Stockdorf/Munich. – Webasto achieved first place in the category for “Innovation Marketing” in the “TOP 100” national business ranking. TOP 100’s statement regarding the final judgment: “Although the company tends to place its emphasis more on B2B, the workshops provided by its marketing team systematically involve end consumers in generating ideas.” Franz-Josef Kortüm, Webasto’s CEO, agrees: “Webasto’s highest priority is creating products that have the highest possible benefit for the customer. That’s why we specifically target our end consumers and ask them about their needs.”
To generate these ideas, the company uses the Lead User Method that was developed together with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge/Boston. Up to 30 persons out of a pool of 1,000 target-group-relevant participants are chosen to take part in an innovation workshop. Over the course of a weekend, the participants discuss their detailed expectations of automotive equipment. The product ideas that emerge can then be evaluated and brought to life by Webasto’s developmental departments. The workshops are just a part of Webasto’s ongoing innovation management process, which is organized according to the so-called Sage Gate principle. Some of the tools being used include an end-consumer databank with over 10,000 entries on market research, an Idea Management system for collecting and evaluating employee suggestions, its own Call Center for monitoring customer satisfaction, as well as mystery shopping studies. ´
Webasto’s Open Innovation procedures, which not only involve customers, but also experts from other fields of the industry, have contributed to the registration of more than 1,000 national and regional patents over the past three years. Around 75 percent of the company’s profits generated by products that were significantly improved or newly introduced over the last three years.
In addition, Webasto is one of the few automotive suppliers that support automotive manufacturers’ distribution partners with a wide variety of promotional tools to help with marketing. These include launch activities, the provision of contents for Internet platforms, learning portals, car configuration, and print materials for the automotive manufacturers’ POS (point of sale).
TOP 100
compamedia GmbH, the organizer of the annual project, specializes in the organization of benchmarking projects for mid-sized companies and for establishing mid-sized networks. The project’s mentor is Lothar Späth, former state premier of Baden-Württemberg. Project partners include the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e. V., the RKW – Rationalisierungs- und Innovationszentrum der Deutschen Wirtschaft e. V., the Verband der Elektrotechnik Elektronik Informationstechnik (VDE) as well as the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI). Its media partner is the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Dr. Nikolaus Franke, Professor for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, is Scientific Director.
More information
For further information on the TOP 100, visit: www.top100.de.
An up-to-date press release covering the bestowal of 2008 TOP 100 awards can be found at: http://www.top100.de/documents_top100/aktuelles.asp