Stimulating Innovation in Products and Services

This book provides the basic models and methods for the profitable use and marketing of advanced technology. It provides a guide to developing and administering marketing plans, conducting market research, searching for and managing partners, tapping capital for innovation, scoping adequate pricing methods, managing intellectual property rights, and selling and distributing products and services. It also shows how to develop formatted business plans for investors. This title is uniquely focused on the critical technology/market interface, and provides an executive introduction to marketing these products and services.

During the last thirty years, a wide range of product companies throughout the Western economies have considered moving into or setting up service businesses. Some have rejected the idea after careful consideration, some have wandered into competitive services without any real idea of what is involved and others have deliberately executed a carefully considered strategic manoeuvre. Included in this debate are some of the most famous business names in the western world: Unisys, Ericsson, Michelin, Nokia and HP. For IBM it was Lou Gerstener’s ‘big bet’; at GE it was one of former CEO Jack Welch’s ‘four major strategies’ and, at General Motors, the financial services arm was its most profitable business for many years. Yet very little has been published on this profound transition. As a result, myths and idiocies abound. Some routinely claim that the ‘evolution from products through services to solutions’ is inevitable. Others think that manufacturing is being outsourced to China and India while American or European teenagers face a career in hamburger stalls. The truth is much more fascinating. To succeed in a service business, most functions of a product company need to change. Operations, management, recruitment, finance, sales, new product development and marketing must all be adjusted. So the move into service therefore involves huge risk caused by disruptive and radical change. What has pushed realistic business people in such widely different industrial sectors to take so large a risk? Does their experience contain lessons or warnings for others? Is the trend likely to continue and affect other parts of the world as their economies develop? Will India, China or other developing economies need to learn how to export service once their manufacturing industries mature? Written by a successful businessman who has been at the heart of these changes in several companies and, with case studies from companies like IBM, Unilever, BT, Michelin, Ericsson and Nokia, this book explores the experience of those who have made the transition; and some who have resisted it. It covers in depth subjects such as: strategic focus, change management, service operations, branding a service business, service sales and service marketing. It is the first major work on this subject. “This book is a ‘must read’ for those considering the plunge into service growth and innovation. Even those companies that have already taken the plunge will gain fresh perspective” Jim Spohrer, Director, IBM Almaden Research Centre, USA “Laurie Young details in very practical ways the reasons and methodologies for change … I would recommend this book to every one of my customers.” Douglas Morse, Managing Principal for the Services Transformation and Innovation Group LLC “I am thrilled with the publication of this much needed book. In my work with businesses around the globe, I find that grappling with the challenge of transforming a company from products to services is a compelling priority for increasing numbers of firms.” Stephen W. Brown, PhD, Carson Chair, Professor and Executive Director, Center for Services Leadership, W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University

This book is not only of practical value. It's also a lot of fun to read. Michael Jackson, The Open University. Do you need to know how to create good requirements? Discovering Requirements offers a set of simple, robust, and effective cognitive tools for building requirements. Using worked examples throughout the text, it shows you how to develop an understanding of any problem, leading to questions such as: What are you trying to achieve? Who is involved, and how? What do those people want? Do they agree? How do you envisage this working? What could go wrong? Why are you making these decisions? What are you assuming? The established author team of Ian Alexander and Ljerka Beus-Dukic answer these and related questions, using a set of complementary techniques, including stakeholder analysis, goal modelling, context modelling, storytelling and scenario modelling, identifying risks and threats, describing rationales, defining terms in a project dictionary, and prioritizing. This easy to read guide is full of carefully-checked tips and tricks. Illustrated with worked examples, checklists, summaries, keywords and exercises, this book will encourage you to move closer to the real problems you're trying to solve. Guest boxes from other experts give you additional hints for your projects. Invaluable for anyone specifying requirements including IT practitioners, engineers, developers, business analysts, test engineers, configuration managers, quality engineers and project managers. A practical sourcebook for lecturers as well as students studying software engineering who want to learn about requirements work in industry. Once you've read this book you will be ready to create good requirements!

Ecosystem services are the resources and processes supplied by natural ecosystems which benefit humankind (for example, pollination of crops by insects, or water filtration by wetlands). They underpin life on earth, provide major inputs to many economic sectors and support our lifestyles. Agricultural and urban areas are by far the largest users of ecosystems and their services and (for the first time) this book explores the role that ecosystem services play in these managed environments. The book also explores methods of evaluating ecosystem services, and discusses how these services can be maintained and enhanced in our farmlands and cities. This book will be useful to students and researchers from a variety of fields, including applied ecology, environmental economics, agriculture and forestry, and also to local and regional planners and policy makers.

