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The stores were so successful that he went on to purchase Starbucks,
to which he had offered the original concept when he had worked
for the company several years previously.

G Andrew Palmer, who defied expert opinion and successfully
persisted with the development of the new production process
required to underpin the success of his New Covent Garden Soup
Company.

G Boo.com, whose technically brilliant internet concept for selling
fashion goods online was catastrophically undermined by the
inability of some 75 per cent of those who tried to access the website
actually to do so.

G Frederick Smith, founder of Federal Express, who saw how the bank
clearing system provided the solution to an overnight delivery
business and who used his wartime experience to put the myriad
obstacles which he faced into perspective.

We are convinced that the idea development process represents a key
tool in contemporary business and hope that you find the techniques
and business examples both informative and inspirational.

Initial business ideas come in all shapes and sizes, across all sectors, in
relation to both products and services. There are few ideas which
cannot be transformed through the idea development process into a
viable business opportunity. Entrepreneurs in even the most apparently
unglamorous sectors should be encouraged by Ralph Stayer, CEO of
Johnsonville Sausage Company. When challenged by BusinessWeek that
it was funny that Johnsonville Sausage Company should take pride of
place in an article on management meccas alongside Motorola, Hewlett-
Packard and Intel, Stayer memorably replied: ‘I think it strikes my
competitors as a lot less funny.’1

We wish you every success.
Andrew Bragg
Mary Bragg
London, November 2004