This document summarizes guidelines for developing an effective new product development strategy. It discusses key elements that should be included in a strategy statement, such as:
1. Defining the appropriate market-technology mix and degree of innovation versus imitation.
2. Specifying the target market width, including relevant product categories, industries, and geographic regions.
3. Outlining desired price and quality ranges, as well as particular promotional requirements and whether development will utilize internal or external facilities.
4. Identifying competitive situations to pursue or avoid, as well as required production capabilities.
The document argues that a clear strategy is needed to provide direction and prevent wasted efforts, but that fears of limiting innovation are generally
The document discusses different generations of innovation models, from the first generation technology push model to the sixth generation open innovation model. It describes the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of each generation. The key aspects of the sixth generation open innovation model are that it focuses on opening up innovation to external partners and ideas, allowing ideas and paths to market to come from both inside and outside the company. The document also discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages of the open innovation approach.
Rita Shor and her team at 3M's Health Care Unit were tasked with developing new products using an innovative market research method called "Lead User Research" after the unit failed to introduce a successful product in a decade. After months of research, the team developed four recommendations - three for new product lines and a fourth that proposed rewriting the unit's business strategy. Given the degree of change the fourth recommendation would bring and decreasing support for the research method, Rita must carefully consider how to introduce the recommendations to management, initially suggesting the new product lines while further developing the potential strategic change.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car has grown from a small startup in 1957 to the largest car rental company in North America through strategic use of Ansoff's Matrix growth strategies. It focused on market development by opening airport locations, product development like unique pickup services, and diversification into used car sales. While diversification into food packaging was less successful, it provided valuable learning experience.
This document summarizes key aspects of new product development from chapters 12 and 13 of the textbook "Innovation Management and New Product Development". It discusses the importance of innovation for market share, the role of new product development in converting opportunities to products, and external considerations in NPD. The document also outlines impacts of NPD on different organizational functions and competing demands within organizations. Ansoff's directional policy matrix and the multi-dimensional nature of products are presented.
The document discusses strategies for continuous innovation that are essential for companies to sustain success. It provides examples of companies like Gillette, IBM, and Sony that have mastered innovation through continuously attacking their own products and introducing new versions before competitors can. The document emphasizes that companies must innovate to stay ahead of changes in customer needs and wants. It also warns that companies like Coca-Cola and Nike failed to sustain their leading positions by resisting change and ignoring innovation. Overall, the key message is that continuous self-attack through constant product renovation and new introductions is necessary for companies to survive in today's competitive environment.
Using Market Research For Product DevelopmentResearchShare
Market research can be used at various stages of product development to minimize risks and maximize success. In the pre-birth stage, market research is useful for establishing customer needs and identifying opportunities to develop new concepts, product additions, or modifications. It helps reduce risks by exploring whether a product meets real needs before significant resources are invested. However, market research has limitations and cannot guarantee success - it is still difficult to research highly innovative concepts. Overall, when used properly, market research provides valuable insights to inform product development decisions at every stage.
Marketing Plan: Product diversification strategy - Media Strom SASpyros Langkos
MEDIA STROM: « We stay awake…so that you can sleep better »
This study concentrates on the marketing plan of the Greek company Media Strom S.A (Athenian Mattresses Industry) and the development of a new product in a new market: in the case of product diversification through innovation.
This report reviews and evaluates the marketing plan of a well known and established business, Media Strom S.A and recommends an alternative marketing strategy for the needs of product diversification strategy. We examine this proposition alongside with the ongoing marketing plan of the company, as a one to one consultation process.
The paper attempts an overall analysis of the current market, the competition and the influences of the external environment. Furthermore, presents the company‟s capabilities and internal processes, highlighting the strengths and opportunities of the organization.
The solution proposed by this paper moves to the field of product innovation (product case: sleeping pillow enhanced with internal speakers with connector for smartphones), so that it positioned as an inspirational product with distinctive quality and technological function.
It mainly focus on introducing a modern relaxing sleep session to the user, which provides affordable bed and sleep-related products to young middle age groups of people with concerns over technology and comfort.
