Chapter 2

Recognizing
Opportunities and
Generating Ideas
Bruce R. Barringer
R. Duane Ireland
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 Chapter Objectives
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1. Explain why it’s important to start a new firm when its

“window of opportunity” is open.
2. Explain the difference between an opportunity and an idea.
3. Describe the three general approaches entrepreneurs use to
identify opportunities.
4. Identify the four environmental trends that are most
instrumental in creating business opportunities.
5. List the personal characteristics that make some people better
at recognizing business opportunities than others.

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 Chapter Objectives
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6. Identify the five steps in the creative process.

7. Describe the purpose of brainstorming and its use as an idea
generator.
8. Describe how to use library and Internet research to generate
new business ideas.
9. Explain the purpose of maintaining an idea bank.
10. Describe three steps for protecting ideas from being lost or
stolen.

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 What is An Opportunity?
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An opportunity is a favorable
Opportunity Defined set of circumstances that
creates a need for a new
product, service, or business.

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 What is an Opportunity?
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Four Essential Qualities of an Opportunity

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Three Ways to Identify an Opportunity

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 First Approach: Observing Trends
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• Observing Trends
– Trends create opportunities for entrepreneurs to pursue.
– The most important trends are:
• Economic forces
• Social forces
• Technological advances
• Political action and regulatory change
– It’s important to be aware of changes in these areas.

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First Approach: Observing Trends
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Environmental Trends Suggesting Business

or Product Opportunity Gaps

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 Trend 1: Economic Forces

Example of Economic Trend

Creating a Favorable Opportunity
Economic trends help
determine areas that are • A weak economy favors
start-ups that help consumers
ripe for new start-ups and
save money.
areas that start-ups should
• An example is GasBuddy.com,
avoid.
a company started to help
consumers save money on gas.

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 Trend 2: Social Forces

Examples of Social Trends

Social trends alter how
people and businesses • Aging of baby boomers
behave and set their • The increasing diversity of
priorities. These trends the workplace
• Increasing interest in social
provide opportunities for networks such as Facebook
new businesses to and Twitter
accommodate the • An increasing focus on health
changes. and wellness
• Increasing interest in “green”
products
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 Trend 3: Technological Advances
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Examples of Entire Industries

Advances in technology that Have Been Created as the
frequently create business Result of Technological
Advances
opportunities.
• Computer industry
• Internet
• Biotechnology
• Digital photography

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 Trend 3: Technological Advances
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Example: H20Audio
Once a technology is
An example is H20Audio, a
created, products often company started by four
emerge to advance it. former San Diego State
University students, that
makes waterproof housings
for the Apple iPhone and
iPod.

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 Trend 4: Political Action and Regulatory
Changes
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General Example
Political action and Laws to protect the environment
regulatory changes also have created opportunities for
provide the basis for entrepreneurs to start firms that
opportunities. help other firms comply with
environmental laws and
regulations.

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 Trend 4: Political Action and Regulatory
Changes
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Specific Example

Company created to help The No Child Left Behind Act

of 2002 requires states to
other companies comply develop criterion-based
with a specific law. assessments in basic skills to be
periodically given to students in
certain grades. Kim and Jay
Kleeman, two high school
teachers, started Shakespeare
Squared, a company that helps
high schools comply with the
act.
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 Second Approach: Solving a Problem
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• Solving a Problem
– Sometimes identifying opportunities simply involves
noticing a problem and finding a way to solve it.
– These problems can be pinpointed through observing
trends and through more simple means, such as intuition,
serendipity, or change.

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 Second Approach: Solving a Problem
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• A problem facing the Canada

and other countries is finding
alternatives to fossil fuels.
• A large number of
entrepreneurial firms, like
this solar farm, are being
launched to solve this problem.

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 Third Approach: Finding Gaps in the
Marketplace
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• Gaps in the Marketplace

– A third approach to identifying opportunities is to find a
gap in the marketplace.
– A gap in the marketplace is often created when a product or
service is needed by a specific group of people but doesn’t
represent a large enough market to be of interest to
mainstream retailers or manufacturers.

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 Third Approach: Finding Gaps in the
Marketplace
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Specific Example
Product gaps in the In 2000 Tish Cirovolv
marketplace represent realized there were no guitars
potentially viable on the market made
business opportunities. specifically for women. To
fill this gap, she started Daisy
Rock Guitars, a company that
makes guitars just for women.

