the target market benefit from the product?
     • What is the size and growth forecasts of the market segment/target market?
     • What is the current or expected competitive pressure for the product idea?
     • What are the industry sales and market trends the product idea is based on?
     • Is it technically feasible to manufacture the product?
     • Will the product be profitable when manufactured and delivered to the customer at the target price?
3. Concept Development and Testing
   • Develop the marketing and engineering details
     • Who is the target market and who is the decision maker in the purchasing process?
     • What product features must the product incorporate?
     • What benefits will the product provide?
     • How will consumers react to the product?
     • How will the product be produced most cost effectively?
     • Prove feasibility through virtual computer aided rendering, and rapid prototyping
     • What will it cost to produce it?
   • Testing the Concept by asking a sample of prospective customers what they think of the idea. Usually via Choice Modelling.
4. Business Analysis
   • Estimate likely selling price based upon competition and customer feedback
   • Estimate sales volume based upon size of market and such tools as the Fourt-Woodlock equation
   • Estimate profitability and breakeven point
5. Beta Testing and Market Testing
   • Produce a physical prototype or mock-up
   • Test the product (and its packaging) in typical usage situations
   • Conduct focus group customer interviews or introduce at trade show
   • Make adjustments where necessary
   • Produce an initial run of the product and sell it in a test market area to determine customer acceptance
6. Technical Implementation
   • New program initiation
   • Resource estimation
   • Requirement publication
   • Engineering operations planning
   • Department scheduling
   • Supplier collaboration
   • Logistics plan
   • Resource plan publication
   • Program review and monitoring
   • Contingencies - what-if planning
7. Commercialization (often considered post-NPD)
   • Launch the product
   • Produce and place advertisements and other promotions
   • Fill the distribution pipeline with product
   • Critical path analysis is most useful at this stage

These steps may be iterated as needed. Some steps may be eliminated. To reduce the time that the NPD process takes, many companies are completing several steps at the same time (referred to as concurrent engineering or time to market). Most industry leaders see new product development as a proactive process where resources are allocated to identify market changes and seize upon new product opportunities before they occur (in contrast to a reactive strategy in which nothing is done until problems occur or the competitor introduces an innovation). Many industry leaders see new product development as an ongoing process (referred to as continuous development) in which the entire organization is always looking for opportunities.

For the more innovative products indicated on the diagram above, great amounts of uncertainty and change may exist, which makes it difficult or impossible to plan the complete project before starting it. In this case, a more flexible approach may be advisable.

Because the NPD process typically requires both engineering and marketing expertise, cross-functional teams are a common way of organizing projects. The team is responsible for all aspects of the project, from initial idea generation to final commercialization, and they usually report to senior management (often to a vice president or Program Manager). In those industries where products are technically complex, development research is typically expensive, and product life cycles are relatively short, strategic alliances among several organizations helps to spread the costs, provide access to a wider skill set, and speeds the overall process.

Also, notice that because engineering and marketing expertise are usually both critical to the process, choosing an appropriate blend of the two is important. Observe (for example, by looking at the See also or References sections below) that this article is slanted more toward the marketing side. For more of an engineering slant, see the Ulrich and Eppinger, Ullman references below.

People respond to new products in different ways. The adoption of a new technology can be analyzed using a variety of diffusion theories such as the Diffusion of innovations theory.

Value analysis

Dear students,

For more information in value analysis, please visit following website:

http://www.npd-solutions.com/va.html

http://www.intelligent-systems.com.ar/intsyst/valueAna.htm

http://creatingminds.org/tools/value_engineering.htm

TEST MARKETING

Rather than push a product onto market and lose a lot of money if it flops, you can test market your creation on a limited scale to see whether it appeals to people and what they'll pay for it. By test marketing a new product, you can:

1. Determine whether your product fits a market need that's not already met
2. Change the color, size, design, functionality or packaging to reflect
consumer response.
3. Find support from distributors and retailers interested in selling your
product.


Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

1. Make a prototype

Prospective buyers want to see a product in front of them before they order. What's more, you need to make sure the product does what it's intended to do and doesn't have usability issues.

Prototypes can be made from metal, plastic and other materials, and prototype manufacturers will advise you on how to lower manufacturing costs should you go ahead with production.

2. Find your audience

Focus your efforts on people who are likely to want what you're selling.

Companies such as Direct Opinions, Information Resources Inc. and ACNielsen's BASES can identify targeted focus groups for you(marketing research).

3. Bring product to the people

Before you try to interest distributors and retailers in a new product, consider presenting the product straight to the buying public to see whether there's interest.

