A New Progress of Product Innovation Source Theory: The Review of Creativity Template Theory

Theory on innovation sources is a very important research field of enterprise innovation theories. Different from the theory on product innovation sources proposed by Eric Von Hippel et al which is based on users, the creativity template theory is based on successful products, a product innovation source theory proposed after years of research by creativity experts abroad represented by Jacob Goldenberg and David Mazursky. It is now recognized as a breakthrough of the creativity researches in the past years on marketing. This paper offers detailed comments on the premises, background definitions and four basic types of the creativity template theory as well as a comparison to the methodology commonly used in enhancing creativity. It also points out the direction where such theories can be improved, an effort to shed some light on ways for enterprises to comprehensively and flexibly choose products for innovation.