Good Ideas…the Foundation of Business Innovation

By Larry Gess, COO, Chicago Manufacturing Center

Business leaders in Illinois have weathered decades of change brought on by forces, such as globalization, that are often outside their control. One constant in dealing with the demands of change is the need for a constant churn of good ideas to sustain profits in the face of global market forces: suppliers, customers, industry rivals, new entrants, and rapidly changing technology. Sustaining individual business profit is important because it in turn sustains jobs, the tax base, environment, community, and a region’s quality of life.

A definition – and the questions it raises

Let us imagine a workingman’s definition of “business innovation” to be:
Business Innovation = one good idea that sustains or increases net income over time.

From this simple definition flows a series of logical questions that a company leader might pose:
• How do we generate and capture ideas?
• How do we recognize a good idea whose time has come?
• Where do we get the resources to develop the idea?
• How do we know when to pull the plug on a “great” idea that turns out to be just a good idea?
• How do we come up with more good ideas than our competition?
• How do we turn good ideas into great ideas?

A proven, portable process to help executives answer these practical questions exists and is available to all Illinois businesses, especially those with fewer than 300 employees. Typical benefits of applying this process to businesses over the past 20 years include:
• Top line growth from new products/services/markets--greater than 20% in many cases
• Increased profit and net income
• 98% first-pass success rate implementing the new ideas
• A pipeline of good ideas for future development
• Measurable value creation for your company

Finding the answersThis business innovation process is called Eureka! Winning Ways and it was developed by author, inventor, and media personality Doug Hall at the Eureka Ranch. Doug’s exhaustive research discovered some interesting concepts as he perfected this process over the past 20 years with Fortune 100 companies:
• The process he developed for large companies, such as Procter & Gamble, works equally well for small to medium size companies.
• Plan-Do-Study-Act methodology reduces risk and increases the likelihood that you will emerge from the process with good ideas that you can put to work immediately.
• Engineering discipline can be applied to sales and marketing efforts.

How do we know Eureka! Winning Ways will work for your business? Check out the success stories on file at http://www.eurekaranch.com/GrowthServices/EurekaSuccessStories.

Through Eureka!Winning Ways, companies learn how to apply the Three Laws of Marketing Physics (Overt Benefit, Reason to Believe, Dramatic Difference) to generate top line growth. Doug Hall’s patented ideation process is documented to be eight times more effective than traditional brainstorming. Companies emerge from the process not only with great ideas to drive growth, but also an implementation plan and a clear marketing message to achieve the greatest possible impact. Certified Growth Coaches help embed the process in your company to sustain idea creation and deployment over the long haul.

Developing your company’s winning waysEureka!Winning Ways is available only through the national Manufacturing Extension Partnership network. Here in Illinois, the Chicago Manufacturing Center (serving the greater Chicago area) and the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center (serving the rest of the state) have Eureka Winning Ways Certified Growth Coaches on staff who can introduce your company to this exciting business innovation process. To find out more, please contact cfarnsworth@cmcusa.org.


Larry Gess is Chief Operating Office of the Chicago Manufacturing Center. CMC is one of 59 companies that make up the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a public-private network that is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Since 1994, CMC has helped over 4,000 companies improve their operational excellence and competitive strategy. In partnership with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and other non-government organizations, CMC is helping drive Illinois innovation with practical, real-world applications for business. In addition to the MEP network, CMC’s public investors include the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the City of Chicago.