Critical Analysis of Hbr: Connect and Develop: Inside Procter & Gamble’s New Model for Innovation

P&G has successfully moved from a closed innovation model to an open model through its Connect and Develop (C+D) process. What used to be a process of bringing together many ideas from varied sources to the internal research and development wing of the company for creation and commercialization has become a process of engaging with the sources of these ideas – both internal and external – and involving them in the R&D process. This has, for P&G, reduced the time required to bring a new product from the drawing board to the market, while keeping costs in check.

C+D brings together suppliers, external research institutions, individual researchers with the product development team of P&G. These external sources of new product ideas are not meant to replace the company’s 7500-person strong R&D division, but augment it with over 1 million independent researchers. It is important to distinguish between C+D and innovation outsourcing – while the latter merely transfers the R&D work to lower cost service providers, the former identifies innovative ideas in the market and brings them into P&G and capitalizes on internal capabilities of the company.[pic 1]

C+D begins with an external idea search. P&G sought out ideas that were at least working prototypes and showed evidence of consumer interest, which would benefit specifically from their technology, marketing, distribution, etc., capabilities. The ideas were then spelled out in technology briefs which were sent out to P&G’s network of researchers as a science problem that needed solving. The idea search was done through three sources –

1. Top ten consumer needs, which, when addressed by a product, would drive growth of the brand.
2. Adjacencies, or new products that would take advantage of and augment existing brand equity.
3. Technology game boards, i.e., an evaluation of the effects of a technology acquisition in one area on other product categories.

The next step in C+D is networking. P&G had built a large network of individuals and institutions, which could be classified into proprietary and open networks.

The proprietary network consisted of technology entrepreneurs and suppliers. The role of technology entrepreneurs was to develop needs lists, and create adjacency maps and technology game boards, and using these tools, write technology briefs to be sent into the company’s network. They were also responsible for creating the network and promoting these connections to decision makers in P&G’s business units. Suppliers are both a source of new ideas, as well as providers of solutions to P&G’s technology briefs. The company has also been involved in co-creation of new products with their suppliers, such as the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.