PNNL

Abstract

Companies today face increasing pressures to grow and diversify under conditions of compressed product cycles and global competition. Companies that can develop the ability to find new markets that leverage existing product platforms and investments can achieve significant competitive advantage in this environment. While disciplined product development processes are helpful for accelerating the time to market for emerging product concepts or incremental advances in current product offerings, these processes may not enable a company to take full advantage of the dynamic knowledge base that exists within and across business units. Our growing experience with knowledge management systems (KMS) provides an opportunity to think about how to more effectively integrate market and product development insights to achieve business growth goals. Yet there is a significant challenge in determining the critical elements of an effective KMS that is most relevant to a growth agenda. This paper describes an approach for integrating advanced market analysis techniques with product platform characteristics and the vast knowledge sources within a company to determine new market opportunities. A conceptual framework for an integrated information system is presented, built on principles of knowledge management (KM) and market research, and is applied to a specific case study of a multinational manufacturing firm. Our preliminary analysis suggests that a system that adequately captures and integrates market, financial and technical information can help companies identify, collect and analyze the knowledge within their organization that can truly make a difference in their new marketing activities. A preliminary architecture and key principles for organizational implementation are also discussed. This integrated approach takes advantage of the breadth of opportunity across business units and market platforms, bringing that knowledge together in a way that is useful to decision makers.