Studies have shown that, for most companies, only 1% of new ideas become product concepts and of those, only 25% become profitable products. This means that most new product ideas fail to create value for customers. Even though many companies use a Stage-Gate process to manage the risk of new product and service development, many have delivered disappointing results.

To identify best practices, Gelb worked with the American Productivity & Quality Center to conduct several benchmarking studies on product and service innovation. Gelb conducted site visits and interviews with several innovative Fortune 500 companies such as 3M, Xerox and Sony. The insights from these benchmarking studies has helped us see how world class companies use market information to understand customer needs, develop valued products and services, and nurture innovative cultures.