ALL POSTS BY: Brock Hardisty

A gratifying part of business school is the realization that your “great ideas” can become useful, tangible, and (hopefully) profitable products. MBA students are often pigeonholed with the reputation of having marginally-sociopathic financial motivations. Counter to this, however, is the reality that for every human desire and tendency, there is a business opportunity waiting to be explored and created. This is the basis for Dave Owens’ popular class, “New Product Design and Development”.

The Magnesium.

This spring, 25 or so MBA students, along with a smattering of senior students from Vanderbilt’s School of Engineering, are working with Oreck Corporation to create a home-cleaning solution that deviates from Oreck’s typical product offering. Professor Owens provides a foundation of learning, in which students explore some of the research techniques used to gather insights into consumer behavior.  Many of the best innovations are inspired through observation of the daily tasks that we all do every day, and the subsequent products that make those tasks easier.  Ergonomic office chairs, easy-to-read measuring cups, and ketchup packets you can dip your fries in—these products all began with an “a ha!” moment that inspired a designer.

If only we had thought of this first.