The stated objective here, concerning price analysis, is that the above product category should reach 1/10 of the overall sales of the company, with regional targeting of the western societies, which are more technologically advanced and innovation friendly.
Supporting the above mention, the delivered profit margins are expected to be small with a rising ongoing trend, in the first semester of the launching process. But as the assembly product line grows in numbers and manufacturing experience, the business profits will accumulate as it becomes a usual business service, ensuring the smoothing between marketing and factory operations.
Company profile:
Media Strom was established in 1967 from the brothers John and Nick Niarchos, aiming to offer mattresses that improve the quality of sleep and set new standards on the market. It is thought to be the No.1 company in the mattress industry, having a presence in the field for over 4 decades. It is a 100% Greek-owned company, having offered great sleep up to 3 generations so far. They have eco-friendly facilities without gas and waste emissions due to their strict recycling and packaging program and collaboration with the Hellenic Recovery Recycling Corporation.
The history of the firm is filled with innovations that changed the way that most Greek people slept. Above 2,5 million Greek citizens today wake up in a bed or a mattress of Media Strom. The New Sophisticated Factory of Media Strom builted in 2010, is the
jewel of the world quilting, confirming entrepreneurship and healthy development.
The document discusses different generations of innovation models, from the first generation technology push model to the sixth generation open innovation model. It describes the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of each generation. The key aspects of the sixth generation open innovation model are that it focuses on opening up innovation to external partners and ideas, allowing ideas and paths to market to come from both inside and outside the company. The document also discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages of the open innovation approach.
Rita Shor and her team at 3M's Health Care Unit were tasked with developing new products using an innovative market research method called "Lead User Research" after the unit failed to introduce a successful product in a decade. After months of research, the team developed four recommendations - three for new product lines and a fourth that proposed rewriting the unit's business strategy. Given the degree of change the fourth recommendation would bring and decreasing support for the research method, Rita must carefully consider how to introduce the recommendations to management, initially suggesting the new product lines while further developing the potential strategic change.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car has grown from a small startup in 1957 to the largest car rental company in North America through strategic use of Ansoff's Matrix growth strategies. It focused on market development by opening airport locations, product development like unique pickup services, and diversification into used car sales. While diversification into food packaging was less successful, it provided valuable learning experience.
This document summarizes key aspects of new product development from chapters 12 and 13 of the textbook "Innovation Management and New Product Development". It discusses the importance of innovation for market share, the role of new product development in converting opportunities to products, and external considerations in NPD. The document also outlines impacts of NPD on different organizational functions and competing demands within organizations. Ansoff's directional policy matrix and the multi-dimensional nature of products are presented.
The document discusses strategies for continuous innovation that are essential for companies to sustain success. It provides examples of companies like Gillette, IBM, and Sony that have mastered innovation through continuously attacking their own products and introducing new versions before competitors can. The document emphasizes that companies must innovate to stay ahead of changes in customer needs and wants. It also warns that companies like Coca-Cola and Nike failed to sustain their leading positions by resisting change and ignoring innovation. Overall, the key message is that continuous self-attack through constant product renovation and new introductions is necessary for companies to survive in today's competitive environment.
Using Market Research For Product DevelopmentResearchShare
Market research can be used at various stages of product development to minimize risks and maximize success. In the pre-birth stage, market research is useful for establishing customer needs and identifying opportunities to develop new concepts, product additions, or modifications. It helps reduce risks by exploring whether a product meets real needs before significant resources are invested. However, market research has limitations and cannot guarantee success - it is still difficult to research highly innovative concepts. Overall, when used properly, market research provides valuable insights to inform product development decisions at every stage.
Marketing Plan: Product diversification strategy - Media Strom SASpyros Langkos
MEDIA STROM: « We stay awake…so that you can sleep better »
This study concentrates on the marketing plan of the Greek company Media Strom S.A (Athenian Mattresses Industry) and the development of a new product in a new market: in the case of product diversification through innovation.
