Stefan H. Thomke Boeken

Relying on intuition for innovation is no longer sufficient. Managers often misjudge customer behavior, especially online, where predicting responses is challenging. However, rigorous experimentation can reveal whether a new product, service, or business model will succeed or fail. Just as pharmaceutical companies conduct extensive experiments before launching new drugs, businesses should adopt a similar approach for their offerings. Harvard Business School professor Stefan Thomke highlights the shift from a "best guess" strategy to an "experiment with everything" mindset. Leading companies now conduct over ten thousand online controlled experiments annually, engaging millions of users and gaining a significant competitive edge. To implement this at your organization, leaders must foster an "experimentation organization" that prioritizes testing and integrates it into the innovation process. Advances in technology have made it easier for businesses to build the necessary infrastructure and expertise to run numerous daily experiments. By leveraging software and controlled experimentation, managers can enhance decision-making, improve customer experiences, and achieve substantial financial returns. This book serves as a guide to embracing a new paradigm of thinking and innovating through experimentation, supported by compelling stories from successful organizations.

"With a balanced approach that covers product and service development, readers receive a broad and realistic idea of development issues in each major sector of our economy. With its emphasis on the experimental and exploratory aspects of product and service development, this book stresses the importance of maintaining a fresh and innovative perspective in design and development. The case studies, readings, and exercises are integrated into three pedagogically consistent modules that are supported through an array of teaching tools. This supplementary material (module notes, teaching notes & plans, and presentation material) is available to all adopting instructors."--BOOK JACKET.