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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS130

Significantly, however, the recently launched hi-tech Swatch Access
watch targets the fashion-conscious skiing community by incorporating
a microchip and antenna. Once ‘charged’, it allows contactless access to
the slopes through lift turnstiles. Not only does the skiing-specific
product range make ‘lengthy queues and lost lift passes a thing of the
past . . . it eliminates the horror of removing gloves or undoing zips’.101

force-fitting unrelated elements The morphological

analysis described in the previous sections tends to combine related
elements in unexpected ways, create market insights and powerfully
investigate the permutations which could be created of the major
attributes of a product or service.

shock effects In contrast, the technique of juxtaposing deliberately
unrelated elements seeks to provoke unexpected and innovative ideas.
This force-fitting is designed almost to shock you out of conventional
thinking into new approaches to the opportunities which you are
considering.

the technique of juxtaposing deliberately
unrelated elements seeks to provoke
unexpected and innovative ideas

Suppose that you run a small book-publishing operation aimed at the
traditional children’s market. Your challenge is to generate ideas to
increase sales. You might prepare two lists – one which itemises the
constituent elements of a physical book, one which lists the signage in
your local supermarket. If you chose one item from each list at random,
you might come up with the book’s printed text and the supermarket’s
guarantee of customer satisfaction. Force-fitting these two items
provokes the question – how could I improve the sales potential of the
book’s contents by offering something like a customer guarantee?
Possible solutions might include using children as editorial readers to
ensure at first hand that the content was appropriate to the target
market, and publishing an internet site with peer group reviews of the
various titles you offer.

You might match up the book’s contents with the supermarket’s home
delivery sign. This might prompt you to consider making the books
downloadable from the internet or perhaps available in taped talking-