The report, titled Bridging the Research-Innovation Gap, describes eleven factors that determine executives’ effectiveness in leading their companies from the mountains of customer information they collect to innovation pay dirt. It provides ways for managers at all levels to diagnose innovation challenges and implement solutions.

The report comes in the midst of an economic crisis that has raised public skepticism of many company executives. U.S. taxpayers are on the hook for trillions of dollars in bailouts to companies that, among other faults, have failed to innovate products customers want. GM’s former CEO, Rick Wagoner, was ousted by an Obama administration calling for more accountability.

Whyze Group president, Jason M. Sherman, says, “This report gives U.S. managers, investors and employees the tools to recognize barriers to innovation in organizations and respond accordingly.”

Sherman adds, “It’s in our collective interest to assure that everyone who depends on the continued prosperity of the United States participate in making us more innovative and competitive. This report is a primer for those who will make that happen.”

‘Bridging the Research-Innovation Gap’ is the culmination of eight years of analysis of Fortune 500 companies. Whyze Group audited hundreds of strategy documents and conducted thousands of interviews with executives, employees and customers. The report integrates data from the U.S. Commerce Department and observations from thought leaders at top business schools.

The report includes an analysis of how management teams waste billions of dollars on market research each year. Companies use only half of the customer information they acquire. Some customer information is misapplied.

As a result, there is little association between how much companies spend on research and their relative financial performance. Company performance is influenced more by how effectively managers apply what they learn.

‘Bridging the Research-Innovation Gap’ identifies eleven factors that determine how effectively managers apply what they learn. One example is the degree to which executives carve out fiefdoms to the detriment of their organizations. In some companies, managers try to manipulate information for their own personal gain. In others, executives openly share information and work in ways that are more aligned with the interests of customers, employees and shareholders.

Other factors that determine how companies apply what they learn are management teams’ abilities to
-   Correctly identify their own blind spots
-   Stimulate innovation among employees
-   Identify and champion the most promising ideas

The report describes seven additional factors that determine companies’ abilities to bridge the research-innovation gap. Descriptions of each factor are followed by strategies executives can use to make their companies more innovative.

About Whyze Group:
Whyze Group, founded in 2001, is a leading research and innovation management consulting firm that works with executives at Fortune 1000 companies. The company provides management belief audits, customer research, innovation planning, executive facilitation and training.

Contact:
Please direct inquiries to Jason M. Sherman, (440) 785-0547 or email, jason (at) whyzegroup (dot) com.
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“We’re honored to have worked as a catalyst for innovation with these two great organizations,” explains Whyze Group’s president, Jason M. Sherman. Whyze Group deployed nearly its full complement of customer experience research and innovation design services over the course of the eighteen month timeframe.  The financial services division asked Whyze Group to repeat its success with them after Whyze Group’s initial nine month engagement with the property and casualty side of the business.

Whyze Group facilitates management teams’ discoveries and innovations of new customer experiences. Whyze Group applies a reliable and powerful approach, integrating deep customer experience insight, strategic innovation frameworks and executive alignment workshops to guide managers toward innovation breakthroughs. Clients include Rubbermaid, Zales, Nationwide Insurance, Grainger, ING, Humana, Dominion Power, Key Bank and nGenera.

The objective of the sessions is to engage customers more productively in new product innovation efforts and standardize product innovation process that can be applied across Rubbermaid companies.

“We’re proud to be recognized by Publicis and Rubbermaid as a valued partner in developing innovation processes that are reliable and successful,” says Jason M. Sherman, president of Whyze Group.

Whyze Group facilitates management teams’ discoveries and innovations of new customer experiences. Whyze Group applies a reliable and powerful approach, integrating deep customer experience insight, strategic innovation frameworks and executive alignment workshops to guide managers toward innovation breakthroughs. Clients include Rubbermaid, Zales, Nationwide Insurance, Grainger, ING, Humana, Dominion Power, Key Bank and nGenera.

Whyze Group president, Jason M. Sherman, cites several reasons for choosing Cleveland as a new location for the firm. He says that high quality of life, low costs, proximity to top universities and easy airline access to clients nationally figured into the decision.

“Cleveland is an undiscovered gem for most people in this country”, Sherman explains. “Cleveland offers everything that most larger metro areas offer, but without the hassles or the costs. There are four-season recreational opportunities, a vibrant multi-cultural community, a world-class orchestra and some of the nation’s finest hospitals all right here.”

Sherman also embraces Northeastern Ohioans, who he describes as hard-working, earnest and embodying Midwest sensibilities.

Whyze Group facilitates management teams’ discoveries and innovations of new customer experiences. Whyze Group applies a reliable and powerful approach, integrating deep customer experience insight, strategic innovation frameworks and executive alignment workshops to guide managers toward innovation breakthroughs. Clients include Rubbermaid, Zales, Nationwide Insurance, Grainger, ING, Humana, Dominion Power, Key Bank and nGenera.

Sherman is president of Whyze Group, a customer experience research and design firm in Atlanta. He has worked closely with CRM consultants and sees some potential blindspots among CRM providers and clients.

