Concept Development and Testing

Moore (2002) suggests “The primary purpose of concept testing is to estimate consumer reactions to a product Idea before committing substantial funds to it additionally, concept tests are used to determine the potential target market and how the concept might be improved”. By highlighting the demand and need for the service, through the use of a feasibility analysis that evaluates an idea (Barringer and Ireland, 2012, pp. 105), to understand whether the concept is desirable or not, can a specific target group be selected for testing. Once relevant feedback is received about the service, development of the concept can start through, “a process of successively refining, amplifying and enhancing the basic idea of the product” (Doyle, 2011), only then can the largest possible audience be captivated and for the potential service to be successful.

For example, Adidas’s running footwear goes through numerous safety procedures, to manage the risk associated with manufacturing products such as, preventing the physical and chemical breakdown of products for the prevention of injury to athletes from faulty merchandise, which could potentially damage the image of the brand, leading to a reduction in sales and revenue. Therefore, each product of Adidas goes through vigorous testing from the materials used, to the production process and the supply line. Collecting any relevant feedback, from randomised testing of each product model, to improve and ensure the integrity of the product is consistently maintained, throughout the process upon delivery to the consumer, which upholds Adidas’s standards and ideologies (Adidas, 2014).

Therefore, it is important for the idea of tri extreme to develop further, by making the final selection of which sports should be included within the triathlon. By understanding the majority of extreme sports are a niche market, as identified in figure 1 regarding the participation of the top 10 sports played within the United Kingdom.

 Figure 1, Top Ten Sports

Taking the statistics into consideration, it is vital for the tri extreme idea, to target the largest audience possible, otherwise the concept will not be a success due to low demand. However, Jones (2008) suggests that more traditional sports within the USA such as, volleyball and baseball are experiencing a plunge within participation figures, which can be linked to the increases within participation of mountain biking and snow sports. Therefore, by producing a questionnaire intended at a target sample of schools for students to complete, regarding desired extreme sports. Feedback can be retrieved and correlated, in order to choose the ideal extreme sports with the most appeal to attract consumers within the United Kingdom. Ensuring a younger audience is targeted, due to the increase within participation of extreme sports like mountaineering (Sport England, 2012), because of changes in trends within sports and the increased accessibility. This model can be applied to each country to ensure mass appeal is generated, as the popularity of sports change due to different cultures and lifestyles, which can be used effectively to maximise market penetration.     

Referencies    

Adidas. (2014) Adidas website. Available at: http://www.adidas-group.com/en/sustainability/products/product-and-consumer-safety/ (Accessed: 26^th November 2014)

Barringer, B. Ireland, R. (2012) Entrepreneurship: successfully launching new ventures. 4th edn. London: Pearson.

Doyle, C. (2011) A Dictionary of Marketing. 3^rd edn. Oxford University Press 

Figure 1- DCMS. (2011) Adult participation in sport. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/137986/tp-adult-participation-sport-analysis.pdf (Accessed: 26^th November 2014).

Jones, L. (2008) Xtremesport website. Available at: http://xtremesport4u.com/extreme-land-sports/extreme-sport-growing-in-popularity/ (Accessed: 26^th November 2014).

Moore, W. (2002) Concept testing. Journal of Business Research. 10(3), pp. 279-294

Sport England. (2012) Active people survey. Available at: http://www.sportengland.org/media/162207/03_1x30_sport_factsheet_aps7q2.pdf (accessed: 26^th November 2014).

Idea Screening

Olivier and Florès (2007) identify idea screening as, highlighting the ideas with the most potential. Showing the importance to understand the process of which, ideas should be chosen. Therefore, through the use of a feasibility analysis, an idea can be determined whether it’s viable or not, as suggested by Barringer and Ireland (2012, pp. 105). Figure 1 shows, there are 4 key areas for an idea to pass the criteria:

·      Product/Service feasibility- ensuring there is a demand/need within the market place.     

·      Industry/Target Market feasibility- researching companies producing similar product/services to understand competitors and identify the limited proportions of consumers.

·      Organisational feasibility- whether sufficient resources are available to launch the start up business.

·      Financial feasibility- comparing the cost to the attractiveness of the opportunity.

Figure 1.