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Personal Characteristics of the Entrepreneur

Characteristics that tend to make some people better

at recognizing opportunities than others

Prior Experience Cognitive Factors

Social Networks Creativity

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 Prior Experience

• Prior Industry Experience

– Several studies have shown that prior experience in an
industry helps an entrepreneur recognize business
opportunities.
• By working in an industry, an individual may spot a market niche
that is underserved.
• It is also possible that by working in an industry, an individual
builds a network of social contacts who provide insights that lead
to recognizing new opportunities.

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 Cognitive Factors

• Cognitive Factors
– Studies have shown that opportunity recognition may be an
innate skill or cognitive process.
– Some people believe that entrepreneurs have a “sixth
sense” that allows them to see opportunities that others
miss.
– This “sixth sense” is called entrepreneurial alertness, which
is formally defined as the ability to notice things without
engaging in deliberate search.

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 Social Networks
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• Social Networks
– The extent and depth of an individual’s social network
affects opportunity recognition.
– People who build a substantial network of social and
professional contacts will be exposed to more opportunities
and ideas than people with sparse networks.
– Research results suggest that between 40% and 50% of
people who start a business got their idea via a social
contact.
• Strong Tie Vs. Weak Tie Relationships
– All of us have relationships with other people that are called
“ties.” (See next slide.)
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 Social Networks
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• Nature of Strong-Tie Vs. Weak-Tie Relationships

– Strong-tie relationship are characterized by frequent
interaction and form between coworkers, friends, and
spouses.
– Weak-tie relationships are characterized by infrequent
interaction and form between casual acquaintances.
• Result
– It is more likely that an entrepreneur will get new business
ideas through weak-tie rather than strong-tie relationships.
(See next slide.)

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 Social Networks
3 of 3

Why weak-tie relationships lead to more new business ideas

than strong-tie relationships
Strong-Tie Relationships Weak-Tie
Relationships
These relationships, which These relationships, which
typically form between like- form between casual
minded individuals, tend to acquaintances, are not as
reinforce insights and ideas apt to be between like-
that people already have. minded individuals, so one
person may say something
to another that sparks a
completely new idea.
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 Creativity
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• Creativity
– Creativity is the process of generating a novel or useful
idea.
– Opportunity recognition may be, at least in part, a creative
process.
– For an individual, the creative process can be broken down
into five stages, as shown on the next slide.

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 Creativity
2 of 2

Five Steps to Generating Creative Ideas

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 Full View of the Opportunity Recognition
Process
Depicts the connection between an awareness of emerging trends
and the personal characteristics of the entrepreneur

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 Techniques for Generating Ideas

Brainstorming Focus Groups

Library and
Internet Research

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 Brainstorming

• Brainstorming
– Is a technique used to generate a large number of ideas and
solutions to problems quickly.
– A brainstorming “session” typically involves a group of
people, and should be targeted to a specific topic.
– Rules for a brainstorming session:
• No criticism.
• Freewheeling is encouraged.
• The session should move quickly.
• Leap-frogging is encouraged.

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 Focus Groups

• Focus Group
– A focus group is a gathering of five to ten people, who
have been selected based on their common characteristics
relative to the issues being discussed.
– These groups are led by a trained moderator, who uses the
internal dynamics of the group environment to gain insight
into why people feel the way they do about a particular
issue.
– Although focus groups are used for a variety of purposes,
they can be used to help generate new business ideas.

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 Library and Internet Research
1 of 3

• Library Research
– Libraries are an often underutilized source of information
for generating new business ideas.
– The best approach is to talk to a reference librarian, who
can point out useful resources, such as industry-specific
magazines, trade journals, and industry reports.
– Simply browsing through several issues of a trade journal
or an industry report on a topic can spark new ideas.

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 Library and Internet Research
2 of 3

Examples of Useful Search

Large public and Engines and Industry Reports
university libraries • BizMiner
typically have access to • ProQuest
search engines and • IBISWorld
industry reports that would • Mintel
cost thousands of dollars • LexisNexis Academic
to access on your own.

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 Library and Internet Research
3 of 3

• Internet Research
– If you are starting from scratch, simply typing “new
business ideas” into a search engine will produce links to
newspapers and magazine articles about the “hottest” new
business ideas.
– If you have a specific topic in mind, setting up Google or
Yahoo! e-mail alerts will provide you with links to a
constant stream of newspaper articles, blog posts, and news
releases about the topic.
– Targeted searches are also useful.