This report reviews and evaluates the marketing plan of a well known and established business, Media Strom S.A and recommends an alternative marketing strategy for the needs of product diversification strategy. We examine this proposition alongside with the ongoing marketing plan of the company, as a one to one consultation process.
The paper attempts an overall analysis of the current market, the competition and the influences of the external environment. Furthermore, presents the company‟s capabilities and internal processes, highlighting the strengths and opportunities of the organization.
The solution proposed by this paper moves to the field of product innovation (product case: sleeping pillow enhanced with internal speakers with connector for smartphones), so that it positioned as an inspirational product with distinctive quality and technological function.
It mainly focus on introducing a modern relaxing sleep session to the user, which provides affordable bed and sleep-related products to young middle age groups of people with concerns over technology and comfort.
The stated objective here, concerning price analysis, is that the above product category should reach 1/10 of the overall sales of the company, with regional targeting of the western societies, which are more technologically advanced and innovation friendly.
Supporting the above mention, the delivered profit margins are expected to be small with a rising ongoing trend, in the first semester of the launching process. But as the assembly product line grows in numbers and manufacturing experience, the business profits will accumulate as it becomes a usual business service, ensuring the smoothing between marketing and factory operations.
Company profile:
Media Strom was established in 1967 from the brothers John and Nick Niarchos, aiming to offer mattresses that improve the quality of sleep and set new standards on the market. It is thought to be the No.1 company in the mattress industry, having a presence in the field for over 4 decades. It is a 100% Greek-owned company, having offered great sleep up to 3 generations so far. They have eco-friendly facilities without gas and waste emissions due to their strict recycling and packaging program and collaboration with the Hellenic Recovery Recycling Corporation.
The history of the firm is filled with innovations that changed the way that most Greek people slept. Above 2,5 million Greek citizens today wake up in a bed or a mattress of Media Strom. The New Sophisticated Factory of Media Strom builted in 2010, is the
jewel of the world quilting, confirming entrepreneurship and healthy development.
Nystrom (1990) described high tech markets as marketing dependent and technologically driven. Unfortunately, there is evidence that this linkage is not often recognized by organizations (Gupta, Ray and Wilemon 1985). High tech markets are characterized as complex. In addition, they exist under rapidly changing technological conditions which lead to shorter life cycles (Davidow 1986) and the need for rapid decisions (Bridges, Coughlan, and Kalish 1991). The importance of speed in high tech markets is driven by increasing competition and the continually evolving expectations of customers (Doyle and Saunders 1985). All of this is compounded by higher levels of risk for both the customer and the producer.
This document discusses biotechnology R&D strategies and corporate strategy. It begins with an overview of the biopharmaceutical industry and challenges with early stage funding. The concept of strategy and purposes of a good strategy are then explained. Key elements of R&D performance strategies including architecture, processes, people and portfolio are covered. Case studies of innovation and biosimilar R&D strategies from companies like GSK, Wyeth and Novartis are summarized. The document concludes that different companies pursued different strategies based on their core hypotheses to address R&D productivity issues. Benchmarking capabilities is important for companies looking to enter the biosimilars market during the biologics patent cliff.
This document presents a research model exploring the relationships between geographic scope, product diversification, proprietary assets, and corporate performance of Japanese firms. The model incorporates both antecedents and consequences of geographic scope. Six main hypotheses are developed: 1) Industry profitability is negatively related to product diversification. 2) Product diversification is negatively related to firm performance. 3) Product diversification is negatively related to R&D and advertising intensity. 4) R&D and advertising intensity are positively related to geographic scope. 5) Geographic scope is positively related to firm performance. 6) R&D and advertising intensity are positively related to firm performance. The model will be tested using data on 399 Japanese manufacturing firms.
The role of the product manager is changing in today's dynamic environment. Product managers must analyze trends, identify opportunities and threats, and determine corporate strengths and weaknesses to develop effective strategies. This involves conducting a thorough situation analysis including environmental, market, competitor and internal analyses. The most important part of developing a strategy is understanding where the organization currently stands and where it wants to go through a detailed examination of external forces and internal capabilities.
