Page 98 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

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as you build your development plan, and consider piloting in
small steps to gather real market data for your new business.

Step 2: Explore the Business System
Once you have an initial picture of your concept’s value propo-
sition, start to expand your thinking. You can afford to let your
minds wander a bit at this point. It doesn’t cost much, because
it’s all just supposition and creativity. The point is to avoid get-
ting too focused on a limited path too early. You might think
that you have the best path to the future and then end up miss-
ing a related idea that could have been transformative. Spend
the time up front, when it’s cheap, generating many possible
ideas: channels to market, services, customer experience
enhancements, and so on.
The Innovation Radar offers a way to structure your brain-
storming. Appendix A provides a guide with 31 questions to
help you think more creatively about how you might innovate
around your business system. Spend some time perusing the
Radar, exploring what innovation along each of the dimensions
might mean. Always tie this discussion back to the underlying
value proposition for both your customers and your company.
Consider what you’re selling, to whom, how, and through
which channels. Generate as many ideas as you can. Don’t
worry at this point if some of them seem infeasible or unlikely.
It’s important that you expand your thinking early. It requires
little time and money at the outset. If you have more paths from
which to choose early on, you’re more likely to take a good one.

Step 3: Refine and Select Your Business System Concepts

Select the business system concepts you plan to examine in
detail. Which business model concepts seem to have the most