An integrated framework for new product development using who-when-where-why-what-how (5W1H), theory of inventive problem solving and patent information – a case study

Companies are not expected to compete and survive with their same/similar products in today's dynamic and turbulent market conditions. Therefore, companies are in search of an agile new product development (NPD) approach in order to respond to rapid changes in the market without ignoring innovativeness as well. Beside these considerations, the companies are still calling for a cheap, robust and fast available method which can enhance the whole product development process. The existing NPD capabilities of the companies would be better to be utilised in order to overcome the well-known obstacles. There are a lot of creativity management tools, techniques and sources available without additional charge in order to achieve the above purpose. It should be noted that those tools and techniques are quite similar with special pros and cons of each. In this article, a novel framework is proposed for NPD process that integrates three of those techniques. The proposed framework merges theory of inventive problem solving methodology with a patent alarm system which enables tracking of 'trend changes' in patenting activities. It also introduces a modified idea-generation scheme with who- when- where- why- what- how (5W1H) methodology that helps companies to drive inventions/innovations and inspires ideas that escape from 'ordinary' and 'linear' thinking.