Page 54 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

',/i CAMELOT

..111 Rica !lied situation, a Camelot. Now compare it to
\1st* situation. What are the differences? Why do
they exist? What problems or opportunities are suggested
by the differences?'

6/2. CHECKLISTS

Using a checklist when examining a situation can be ex-
tremely beneficial. A number of checklists have been devel-
oped for this purpose. For example, in their book That's a
Great Idea, Tony Husch and Linda. Foust provide numerous
checklists designed to improve situation analysis. Among
other things, their checklists provide guidance in finding
opportunities, recognizing certain problems, generating
new-product ideas, generating promotional ideas, and evalu-
ating ideas.' Other checklists include strategic audits which
examine strategy, management audits which examine over-
all management actions, quality audits which examine qual-
ity compliance, and social audits which examine for socially
responsible activities.° Finally, Arthur B. VanGundy has pro-
vided a Product Improvement Checklist.' By using the check-
list to compare what could be done to a product to what cur-
rently exists, a manager can identify problems and opportu-
nities. VanGundy's list can also be used to generate creative
alternatives and is discussed in more detail in Chapter 4.

7/3. INVERSE BRAINSTORMING

Read the section on brainstorming at the beginning of Chap-
ter 5. Inverse brainstorming is a variant of the approach de-
scribed there. Whereas regular brainstorming begins with a
problem and looks for a solution, inverse brainstorming be-
gins with a situation and looks for potential problems, such
as lack of motivation in the work force.' In other words, you
take what appears to be a satisfactory situation and see what
you can find wrong with it.

8/4. LIMERICKS AND PARODIES

Make up limericks and parodies about a situation. People
I can't resist poking fun, and when they do so, problems may

be revealed. For example, one employee used the theme song

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