StrategicNYCSocial

Green Innovation: Driving Green Business Growth

Glen Franklin, Director at Strategic Green Source and former SVP of Product Development at Citigroup shares how green innovation can drive green business growth.  

Green Innovation can be incremental, such as an effort to embed green attributes in existing products, services, or business practices. However, it can also be radical, developing entirely new markets based on being completely green or sustainable. 

Step one is in understanding the market. If your innovation is incremental, you can rely on tried and true market research methods. Note that if your intent is to be radical, the process itself must be innovative. Traditional inputs plus traditional methods yields incremental results, while creative inputs plus cutting-edge methods will yield transformative opportunities. Some examples of creative inputs include: conducting ethnographic studies across markets where your product or service is utilized very differently, or by looking at different industries and how they address analogous issues.

Once you have identified unmet needs and emerging trends in your area of opportunity, you are ready to define problem statements around which you will conduct creative problem-solving sessions (generally referred to as ideation). Subsequently, concepts must be tested for appeal, understanding, and relevance. In addition, concept attributes will be evaluated and you will gather data to better understand the target market. The data is both quantitative, such as overall appeal, and qualitative, including comments the test audience makes about concept.

If possible, you will then offer the new concept as a live product, service, or hybrid on a limited scale...a prototype or beta test. The interaction employees and customers have with a live prototype is invaluable. There are always unintended benefits and consequences which leads to consequent learning.

With all the knowledge you gain throughout the process, you are well positioned to succeed with your green innovation objectives. What is more, you can use this process to innovate not just with customers, but also with employees and suppliers to make your business practices and supply chain greener. Green innovation can be successful in either adding green attributes to existing products or services, or developing revolutionary new green offers. Either way, there is opportunity to make green from green.

To learn more about how green innovation can drive your business, contact info@scgnyc.com/212 802 0800