There are different Strategic Innovation methodologies, frameworks and models that aid organizations, particularly with technology driven, production companies. Most companies must innovate and continually improve to maintain a competitive advantage, but how they accomplish these process improvements differs significantly from Strategic Innovation. Traditional strategies rely on process improvements and product development through lessons learned, adoption of internal and external best practices, and improvements that are incremental and nature that are often found in Total Quality Management programs. Strategic Innovation requires a culture that can create breakthroughs within a company’s current market, and potentially enter a new market or segment. Strategic Innovation, and the implementation models that follow, are not for every organization, and a review of traditional strategies and risks associated with Strategic Innovation will be covered.
Product design strategy involves differentiating products from competitors, achieving cost leadership, increasing product complexity, carefully timing new product introductions, considering product appearance, and using the Taguchi method. The Taguchi method focuses on robust design to minimize a product's sensitivity to variability. It can help reduce development costs and time while improving productivity. Potential shortcomings include undetected sources of variability and additional experimentation costs, but the benefits generally outweigh these issues.
This document provides an overview of industry, competitor, and market analysis for entrepreneurship. It discusses the importance of conducting an industry analysis before starting a new venture to understand factors like threats from new entrants, competition among existing firms, bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, and availability of substitutes. The document also explains Porter's Five Forces model as a framework for assessing industry attractiveness.
The document summarizes the use of lead user research methodology at 3M to develop breakthrough products for their medical-surgical division. It describes how a research team conducted the lead user research process in 4 stages over 6 months, identifying trends, generating concepts, and developing 3 new product ideas and a revised strategy. This included international research and workshops with lead users. The recommendations included new "economy", "skin doctor", and "armor" product lines as well as entering upstream infection containment. However, the document notes lead user research is unpredictable and 3M traditionally focused on incremental growth. It argues 3M should adopt more open innovation and restructure strategy around new product development.
Organazational and Strategic innovationAfrouz Hojati
Strategic Innovation is the creation of growth strategies, new product categories, services or business models that change the game and generate significant new value for consumers, customers and the corporation
We identified the five U.S. companies that have moved the farthest, the fastest in answering that call for change. These are the enterprises that are best positioned to redefine our future and point the way to a better tomorrow.
Design Co-creation and Performance in New Product Development ProcessWaqas Tariq
Co-creation is a kind of marketing strategy or business strategy that stresses the generation and continuing realization of mutual firm-customer value. Product design, marketing, and Innovation ought to be closely coordinated in companies. Most researchers have indicated that highly effective connection among innovation R&D, marketing activities, and design pushes products in to the marketplace and guarantees their success. However, empirical studies from the Co- creations among design, marketing, and innovation strategies in New Product Development (NPD) performance are intermittent. Within this study, enterprises through the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA) database were chosen randomly as subjects. Inside the first survey, the status from the marketing strategy, innovation strategy, and design strategy was determined. Following a new product was marketed for one year, another survey was conducted for NPD performance check. After repeated contact, 285 enterprises (21.11%) responded. Major findings in the study are listed below: (1) The Structural Equation Model (SEM) results demonstrate a good fit involving the theoretical model and observed data for innovation, marketing, and design strategies; (2) The NPD performance is influenced by an enterprise’s innovation, marketing, and design strategies. Moreover, innovation and marketing strategies also influence NPD performance through design strategy. For NPD performance, design strategy is both a completely independent variable and an intervening variable; (3) The NPD performance could be reinforced when enterprises struggle for design, innovation, and marketing strategies.
This document discusses how companies can gain a competitive advantage through the use of information systems and technology. It provides examples of both successful and unsuccessful uses of IS/IT. Specifically, it explains that IS/IT can help lower costs, differentiate products/services, and foster innovation. However, some companies have failed to keep up with new technologies, causing their competitive advantages to diminish over time, like what happened to Nokia. Both internal factors, like strengths/weaknesses, and external factors, such as opportunities/threats, can influence the success or failure of a company's IS/IT strategies.
