Page 35 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

Recognizing a Problem

You need to be aware that a problem or oppor-
tunity exists before you can solve it or take
advantage of it. It is from the information
gathered in analyzing the environment
that you will learn that a problem or op-
portunity exists. Often, however, the
problem solver has only a vague feeling
that something is wrong or that an oppor-
tunity exists. A gestation period seems to
occur in which information from the environ-
ment is processed subconsciously and the exist-
ence of a problem or opportunity eventually registers at the
conscious level.4 For example, when Mikio Kitano, Toyota's
production guru, began analyzing the firm's manufacturing
cost information in the early 1990s, he intuitively sensed that
something was wrong. The firm simply wasn't saving as
much money as it should from all of the automation and
robotization that it had just completed. He believed it was
because robots were being used when human beings could
do the job just as well, at less cost. Other top managers
doubted him, but in the end he proved that he was right
saving Toyota millions of dollars in unnecessary investment.'

Identifying the Problem

The problem identification stage involves mak-
ing sure the organization's efforts will be
directed toward solving the real problem
rather than merely eliminating symp-
toms.6 This stage also involves establish-
ing the objectives of the problem-solving
process and determining what will con-
stitute evidence that the problem has been
solved. The outcome of this stage is a set
of decision criteria for evaluating various
options. See Figure 2.2.

101
CREATIVE
PROBLEM
SOLVING
TECHNIQUES

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