Opening Up the Solution Space: The Role of Analogical Thinking for Breakthrough Product Innovation
Journal
Creativity & Innovation Management
ISSN
0963-1690
ISSN-Digital
1467-8691
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2008-05-08
Author(s)
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the approach of analogical thinking for product innovation. We collected data of projects from four engineering firms where analogical thinking was successfully applied for the development of breakthrough innovations. Results show that abstracting the problem by in-depth technical and contextual analysis is pivotal when searching for analogical solutions. Furthermore, chances for the identification of highly novel analogous solutions are increased if the problem is abstracted to the level of its structural similarities to other settings. We also found that the identification of structural similarities is supported when firms not only rely on the cognitive abilities of the individual but employ an active search based on abstract search terms. Based on these insights, we propose a process model for the develop-ment of product innovations by means of analogical thinking.
Language
English
Keywords
innovation
cognitive abilities
analogical thinking
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Willey-Blackwell
Publisher place
Oxford
Volume
17
Number
2
Start page
97
End page
106
Pages
10
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
44972
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
open.access
Name
Gassmann and Zeschky, 2008, CIM.pdf
Size
275.28 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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