| CLASS |
A |
| PHASE |
Evaluation |
| APPLICATION FIELDS |
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| ASSUMPTIONS |
The technique should be applied in group. This latter
must be heterogeneous and it should include some experts of the topic
under discussion. Nevertheless the technique can also be used to structure
one person’s thinking process
|
| PROS |
It allows you to estimate several concurrent solutions
accordino to some different criteria which have to be previously defined.
It doesn’t need the presence of a facilitator to be performed
well
|
| CONS |
The technique requieres some training material
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| DESCRIPTION |
It is suggested by M. Joly, a French business consultant.
Advantages They represent the most important consideration, because
if an idea doesn’t present any advantage, then it isn’t
worth the trouble to closely examine it. De Bono distinguishes between
value and advantage, defining the first one as an intrinsic attribute
of the idea, and the second one as a benefit deriving from that idea.
Then you always should ask you questions like these: “What are
the advantages?” “What’s their origin?”, “What
do they depend on?”. As an example, the financial advantages of
a new concept might finish when competitors copy it. Feasibility You might think that feasibility should be the first aspect to consider, as it is absurd to estimate the advantages of an idea which is not practicable; however it is also true that if they turn out consisting, certainly you will try to make that operating. Anyway you should abandon ideas that violate some fundamental principle. Sometimes ideas are not feasible because they break some regulations or because they are clearly illegal. In these cases you should save the concept and modify the idea so as to make it legal and corresponding to the regulations. Other times ideas are not usable because it does not exist a standard way in order to realize them, or necessary technology is not available and therefore they are discarded. Resources It is clear that a realistic appraisal of the necessary resources for the realization of an idea is very important. The key questions, in this case, are: “Do those resources exist?”, “How much does it cost the realization in money and in time resources?”, ”How many hours of labour and which specializations are necessary?”, “Who will be responsible for the realization of the idea?”. Adequacy The question is to establish if an idea is right for the organization. Then you should ask you: “Is the idea coherent with business politics, strategy and objectives?”, “And with the public imagine of the organization and the expectations of the consumers?”. As to the inner business environment, difficulties derive from the fact that just traditional ideas seem to be in accordance with the usual behaviour of the organization and in this sense every new idea is not suitable. At the same time, it is very difficult to realize with success an idea if this is not right for the style and the motivations of the firm, and it might be that also a good idea fails just for this lack of adequacy to the business context. Then it is necessary to examine the situation in order to estimate which is the best positioning for an idea. Vital factors These factors are necessary for the survival of the idea in the sense that if they lack the idea can not work. They are: profit, respect of law, existence of a well defined market and of channels of distribution, resources… An adequate capitalization is a vital factor for the success of every new company, just like resources are a vital factor for the realization of a new idea. Fatal factors They can cause the death of the idea. Thus, if the idea includes them, it can’t work. Nowadays environmental pollution is a fatal factor in many Countries, just like a too high price, or legal costs, the violation of the rights of intellectual property, the association with firms in bankrupt conditions. If the idea has a potential big value you should try to eliminate these factors or to add some vital ones. Flexibility Rigid ideas are not a good choice because of the uncertainty of the future conditions and of the continuous change of the values; then it is very important for ideas to be endowed with flexibility. Risk In every judgment, decision, or appraisal it is implicit the risk factor. There is the risk that the idea may not be successful, or that it reveals itself to be very expensive or damaging or to the imagine of the firm, or to the relationships with the dealers and so on. Then there is the risk that an idea might provoke some extremely effective reactions of the competitors which will make the idea lose its validity. A list of the possible risks could be unlimited as what is concerned with the future is uncertain. Anyway you can take precautions against risks in various ways:
1. Being aware of the possible risks.Once all the reasonable measures have been taken the firm has to decide what is the risk it is willing to accept. Anyway enterprises must take some entrepreneurial decisions, establishing which part of the available resources has to be destined to the new enterprise, which presents potentially high returns, but an elevated risk too. To discard this kind of enterprises and to prefer the continuity and the activities which lack in risk is much more dangerous. When you decide to do nothing you accept the biggest risk, which is consequent to inactivity.
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| REFERENCES |
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