Grade Received - "A -"

What is your product, and why do you feel the product you have selected is innovative within its industry?
How was the product introduced to the market, and which approach was used—entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship?
Give a brief description of some advantages, disadvantages, or challenges resulting from using the particular approach?

In this discussion I will attempt to define the term innovation, pick an existing product and why I feel the product was innovative within its industry, how the product was introduced to the market and whether it was the entrepreneurship approach or intrapreneurship approach, what the advantage and disadvantages were resulting from using this particular approach and what challenges were faced in bringing the innovation into the market. According to dictionary.com, innovation is the introduction of something new or different or the introduction of new things or methods. But innovation can have a different meaning to different people. For people in the business world innovation can mean turning ideas into money, creating a value for users, opportunities that can create jobs, or an improvement of something that already exists. We have to remember that without innovation companies can die. There are many innovative products that have been introduced throughout the years. Digital cameras, MP3 players, the Internet, Kindle, Nintendo Wii and sliced bread are among many innovative products that have been introduced. The product that I have chosen that I believe was an accidental innovative product in a Godsend for many individuals is Viagra. I say that this was an accidental innovative product because the original intent of Viagra was to treat hypertension but was found to be a very effective treatment for men that suffered from erectile dysfunction. It allowed man to take control of their sex life, but only with the help of the "Little Blue Pill". If that is not innovation, then I do not know what is. During the first phase of clinical trials, Viagra showed little effect on what it was intended to be used for, but did induce penile erections. During the second phase of clinical trials, they decided to pursue the use of Viagra for erectile dysfunction. After the drug became patented in 1996, and was introduced in the U.S. when it became approved for the use of erectile dysfunction by the United States FDA on 27 March, 1998 (Parnham). The approach that was used to introduce Viagra was intrapreneurship. Peter Dunn and Albert Woods were employees of a pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, who created this product. A few advantages for using the intrapreneurship approach are that the development of the drug was well funded by the company. Having more than one person on the team reduced the fear of risks that were being taken after the first two phases of the clinical trials failed when it came to deciding on having this particular drug treated for impotence. The third advantage of this approach is that it gave the pharmaceutical company a bigger name for itself and brought in an enormous amount of capital once this drug was approved for sale. A couple of disadvantages for this approach is because more than one person was working on this drug, they have to be sure that they were in constant communication on what was going on in order to make this product successful on the market. Managers for this pharmaceutical company were dependent on their employees in order to create a successful drug to treat a specific type of medical condition which in turn put them out of their comfort zone during day-to-day operations. The only challenge that Pfizer faced when bringing this drug into the market was having it approved by the US FDA. I say this because the intent of this drug was not to treat erectile dysfunction. It is to be considered innovative during that time period because Viagra was the first drug that was able to treat impotence by taking a pill orally and nothing else like this on the market.
REFERENCES
Dictionary.com

Lambing, Peggy A. and Kuchl, Charles R. (2007). Entrepreneurship (4th Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall

Parnham, Michael J. (2004). Viagra: A Chronology. Viagra.MD. Retrieved April 21, 2012 from: http://www.about-ed.com/viagra-history