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 Other Techniques

• Customer Advisory Boards

– Some companies set up customer advisory boards that meet
regularly to discuss needs, wants, and problems that may
lead to new ideas.
• Day-In-The-Life Research
– A type of anthropological research, where the employees of
a company spend a day with a customer.

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 Encouraging New Ideas

• Establishing a Focal Point for Ideas

– Some firms meet the challenge of encouraging, collecting,
and evaluating ideas by designating a specific person to
screen and track them—for if it’s everybody’s job, it may
be no one’s responsibility.
– Another approach is to establish an idea bank (or vault),
which is a physical or digital repository for storing ideas.
• Encouraging Creativity at the Firm Level
– Creativity is the raw material that goes into innovation and
should be encouraged at the organizational and individual
supervisory level.

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Protecting Ideas From Being Lost or Stolen

• Step 1
– The idea should be put in a tangible form such as entered
into a physical idea logbook or saved on a computer disk,
and the date the idea was first thought of should be entered.
• Step 2
– The idea should be secured. This may seem like an obvious
step, but is often overlooked.
• Step 3
– Avoid making an inadvertent or voluntary disclosure of an
idea, in a manner that forfeits the right to claim exclusive
rights to it.

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 What Went Wrong?
What Happens When You Don’t Deliver on Your Promises
Page 56

Clearly Canadian
• Evaluate Clearly Canadian’s initial fruit-flavored bottled
water on all four dimensions of an opportunity.
 
• The way the product was originally positioned, it staked up
favorably on the four dimensions of an opportunity.
– It was attractive (i.e., provided a healthy alternative to soda and
other sugared drinks),
– timely (people were looking for this type of product), durable (an
increase in health conscientious is not considered to be a short-term
fad), and anchored in a product that created value for its user.
– The problem with Clearly Canadian, as articulated in the case, is that
when the ingredients of the drink were scrutinized, it was determined
that for its target audience, people looking for an alternative to
sugared drinks, it didn’t meet any of the criteria for an opportunity.

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 What Went Wrong?
What Happens When You Don’t Deliver on Your Promises
Page 56

Clearly Canadian
• Do an internet search for the firm
Check out BrandFX - http://www.brandfx.ca/work/clearly-canadian
• Canada Newswire article
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/81373/clearly-canadian-announces-
corporate-developments

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 What Went Wrong?
What Happens When You Don’t Deliver on Your Promises
Page 56

Clearly Canadian
• When you pick up a drink that’s clearly marketed as a
healthy alternative to soda and sugared drinks, do you
read the label to see if the drink is truly healthier than
the alternatives? If it isn’t, do you feel deceived by the
marketing?
 
• I do…and once I see this happen, I become a more
careful consumer.

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 What Went Wrong?
What Happens When You Don’t Deliver on Your Promises
Page 56

Clearly Canadian
• How can a start-up that has good intentions make sure
that its product is truly meeting the need that it was
designed to meet?
 
• By testing the product before it is widely distributed
through focus groups, informal tests among friends and
relatives, and by putting a product through a
product/service feasibility analysis, which is discussed
in Chapter 3.

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 What Went Wrong?
What Happens When You Don’t Deliver on Your Promises
Page 56

Clearly Canadian
• Evaluate Clearly Canadian’s marketing of its products and the ingredients in its
products today. Is the marketing and are the products themselves in better sync than
the products were when the drink was introduced in the early 1990s?
 
• Clearly Canadian has repositioned and now has a more diverse line of bottled
water drinks. It’s Clearly Canadian Hydration drink, for example, has the
following attributes:
– Certified organic
– Sugar free/unsweetened
– Zero calories per bottle
– Subtle fruit infusions: Organic lemon and organic orange
– Preservative-free
– Non carbonated
– Pristine Canadian artesian water
 

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 What Went Wrong?
What Happens When You Don’t Deliver on Your Promises
Page 56

Clearly Canadian
• Evaluate Clearly Canadian’s marketing of its products
and the ingredients in its products today. Is the
marketing and are the products themselves in better
sync than the products were when the drink was
introduced in the early 1990s?
 
• Surprisingly, its primary line of drinks, while healthier
than in the past, is not on par with alternatives in its
category, at least as far as healthy ingredients go. Its
staple Clearly Canadian drinks have 100 calories per
bottle, and the second ingredient in each bottle is high
fructose corn syrup.

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 Review Questions

Chapter 2
Recognizing Opportunities and
Generating Ideas

43
 Review Question 1
What is a product opportunity gap?
How can an entrepreneur tell if a product
opportunity gap exists?
 