Mba 670 project 3 individual analysisthis report is not reflectamit657720
The document provides instructions for creating an annotated bibliography. It defines an annotated bibliography as a list of citations on a particular topic that includes a brief summary and/or critical evaluation of each source. There are two main types of annotations: summary annotations that describe the source, and evaluative annotations that both describe and critically assess the source for accuracy, relevance, and quality. The document outlines the process for writing an evaluative annotation, which involves citing the source, describing its main ideas and intended audience, evaluating the author's expertise and potential biases, comparing it to other sources, and identifying its strengths, weaknesses, and conclusions as they relate to the research topic.
R&D Research & Development Strategy & ManagementChief Innovation
Am one of the few people I know who has an R&D Strategy background, but you almost never can sell projects in that area unless you have a domain PhD. Most of this is from 3rd Generation R&D, written by former colleagues from Arthur D. Little, Phil Roussel, Tammy Erickson and Kamal Saad. Phil is no longer with us, great guy and good friend (always tell people, I taught him how to use a fax machine, 'Jay, how do I work this thing.' - 'Phil, put the page in there, and push that big green button.' - 'Oh, that was easy.' Safe to say, 23 years later I still have never written a cool book, but did know something he did not! This had 3 slides at the end of it that I cannot remember where they came from, think in the book but not in order.
The document discusses various aspects of product management including product definition, quality, features, design, classification, mix, lines, strategies, development process, and reasons for new product failure. It defines a product and different types of products. It also covers topics like quality, features, design considerations, product classification, mix, lines, and strategies for development.
This article discusses innovation practices in the consumer products industry. It finds that top-performing companies introduce more new products than competitors, generate 20% more revenue from new products, and bring products to market five times faster than average. These companies develop "actionable insight" by systematically gathering and analyzing multiple data sources. They also leverage crowdsourcing ideas from customers and employees. Successful conversion of ideas requires balancing short and long-term innovation investments and ensuring efficient processes.
Product innovation presentation by architArchit Sharma
This document discusses product innovation and the new product development process. It defines product innovation as the creation and introduction of new or improved goods and services. It describes different types of new products and outlines the typical steps in the new product development process, including idea generation, concept development and testing, marketing strategy development, business analysis, product development, test marketing, and commercialization. Key aspects of marketing strategy, packaging, positioning, common product failures, and approaches to commercialization are also summarized.
Global R&D – An Update on the Latest Scenario and the Challenges Facing ItChristopher Breach
The document summarizes the evolution of research and development (R&D) and challenges of global R&D. It discusses how R&D has evolved from being centralized in a few countries to being distributed worldwide. It then analyzes different models for organizing international R&D such as ethnocentric, geocentric, polycentric, hub, and integrated network models. Finally, it discusses challenges of setting up global R&D subsidiaries including communication barriers, cultural differences, staff training, and managing dispersed projects across R&D centers.
Do you need a new product development strategysamatong
Firms often rely on a single new product development process for all projects, but this approach is misguided as different business contexts require different processes. Products for stable, mature markets need a process optimized for control and efficiency, while breakthrough products for emerging markets require a more flexible process focused on discovery. Applying a uniform best practice process ignores these differences and can lead to missed opportunities or products that do not meet goals. The article describes a framework developed by Hewlett-Packard to match development processes to specific project aims and business contexts.
This document discusses strategies for minimizing cannibalization effects when introducing new products. It presents a four-step model for assessing cannibalization patterns within a firm. The model helps determine if cannibalization presents an opportunity or threat by analyzing the internal and external impacts of a new product introduction. Prior research is criticized for ignoring cannibalization impacts on market share and failing to distinguish between intra-firm and inter-firm cannibalization effects. The proposed model evaluates strategies for introducing new products to increase overall market share while reducing cannibalization of existing products.