Failure to do so can result in inherited risks associated to start up businesses. For example Visa launched a cash card in Hong Kong, 1997, a differentiation to the Octopus card currently in use, similar to the oyster card within London. However Visa, failed to assess its competitors and the needs of its consumers, wanting an easy system to save time, whilst using travel networks. Failing to adopt the scan and use system, allowing its competitor Octopus to dominate the market, with 95% of people aged 16 to 65 in Hong Kong use it (Barringer and Ireland, 2012, pp. 106). Therefore, it is vital for all ideas to be screened before a business can be developed.             

    

Which is why, I am using a decision matrix as seen in figure 2, to assess which idea is best suited to develop further.

Figure 2.

Therefore with considerations to figure 2, I have decided to develop the idea of Tri Extreme. The reason being, the sports can be rotated into different variations to optimise a greater target audience, which can be linked towards increased profits margins and there are no ethical issues, unlike the Steroid Olympics. Which could have mass implications towards increasing drug use within society, a characteristic most sports frown upon and campaign to ban, in order to sustain the values of sport such as, fair play and respect for others. Although, Tri Extreme was not ranked number 1 for safety for participates, due to the inherited risks associated with extreme sports. The long-term effects of drugs, out way the Steroid Olympics potential for entertainment and profit, as the health and safety of participates are paramount. The idea of Elite athlete was considered, due to its high scoring within figure 2, however the BBC show of Superstars was a success in the 1980’s but has since been discontinued. Suggesting that the demand and need for a show/sport of that magnitude no longer exists, therefore with no business/profit potential, the idea would fail.             

References

Barringer, B. Ireland, R. (2012) Entrepreneurship: successfully launching new ventures. 4^th edn. London: Perason.

Toubia, O. Florès, L. (2007) “Adaptive Idea Screening Using Consumers”, Marketing Science, 26(3), pp. 342-360

Idea Generation

Barringer and Ireland 2012 stated that creativity is the process for idea generation. Therefore an idea is the formation of a conceptual thought, though the use of developing, creating and communication of an idea that can be tangible or intangible.  Which can then be subjectively analysed and evaluated to form a potential working concept with functions. However, an idea may be revolutionary but there must be a market need/opportunity, for an entrepreneur to capitalise, as suggested by Cha and Bae 2010. For example, James Dyson’s concept of a bag less hoover was revolutionary but it filled a gap in the market, becoming a cash cow as shown in the Boston matrix, figure 1. On the other, a product may be initiative but there might not be an opening in the market due to competition, such as the Microsoft Zune a vision of an Ipod, which became a dog on the Boston matrix. Figure 1.

360ball is a racket sport, originating from South Africa, which has been adapted from squash. It is currently the only racket sport, played within the diameters of a circle. The sport uses a small rubber ball, which is hit to a central disc within the court and can be both played for both single and double matches. The sport is currently operating in South Africa, Spain, France and Germany. The organisation is currently promoting a portable vision of the game, for ideal access to boast both awareness and participation of the sport (360ball, 2014).

The three ideas that I have generated are:

·      An adaptation of the traditional triathlon consisting of swimming, cycling and running. To form an extreme/adventure sports version that include three different variations of sports, for example mountain biking, rock climbing, base jumping and skiing potentially. That can be specifically destined for a mountainous terrine that can incorporate all three environmental conditions. An example of this event is to, ice climb a rock face to a designated peak, ski down the slope, then for the participant to mountain bike over rocky terrine towards the finish line.

·      The Steroid Olympics, where participates are allowed to use performance enhancing drugs, to produce the highest of human potential, for example for Usian Bolt to use drugs to break the 7 second barrier within 100 meters.

·       A combination of the old TV series superstars (Wikipedia, 1977) and last man standing (BBC, 2007) will be combined in order to create, a series of events/obstacles/courses using a multiple of skills and techniques, to challenge a selection of elite athletes to discover the best.

References

Barringer, B. Ireland, R. (2012) Entrepreneurship: successfully launching new ventures. 4^th edn. London: Pearson.

Cha, M. Bae, Z. (2010) “The Entrepreneurial Journey: From Entrepreneurial Intent to Opportunity Realization”, Journal of High Technology Management Research, 21(1), pp. 31-42

360ball. (2014) 360ball website. Available at: http://www.360ball.net (Accessed: 29 October 2014).

Wikipedia. (2014) Superstars Wikipedia website. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstars (Accessed: 29 October 2014).

BBC. (2014) BBC archive website. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/lastmanstanding/archive.shtml (Accessed: 29 October 2014).

Figure 1, The Boston Matrix.

 

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