– A product opportunity gap is the gap between
what is currently on the market and the
possibility for a new or significantly improved
product, service, or business that results from
emerging trends.
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 Review Question 3
What four environmental trends are most instrumental in
creating business opportunities? Provide an example of
each environmental trend and the type of business
opportunity that it might help create.
 
• The four environmental trends (or factors) that are most important in
creating business opportunities are: economic factors, social
factors, technological advances, and political action and regulatory
changes.

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 Review Question 3 …
Environmental Factor Business Opportunity it Might Create
 
Economic factor An increase in disposable income in the hands of
teenagers creates opportunities to create new
electronics products that appeal to teenagers.
 
Social factors An increase in the percentage of elderly people in
Canada creates opportunities to create new
products that help elderly people deal with everyday
chores.
 
Technological factors An increase in the percentage of people who use
smartphones creates opportunities for companies to
create products and services that enhance the
usefulness of smartphones.
 

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 Review Question 3 …
Environmental Factor Business Opportunity it Might Create
 
 
Political Action and The passage of new environmental protection
Regulatory Changes regulations creates opportunities for companies to
create products to help firms comply with the
regulations.

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 Review Question 4
Explain how “solving a problem” can create a business
opportunity. Provide an example that was not mentioned
in the chapter of a business opportunity that was created
in this way.
 
• Sometimes identifying opportunities simply involves noticing a
problem and finding a way to solve it.
• These problems can be pinpointed through observing trends and
through more simple means, such as intuition, serendipity, or
chance.

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 Review Question 4 …
Explain how “solving a problem” can create a business
opportunity. Provide an example that was not mentioned in the
chapter of a business opportunity that was created in this way.
 
• An example of a “problem” is homeowners, who live in coastal areas, who
do not have a quick and convenient way to protect their homes when they
are threatened by a hurricane or tropical storm. An entrepreneur might
see this problem as an opportunity, and start a firm to build custom
“hurricane strength” shutters that are easy to put up when a hurricane
threatens and are easy to store during clear weather. Most costal
residents currently use plywood to cover their windows when a hurricane
threatens. Plywood is neither easy to put up nor is it easy to store during
clear weather.

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 Review Question 9
• What is entrepreneurial alertness? Why is it
important?
 
There are some who think that entrepreneurs have a “sixth sense”
that allows them to see opportunities that others miss.

This sixth sense is called entrepreneurial alertness, which is

formally defined as the ability to notice things without engaging in
deliberate search. Entrepreneurial alertness is important, because
individuals with higher levels of entrepreneurial alertness will
presumably identify more business opportunities.

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 Review Question 10
In what ways does an extensive social network
provide an entrepreneur an advantage in
recognizing business opportunities?
 
• The extent and depth of an individual’s social network affects
opportunity recognition.
• People who build a substantial network of social and professional
contacts will be exposed to more opportunities or ideas than people
with sparse networks.
• This exposure can lead to new business starts.

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Application Questions

Chapter 1
Introduction to
Entrepreneurship

52
 Application Question 2
Yammer – www.yammer.com

https://www.yammer.com/
• Spend some time studying Yammer (www.yammer.com), which is an
enterprise social network. What is the basis of Yammer’s business
opportunity? Evaluate Yammer on the four essential qualities of an
opportunity. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 is high), rate Yammer in terms of the
strength of its opportunity.
 

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 Application Question 2
Yammer – www.yammer.com

https://www.yammer.com/
• Spend some time studying Yammer (www.yammer.com), which is an enterprise social
network. What is the basis of Yammer’s business opportunity? Evaluate Yammer on the
four essential qualities of an opportunity. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 is high), rate Yammer
in terms of the strength of its opportunity.

• Yammer provides the employees of a company a secure way to communicate,

collaborate, and share information.
• It’s like communicating with others via Twitter or Facebook, but it’s a private network, and
the only people who can see the communication are the people who are part of a specific
Yammer group.
• Employees using Yammer can discuss ideas, post news, ask questions, and share links
and other information.
• Yammer also serves as a company directory in which every employee has a profile and as
a knowledge repository where past conversations can be easily accessed and referenced.
 

54
 Application Question 2
Yammer – www.yammer.com

https://www.yammer.com/
• Spend some time studying Yammer (www.yammer.com), which is an enterprise
social network. What is the basis of Yammer’s business opportunity? Evaluate
Yammer on the four essential qualities of an opportunity. On a scale of 1 to 10
(10 is high), rate Yammer in terms of the strength of its opportunity.

