Sebastian Brenk (RWTH Aachen) about using JTBD+ODI to identify sustainable customer needs

Sebastian Brenk is a postdoctoral researcher at the Technology and Innovation Management Institute at RWTH Aachen University, where he completed his Ph.D. in researching Open Value Creation and Business Model Innovation. In his research projects with companies like Ford, Adidas, Vestel, Deutsche Telekom, SAP, etc., he studies the leadership, organizational structures, and methods that facilitate business model innovation in ecosystems to explore and exploit new digital technology domains such as Industry 4.0, Internet of Things, Blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence.

How does JTBD help to identify consumer needs according to circular business models?

At the 3rd JTBD Summit Europe 2022, Sebastian Brenk shared more about his research on identifying sustainable customer needs in the circular economy. He explained, that using JTBD theory was highly valuable because it showed the core needs of the customer in a certain area. If you can identify the exact job a customer wants to get done you can then design products which are more efficient and more effective in doing this exact job. This also leads to higher customer satisfaction.

From Sebastian’s point of view Jobs-to-be-Done theory and Outcome-Driven Innovation® structures the innovation process and the fuzzy front-end of innovation. This is especially important in areas where the needs and future development of a product or a technology are unclear.

"JTBD theory helped us to really get to the core needs of a customer."
Sebastian Brenk, RWTH Aachen