“Customer relationship management has come to mean technology to most companies, but it’s really about fostering authentic relationships between buyers and sellers,” Sherman explains. In his view, CRM technology is an enabler of the policies and practices companies follow to manage customer relationships. Without continually assessing and updating these policies to assure that customers’ needs are met, some CRM systems do little more than streamline the delivery of mediocre customer experiences.

Whyze Group facilitates management teams’ discoveries and innovations of new customer experiences. Whyze Group applies a reliable and powerful approach, integrating deep customer experience insight, strategic innovation frameworks and executive alignment workshops to guide managers toward innovation breakthroughs. Clients include Rubbermaid, Zales, Nationwide Insurance, Grainger, ING, Humana, Dominion Power, Key Bank and nGenera.

“It’s personally rewarding to give these two gifted students a leg up in practical experience and in broadening their skills,” explains Jason M. Sherman, president of Whyze Group.

Mr. Sherman’s college career included two internships in New York. He is proud to be in a position to give something back to the community and in particular to assure that young professionals who have talent and ambition are given opportunities to begin productive careers.

Whyze Group facilitates management teams’ discoveries and innovations of new customer experiences. Whyze Group applies a reliable and powerful approach, integrating deep customer experience insight, strategic innovation frameworks and executive alignment workshops to guide managers toward innovation breakthroughs. Clients include Rubbermaid, Zales, Nationwide Insurance, Grainger, ING, Humana, Dominion Power, Key Bank and nGenera.

The collaboration resulted in a plan to implement several significant changes to Wayne Farm’s business-to-business partnering processes. Whyze Group modeled some of the recommended changes from Malcolm Baldrige winners that integrate closely with their partners.

Wayne Farms is a billion dollar producer of fresh and further processed poultry and protein products. Customer Innovations, LLC is an Atlanta-based customer experience consultancy and a Whyze Group partner firm.

Whyze Group facilitates management teams’ discoveries and innovations of new customer experiences. Whyze Group applies a reliable and powerful approach, integrating deep customer experience insight, strategic innovation frameworks and executive alignment workshops to guide managers toward innovation breakthroughs. Clients include Rubbermaid, Zales, Nationwide Insurance, Grainger, ING, Humana, Dominion Power, Key Bank and nGenera.

Atlanta, GA, March 2, 2003—Whyze Group’s Jason M. Sherman will deliver a half-day workshop titled, “Influencing Organizational Change with Market Intelligence” at the American Marketing Association workshop in October. At the workshop will be senior marketers, marketing researchers and new product development managers from companies in the U.S. and Canada. The workshop will be held at Hyatt Lodge, McDonalds Office Campus in Oakbrook, October 27-30.

Mr. Sherman was among the top-rated presenters at recent AMA workshops in Scottsdale and San Antonio.

Whyze Group facilitates management teams’ discoveries and innovations of new customer experiences. Whyze Group has developed advanced customer experience research and analytics. These imbue management teams with a more empathetic and actionable understanding of their customers’ experiences. Clients include Humana, ING, HomeBanc and The Concours Group.

Atlanta, GA, February 3, 2003—Whyze Group president, Jason M. Sherman, will present a four-hour workshop titled, “Marketing Research: Foundation of Strategy and Innovation,” at the American Marketing Association’s national conference in San Antonio this May. The event will be held at La Mansion Del Rio, May 5-8. Participants may register at marketingpower.com.

The workshop is designed to increase marketers’, marketing researchers’ and new product development managers’ effectiveness in accelerating company innovation.

The workshop will show how successful marketers merge customer intelligence with change management initiatives to advance innovation in their companies. Frameworks for integrating marketing research, strategy and change management will be presented along with case studies.

Whyze Group facilitates management teams’ discoveries and innovations of new customer experiences. Whyze Group applies a reliable and powerful approach, integrating deep customer experience insight, strategic innovation frameworks and executive alignment workshops to guide managers toward innovation breakthroughs. Clients include Rubbermaid, Zales, Nationwide Insurance, Grainger, ING, Humana, Dominion Power, Key Bank and nGenera.

Members of he American Marketing Association’s Atlanta chapter asked Jason to present after learning of the his pioneering work linking marketing research, organizational change and innovation.

“Much of the information that management teams could use to innovate new products and experiences already exists,” says Sherman. Whyze Group helps management teams find corroborating evidence of new market opportunities.

Sherman will present a case study on how one client organization, HomeBanc, used existing multi-source information to optimize its advertising budget on one campaign. Sherman recommended a three-fold increase in HomeBanc’s ad budget. The result in a twenty percent increase in market share and $1.8 million increase in quarterly profits.

Whyze Group facilitates management teams’ discoveries and innovations of new customer experiences. Whyze Group applies a reliable and powerful approach, integrating deep customer experience insight, strategic innovation frameworks and executive alignment workshops to guide managers toward innovation breakthroughs. Clients include ING, Humana, HomeBanc and Customer Innovations.