• Yammer is an attractive opportunity, and I would give it 7 out of 10. The

company is growing rapidly and has received several rounds of substantial
venture capital funding.
 
• Yammer’s CrunchBase profile (http://www.crunchbase.com/company/yammer)
has several videos posted of interviewers with Yammer’s CEO where he
explains Yammer’s value proposition.
 

55
 Application Question 3
Check Out some of the pitches – www.Demo.com
Page 66

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 Application Question 3
Check Out some of the pitches – www.Demo.com
Page 66

Problem Solving
Ideas….what did you see?

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 Application Question 7

One of the social trends identified in the chapter is

the increasing number of people going back to
school or retraining for new jobs. Propose a
business idea, which isn’t a near duplicate of an
idea you’re already familiar with, that takes
advantage of this social trend.

Share your ideas.

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 Application Question 10

Tiffany Jones owns a small chain of fast-casual

restaurants in Denver, which sell sandwiches,
soups, wraps, and desserts. In general, her
restaurants are successful, but she feels they are
getting “stale” and could benefit from new ideas.
Suggest to Tiffany some ways she could generate
new ideas for her restaurant.
 

Brainstorming, focus groups, and Internet and

library research.

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 Application Question 15

Freedom Electronics is a start-up with about 20

sales representatives. The company has a solid
product line but knows that to remain competitive
it must continue recognizing opportunities for new
products and services. The firm has not developed
a systematic way for its sales staff to report new
ideas. Suggest some ways that Freedom can
record and protect the ideas of its sales reps.
 

60
 Application Question 15

Freedom should set up an idea bank, which is a physical or digital

repository for storing ideas. An example of an idea bank would be
a password-protected location on a firm’s intranet that is available
to qualified employees.
To protect its ideas, Freedom should obtain intellectual property
protection when possible. When an idea has not reached the point
where intellectual property protection is possible or practical, it
should implement the following three-step procedure:
 
Step 1: The idea should be put into a tangible form – either entered
into a physical idea logbook or saved on a computer disk.
 
Step 2: The idea, whether it is recorded in a physical idea logbook
or saved in a computer file, should be secured.
 
Step 3: Avoid making an inadvertent or voluntary disclosure of an
idea in a way that forfeits your claim to its exclusive rights.
  61
 You Be the VC 2.1
PharmaSecure
Chapter 2
Recognizing Opportunities and Generating Ideas

62
 PharmaSecure
www.pharmasecure.com

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 PharmaSecure
www.pharmasecure.com
Business Idea: Produce a reliable and cost-
effective solution to the growing problem
of counterfeit pharmaceutical products in
India and other developing countries.

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PharmaSecure

2-65
 PharmaSecure

Strength of the Opportunity 1 2 3 4 5

PharmaSecure is an example of a company that literally
saves lives. Pharmaceutical counterfeiting kills or makes
sick millions of people every year, and PharmaSecure is
bringing to market a product that the average person in a
developing country can use to confirm the validity of
purchased drugs.
Strength of the Industry 1 2 3 4 5
The pharmaceutical industry in developing countries is
large and growing. As countries like India continue to
modernize, and base-of-the-pyramid consumers gain
more purchasing power, the pharmaceutical industry is
expected to continue to grow.

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 PharmaSecure

Strength of Business Model 1 2 3 4 5

The business model is sound. By utilizing cell-phone
technology, PharmaSecure’s solution is within the reach
of over 55% of the population of India, its initial target
market. The company also has partnership agreements
in place with two of India’s main SMS aggregators to
handle the SMS messages that link with its verification
servers back in the U.S. In addition, the beauty of
PharmaSecure’s model is that rather than trying to tackle
the counterfeiting problem at the manufacturing level, it
places a tool directly in the hands of consumers, where
they can quickly and easily verify the authenticity of
their medication.

Average Score 4.5/5.0

We would fund this firm. PharmaSecure has all the aspects of a

sound investment—a strong management team, a solid business
idea, a large and growing industry, and a sound business model. If
PharmaSecure is successful in India, we can easily see it spreading 2-67
its service to other developing countries. As a result, the overall
 PharmaSecure

We would fund this firm. PharmaSecure has all the aspects of a

sound investment—a strong management team, a solid business
idea, a large and growing industry, and a sound business model.
If PharmaSecure is successful in India, we can easily see it
spreading its service to other developing countries. As a result,
the overall opportunity is huge.