This practical book on selling and marketing will help architects, engineers, project managers, facilities managers, surveyors, and contractors ‘sell’ themselves to prospective clients. As clients become more sophisticated at both local and international level, and as competition in the construction industry increases, both contractors and consultants have to take a more professional approach to selling themselves. This is especially true for PFI bids where vast resources are committed to winning multi-million pound contracts. Through a simple-to-follow process, illustrated with plenty of diagrams and checklists, Marketing & Selling Professional Services in Architecture & Construction sets out the seven key aspects of selling and marketing professional services. It is full of applicable ideas and examples and is well structured to enable readers to dip into the section relevant to their current needs.

A guide to systems engineering that highlights creativity and innovation in order to foster great ideas and carry them out Practical Creativity and Innovation in Systems Engineering exposes engineers to a broad set of creative methods they can adopt in their daily practices. In addition, this book guides engineers to become entrepreneurs within traditional engineering companies, promoting creative and innovative culture around them. The author describes basic systems engineering concepts and includes an abbreviated summary of Standard 15288 systems’ life cycle processes. He then provides an extensive collection of practical creative methods which are linked to the various systems’ life cycle processes. Next, the author discusses obstacles to innovation and, in particular, how engineers can push creative ideas through layers of reactionary bureaucracy within non-innovative organizations. Finally, the author provides a comprehensive description of an exemplary creative and innovative case study recently completed. The book is filled with illustrative examples and offers effective guidelines that can enhance individual engineers’ creative prowess as well as be used to create an organizational culture where creativity and innovation flourishes. This important book: Offers typical systems engineering processes that can be accomplished in creative ways throughout the development and post-development portions of a system's lifetime. Includes a large collection of practical creative methods applicable to engineering and other technological domains Includes innovation advice needed to transform creative ideas into new products, services, businesses and marketing processes Contains references and notes for further reading in every section Written for systems engineering practitioners, graduate school students and faculty members of systems, electrical, aerospace, mechanical and industrial engineering schools, Practical Creativity and Innovation in Systems Engineering offers a useful guide for creating a culture that promotes innovation.

A complete, detailed guide to modern Islamic banking fundamentals Modern Islamic Bankingprovides a comprehensive, up-to-the-minute guide to the products, processes and legal doctrines underlying Islamic banking. Written by a pioneering practitioner in the field, this book provides thorough guidance and expert-level perspective on the principles and applications of this alternative-banking model. You'll begin by learning the fundamentals, vocabulary and key concepts of Islamic banking, then explore key products including istisna'a, murabaha, musharaka, ijara, sukuk, and salam. Coverage then moves into practical applications of Islamic products to a variety of contexts including asset management, treasury, risk management, venture capital, SME finance, micro-finance and taxation. Regulatory frameworks are discussed in detail, including extensive coverage of post-financial crisis Islamic bank valuation. Islamic banking has experienced rapid growth over the past decade, a trend that is set to continue given the sector's successful weathering of the financial crisis. This book brings you up to speed on this alternative way of banking, and shows you how it applies within your own current practices. Understand the principles of Islamic banking and finance Learn the products, vocabulary and key concepts of the field Consider the applications in a variety of financial contexts Explore the regulatory frameworks and valuation of Islamic banks Islamic banking practices differ from Western banking in fundamental ways – it's these differences that shielded the sector during the global crisis, but they also require practitioners to understand a whole new set of rules, products and practices. Modern Islamic Banking gives you a solid understanding of the fundamentals and expert insight into modern practical applications.

This book serves as a route map for psychologists and probation officers working in probation services. Outlines the strategic framework for psychological services across prisons and probation. Gives an up-to-date picture of some key emerging areas of applied psychological practice in probation settings. Covers the development of applied psychological services, court work, mental health, working with sex offenders, risk assessment, group work, cognitive skills, multi-agency public protection panels, and lifer assessments. The editors are Deputy Head and Head of Psychology for Prisons and Probation Services, and therefore well placed to compile this book. Complements Graham Towl’s book Psychology in Prisons (BPS Blackwell, 2003).