Developing New Business Ideas: A Step-by-step Guide to Creating New Business Ideas Worth Backing Financial Times Series: Amazon.co.uk: Mary Bragg, Andrew Bragg: Books

Review

"... the vast numbers of books devoted to the subject... have done little to improve the situation... Andrew and Mary Bragg's Developing New Business Ideas might just be the book to change much of this... If this book can help investors and would-be entrepreneurs in this area it will do not just them, but also the economy as a whole a great service." Roger Trapp, Independent on Sunday

"Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of business – the embodiment of an idea’s potential.

But too many ideas – and too many companies – flounder and fail because they are not developed properly. You might have an idea that will change the marketplace forever, but it is no more than a dream or a fantasy if you cannot make it work.

The Braggs’ book shows how to take that first naked idea, that aspiration, and shape it into a form that can be successfully put into action. They show clearly how creativity can and should be applied to every single stage of the idea development process, and use a helpful step by step process to help you turn your idea into entrepreneurial reality.

Developing New Business Ideasis a truly original book with a fabulous blend of lessons and inspiring real business stories. Most importantly, it demonstrates in a practical and easy to understand manner how to put creativity and innovation into action."

Lord Bilimoria CBE DL, founder and Chief Executive, Cobra Beer

"Having had your bright, fresh, original idea, the really hard part is turning it into successful reality. By detailing four structured steps to developing saleable products or services from that first idea, this excellent and imaginative guide significantly simplifies that task. Essential reading for all would-be entrepreneurs."
Trevor Baylis OBE, the inventor of the clockwork radio

"Andrew and Mary Bragg have assembled a fascinating and formidable cast of entrepreneurial thought-masters to demonstrate the power of their own effective and crystal-clear principles of idea generation, development and implementation - lessons that anyone can exploit. Their book is a wonderful read which is a powerful idea - or rather set of interlinked ideas - in itself. Read, enjoy, learn, do - and profit."
Robert Heller, management writer and founding editor ofManagement Today

"If you are eager to leave the corporate rat-race for an entrepreneurial journey, the Braggs' Chapter Four is your ticket out. Thanks to this book, finding a viable new business idea just got easier."

Professor John Mullins, London Business School, author of The New Business Road Test

"Developing New Business Ideas forges a unique and powerful link between creativity and innovation. Many innovation models begin with a new business concept and proceed to describe what steps must be taken to develop, evaluate, and bring the concept to market. It is almost as if such models assume new business concepts are ripe for the picking and that successful innovation relies primarily on analysis and implementation.

Bragg and Bragg highlight how creativity is essential to the ‘front-end’ of the innovation process. They explain how the creative process can be explicitly employed to identify business opportunities and to develop original ideas in response to such opportunities. These real-life stories, in combination with an array of practical creativity tools, render this book both an enjoyable read and profoundly useful.

Developing New Business Ideas

has the potential to help many people realise their dreams."

Gerard J. Puccio, Ph.D., Chair and Professor, International Center for Studies in Creativity, Buffalo State College - State University of New York

"Here is a way of thinking that will enable the reader not just to generate new business ideas but, perhaps more importantly, to see opportunities, initiate change and cope with uncertainty. This is what entrepreneurship is really about. A way of thinking and behaving that enables people to see opportunities and innovate.

Mary and Andrew Bragg ‘break the mould’ with a book that is not about entrepreneurship and the functional business competences of the entrepreneur, but instead educates the reader for entrepreneurship by developing the right-brain attributes of the successful entrepreneur."

Professor David A. Kirby, School of Management, University of Surrey and author of Entrepreneurship
"My first business idea did not work. The next idea did, and has allowed me to run a successful company for the past sixteen years. Had this book been around all those years ago, it could have saved me a lot of time and money pursuing my first idea in the belief that it was also the best. Acknowledging that intuition is as important as practical business logic, this mind-widening book should be prescribed reading for all those considering starting their own company."
Sue Stedman, founder and managing director, Sue Stedman Corporate Clothing
"This book does just what the title promises: it provides an accessible, no-nonsense guide to nurturing great ideas and seeing them through to the creation of thriving business ventures. It is loaded with practical techniques, useful advice and real-world examples of how and why imaginative inventors, designers, entrepreneurs and companies have turned fresh thinking into spectacular success stories - along with a few that describe how it all went seriously wrong. Highly recommended."

Jim Bodoh, Director, Lloyd Northover, branding and design specialists

"Developing New Business Ideas is a very important and timely book. It draws on practical examples and relevant research to show, step-by-step, how new business ideas can be developed into viable commercial opportunities. This book is essential reading for an age in which entrepreneurship depends on innovation as never before."

John Child, Professor of Commerce, Birmingham Business School

"This book offers an up-to-date treatment of idea generation and management approaches. It deserves attention from practitioners and consultants concerned with creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and the management of change."

Professor Tudor Rickards, Head, Organisation Studies Group, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester

Professor John Mullins, London Business School, author of The New Business Road Test

"Thanks to this book, finding a viable new business idea just got easier."

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

Does exactly what it says on the tin 5 Feb 2006

By Charlotte Riveux

Format:Paperback

This is an excellent book that does exactly what it says on the tin.

It doesn’t start off with the assumption you find in most other books that you’ve got a fully-fledged business idea and all you’ve got to do is write the business plan.

Instead, it shows you how to cultivate your first idea into a viable business opportunity.

The writers have used a simple four-stage model to structure the process. Because the book is written around this model, with case-studies and examples to back up the argument, it is easy to follow. The writing itself is very clear. In fact, it makes more sense than most of the other so-called specialist books on creativity I’ve come across put together.

The focus on getting the idea right, and not rushing in with the first idea you’ve got, was reassuring.

The techniques shown are very practical and I can see that you could pick and choose from them to suit all sorts of different situations.

There’s a lot of women entrepreneurs highlighted, which is also good.

The book has certainly helped my approach to starting a business – I just wish I had come across it before.

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

It's about putting Ideas into Action 24 May 2005

By D. Berry

I believe this book can contribute a lot of value to those wishing to bridge the gap between creative inventor and commercial entrepreneur. It cites numerous case studies that do exemplify many points, although to be fair it does seem to be quite repetitive and high-level in places.

Despite this, the subject can be difficult to address and the authors have done a good job of it. In the most part, it is easy to consume, perhaps a little simplistic for my own selfish needs.

Regardless of points of view, the onus is clearly on the reader to interpret and action this recollection and guidance in an effective manner. Particularly effective for helping individuals that are unsure what to do next with their ideas.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

A real treasure.... 13 Jan 2008

By Nomesky

This book is a revelation. I was a bit ruffled by the price but it is worth every penny.

The 'Bragg' process for idea generation is detailed in a stepwise, logical and comprehensive manner. The book is well laid out and the methods described are so intuitive, once you have been shown, that ideas seem to present themselves often without even 'trying'. The main problem has been keeping up with ideas fast enough to allow a thorough investigation into their feasibility before moving on to the next idea which presents itself. The excellent anecdotes on real-life business successes (e.g Dyson, 'Nike') are really inspirational.

I am almost reluctant to recommend this book for fear of being pipped to a lucrative business idea! A real treasure....