I recommend: Exhibiting a new product at a trade show is a tried-and-true method of testing it directly with your target market. Hundreds of trade shows are held each year.
If you're selling a consumer product – particularly food, clothing, toys or crafts, you might try renting a booth at a state fair.
Farmers' markets offer other opportunities to test buyers' reactions to your new product — and you don't need to be selling fruit and veggies!

Hire a test marketing specialist

Depending on your product and where you plan to market it, you might not be able to show it personally or on a broad enough scale to judge public reaction.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

* If manufacturing a couple of products is cost-prohibitive, use prototypes or mock-ups to show
the product to distributors, catalog buyers and trade-show visitors.
* Don't worry about losing money on test market sales. If the test doesn't succeed, you've likely
saved far more money that you would have spent.
* To encourage retailers to carry a test product, offer the product on consignment or promise a
full refund if the product doesn't sell after an agreed-upon deadline.

TOPIC 10: MARKETING & TYPE OF MARKET

to download, please click here

TOPIC 9: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

TOPIC 8: SOURCE OF INNOVATION

TOPIC 7: ORGANISATION RESOURCES

From Patent to Profit

Mark Twain once wrote that "a country without a patent office and good patent laws was just a crab and couldn't travel anyway but sideways or backwards". Let us look at the US - the mecca for patents. It is today, despite recent problems, the most powerful nation in the world. This is probably driven by its penchant for patents. The founding fathers, those who framed the American Constitution, saw the justification in giving monopoly for a limited time as a reward for invention. This was an incentive to create and encourage business for the new nation. For the first time in the history of the world, a constitutional instrument recognised that individuals had the right to protect their intellectual property (IP).

Thomas Jefferson, the third American president and the only other person to have also served as secretary of state and vice-president, was also the young nation's first patent commissioner. He spoke of patents as "locomotives that run industry". Little did he know that the patent laws that he put in place would propel the US to the status of global superpower in less than 180 years.

As most goods are offered on the open market, manufacturers can gain competitive advantage by preventing copycats. This may seem contrary to the concept of free market. But in truth, IP helps rather than hinders the economy by encouraging innovative work the real engine of growth.

With a patent, an inventor can control the design, manufacture, licensing, distribution and copying of his inventions. A patent is in effect a temporary monopoly over a specific device or process.
Patents are by nature competitive instruments - they prevent your competitors from practising your invention. They can be used to force competitors to change their products and marketing strategy. However, this assumes that the competitively valuable space is protected. Simply put: The purpose of patents is to keep others from duplicating your invention.

Benefits of a patent

• Marketing. Customers are always looking for the "next new thing". Patents represent "newness" as "novelty" is the key to successful patent applications. Patents also represent "R&D", which everyone likes. Patents are also third-party endorsements as they need to be vetted by the unbiased officials who man patent offices worldwide.

• Revenue source. Patents protect owners in terms of pricing and allow the product or service to fetch higher prices. This secures better revenue and profit.

• Bargaining chip. Owners of patents have better bargaining power when dealing with employees, competitors, customers, collaborators, reg-ulators and financial institutions as well as markets. This will be especially so when business becomes more knowledge-intensive.

• Industry control. Patents create monopolistic positions for owners. When used effectively, patents allow companies that own them control of a particular industry. This is the classic strategy of companies like IBM and Sony.

• Defending market niche. By creating a monopoly, patents enable companies that own superior abilities to defend niches in the market that they want to be strong in. This has been the strategy of pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

• Prevent being shut down by new markets and technology. Patents allow your company to be more resistant to challenges of technology obsolescence and market shifts that might shut you down. The richest man in the world understood that. In 2004, he set a new target for this company, Microsoft, to beat IBM in terms of patents filed.

Indeed, a cursory look at this July / August's issue of Fortune's Global 500 Rankings is quite revealing. American multinational companies lead with 153 followed by Japanese companies with 64. Japan is a patent-hungry nation as are the many European nations that figure strongly on the list. Looking at the Malaysian scenario, our national patent policy looks good on paper. But is it spurring national competitiveness which will turn us into a developed nation? This question needs a hard and honest answer. Or else, I see a blame game erupting as we get closer to 2020 and realise we are miles away from developed status.

Datuk Dr Rajen M is CEO of Holista Biotech Sdn Bhd

TOPIC 5 & 6 - INNOVATION PROCESS

TOPIC 4 - ORGANIZATIONAL INFRASTUCTURE

TOPIC 3: GENESIS OF INNOVATION

TOPIC 2: TYPE OF INNOVATION

TOPIC 1: PERSPECTIVE ON INNOVATION