Innovation Perspectives – Getting Partnerships Done

This is the eighth of several ‘Innovation Perspectives‘ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘How should firms collaborate with customers and/or value chain partners to co-create new products and services?’. Here is the next perspective in the series:

by Matt Heinz

Find mutual priorities and desired outcomes, quantify its value and potential to ensure prioritization and focus, then assign a project owner with specific deadlines to get the project off the ground, keep it on schedule, and get it done.

Co-creation can be a powerful means of creating innovation on a variety of levels, but partnerships too often fail to get off the ground (let alone launched with results realized) because the two (or more) parties don’t agree on priorities, expected outcomes, or urgency. Without a basis that has all parties on common footing from square one, things won’t get done.

That said, the process of identifying opportunities to collaborate, based on mutual or individual interests, should be an open and ongoing dialogue. Let the ideas flow with little to no limit on volume or vetting, then triage the best opportunities based on the mutual interests above, and get to work!

You can check out all of the ‘Innovation Perspectives‘ articles from the different contributing authors on ‘How should firms collaborate with customers and/or value chain partners to co-create new products and services?’ by clicking the link in this sentence.

Matt Heinz is principal at Heinz Marketing, a sales & marketing consulting firm helping businesses increase customers and revenue. Contact Matt at matt@heinzmarketing.com or visit www.heinzmarketing.com.