PharmaSecure also saves lives. It’s hard to beat that in regard to

an attractive opportunity.

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 Case 2.1
ScriptPad
Chapter 2
Recognizing Opportunities and
Generating Ideas

69
 Case 2.1
ScriptPad – Interesting Idea
Page 69

• In this chapter, an
opportunity is
defined as being
(1) attractive, (2)
durable, (3)
timely, and (4)
anchored in a
product or service
that creates value
for its buyer or
end user.
• To what extent
does ScriptPad
meet each of
these tests of an
opportunity?
 

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 Case 2.1
ScriptPad – Interesting Idea
Page 69

• In this chapter, an
opportunity is
defined as being
(1) attractive, (2)
durable, (3)
timely, and (4)
anchored in a
product or service
that creates value
for its buyer or
end user.
• To what extent
does ScriptPad
meet each of
these tests of an
opportunity?
 

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 Case 2.1
ScriptPad – Interesting Idea
Page 69

Discussion Question 1:
• In this chapter, an opportunity is defined as being (1) attractive, (2) durable, (3)
timely, and (4) anchored in a product or service that creates value for its buyer or
end user.
• To what extent does ScriptPad meet each of these tests of an opportunity?

• Most people will rank ScriptPad high on each component of an opportunity.

• It is attractive in that it lessens the possibility of prescription errors and the
adoption costs are not high (at least on the physician side),
• it’s durable at least in the short and medium terms because it’s using sophisticated
smartphone technology,
• it’s timely in that problems associated with prescription errors are in need of a
solution, and
• it is anchored in a service that creates value for doctors, patients, and pharmacies.
 
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 Case 2.1
ScriptPad – Interesting Idea
Page 69

Discussion Question 2:
What environmental trends are working in ScriptPad’s favor? If ScriptPad has
uncovered a promising business opportunity, what environmental trends have
made ScriptPad possible?
 
• In regard to economic trends, all sectors of health care are looking for ways
to cut costs and become more efficient, and ScriptPad’s solution is consistent
with this trend.
• In regard to societal and technology trends, people, including doctors, are
becoming much more comfortable using technology to perform tasks once
done by hand (like writing prescriptions). In addition, improved smartphone
technology and the development of smartphone apps have made the
hardware portion of ScriptPad’s service possible.
 

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 Case 2.1
ScriptPad – Interesting Idea
Page 69

Discussion Question 3:
• Put yourself in the shoes of a family physician that’s part of a five-doctor
practice (containing five doctors). If you were that doctor and were being
pitched on ScriptPad’s method for writing prescriptions, how would you react?
What would you see as the pluses and minuses of adopting the service?
Ultimately, based on the information in the case and ScriptPad’s Web site,
what would your decision be?
 
• Any thoughts?
 

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 Case 2.1
ScriptPad – Interesting Idea
Page 69

Discussion Question 4:
• On what side do you think ScriptPad faces the biggest adoption challenge—
the physician side or the pharmacy side? Explain your answer.
 
• Most of you should argue that ScriptPad’s biggest hurdle will be adoption on
the pharmacy side.
• An individual physician may adopt ScriptPad’s technology, and it only affects
the physician. In contrast, if a pharmacy adopts the technology, it may require
training multiple employees how to use the technology and it may require
changes in the pharmacy’s normal routines. As a result, it’s likely that the
higher resistance will be on the pharmacy side.
 

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 Case 2.1
ScriptPad – Interesting Idea
Page 69

Application Question 1:
• ScriptPad’s basic premise is that it solves the problem of prescription
mistakes. Is this true? Can you think of scenarios in which a mistake could be
made even when using ScriptPad’s service? If so, how could ScriptPad
correct for these possibilities?
 
• An obvious answer is that a physician could theoretically make a mistake in
selecting a prescription medicine using the ScriptPad service, by selecting the
incorrect medication or by selecting an incorrect dosage. ScriptPad knows if a
dosage is possible, but doesn’t know the correct dosage for a particular
patient.
• There is no clear way for ScriptPad, in its current form, to correct for this type
of possibility. It’s hard to see how ScriptPad’s service could make the
incidence of prescription errors worse, but it isn’t a fail-safe system.
 
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 Case 2.1
ScriptPad – Interesting Idea
Page 69

Application Question 2:
• If you were ScriptPad’s founder, and you now have a working prototype of
your device, how would you proceed? Are you ready to go to market or are
there additional steps that need to be completed before ScriptPad is available
for sale?
 
• Thoughts?
 

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