Abbie Griffin
Professor of Business Administration,
University of Illinois

In this keynote talk, Abbie Griffin, who co-authored the classic book, "The Voice of the Customer," and is widely acclaimed for her pioneering work in VOC, will share the latest VOC implementation examples from firms at all levels of implementation sophistication.  Having conducted extensive research regarding VOC and NPD practices across industries, she is well aware of the latest trends and sustaining success factors. From her presentation, you will come away with a sense of how your company's practices compare to the best-in-class as well as what you can do to improve.  You will hear why certain practices have fallen out of usage, what new techniques are emerging and which tried-and-true techniques will never go out of style.

Specifically:

• Customer interviewing in the age of privacy protection

• How the Internet has changed customer data collection

• How does Six Sigma tie in with VOC?

• How do you use VOC in rapidly changing markets?

About Abbie Griffin
Abbie Griffin, Professor of Business Administration, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign College of Commerce, teaches business-to-business marketing and 1st year core MBA marketing.  She is on the Board of Directors of Navistar International and was the editor of the Journal of Product Innovation Management, the leading academic journal in the areas of product and technology development from 1998 - 2003. She began her career with a B.S. in Chemical Engi­neering from Purdue University.  After working as a plant engineer for Polaroid Corporation for two years, she earned an MBA from Harvard University. She worked in product and technology commercialization for Corning Glass Works in their biotechnology division and technology consulting for Booz, Allen and Hamilton prior to receiving a Ph.D. in Man­age­ment of Technology and Marketing from the Massachusetts Insti­tute of Technology.

Professor Griffin’s research investigates means for measuring and improving the process of new product development.  Her papers have been published in publications including Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Marketing Research, Sloan Management Review and Marketing Science.