Nystrom (1990) described high tech markets as marketing dependent and technologically driven. Unfortunately, there is evidence that this linkage is not often recognized by organizations (Gupta, Ray and Wilemon 1985). High tech markets are characterized as complex. In addition, they exist under rapidly changing technological conditions which lead to shorter life cycles (Davidow 1986) and the need for rapid decisions (Bridges, Coughlan, and Kalish 1991). The importance of speed in high tech markets is driven by increasing competition and the continually evolving expectations of customers (Doyle and Saunders 1985). All of this is compounded by higher levels of risk for both the customer and the producer.
This document discusses biotechnology R&D strategies and corporate strategy. It begins with an overview of the biopharmaceutical industry and challenges with early stage funding. The concept of strategy and purposes of a good strategy are then explained. Key elements of R&D performance strategies including architecture, processes, people and portfolio are covered. Case studies of innovation and biosimilar R&D strategies from companies like GSK, Wyeth and Novartis are summarized. The document concludes that different companies pursued different strategies based on their core hypotheses to address R&D productivity issues. Benchmarking capabilities is important for companies looking to enter the biosimilars market during the biologics patent cliff.
This document presents a research model exploring the relationships between geographic scope, product diversification, proprietary assets, and corporate performance of Japanese firms. The model incorporates both antecedents and consequences of geographic scope. Six main hypotheses are developed: 1) Industry profitability is negatively related to product diversification. 2) Product diversification is negatively related to firm performance. 3) Product diversification is negatively related to R&D and advertising intensity. 4) R&D and advertising intensity are positively related to geographic scope. 5) Geographic scope is positively related to firm performance. 6) R&D and advertising intensity are positively related to firm performance. The model will be tested using data on 399 Japanese manufacturing firms.
The role of the product manager is changing in today's dynamic environment. Product managers must analyze trends, identify opportunities and threats, and determine corporate strengths and weaknesses to develop effective strategies. This involves conducting a thorough situation analysis including environmental, market, competitor and internal analyses. The most important part of developing a strategy is understanding where the organization currently stands and where it wants to go through a detailed examination of external forces and internal capabilities.
There are different Strategic Innovation methodologies, frameworks and models that aid organizations, particularly with technology driven, production companies. Most companies must innovate and continually improve to maintain a competitive advantage, but how they accomplish these process improvements differs significantly from Strategic Innovation. Traditional strategies rely on process improvements and product development through lessons learned, adoption of internal and external best practices, and improvements that are incremental and nature that are often found in Total Quality Management programs. Strategic Innovation requires a culture that can create breakthroughs within a company’s current market, and potentially enter a new market or segment. Strategic Innovation, and the implementation models that follow, are not for every organization, and a review of traditional strategies and risks associated with Strategic Innovation will be covered.
Product design strategy involves differentiating products from competitors, achieving cost leadership, increasing product complexity, carefully timing new product introductions, considering product appearance, and using the Taguchi method. The Taguchi method focuses on robust design to minimize a product's sensitivity to variability. It can help reduce development costs and time while improving productivity. Potential shortcomings include undetected sources of variability and additional experimentation costs, but the benefits generally outweigh these issues.
This document provides an overview of industry, competitor, and market analysis for entrepreneurship. It discusses the importance of conducting an industry analysis before starting a new venture to understand factors like threats from new entrants, competition among existing firms, bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, and availability of substitutes. The document also explains Porter's Five Forces model as a framework for assessing industry attractiveness.
The document summarizes the use of lead user research methodology at 3M to develop breakthrough products for their medical-surgical division. It describes how a research team conducted the lead user research process in 4 stages over 6 months, identifying trends, generating concepts, and developing 3 new product ideas and a revised strategy. This included international research and workshops with lead users. The recommendations included new "economy", "skin doctor", and "armor" product lines as well as entering upstream infection containment. However, the document notes lead user research is unpredictable and 3M traditionally focused on incremental growth. It argues 3M should adopt more open innovation and restructure strategy around new product development.
Organazational and Strategic innovationAfrouz Hojati
Strategic Innovation is the creation of growth strategies, new product categories, services or business models that change the game and generate significant new value for consumers, customers and the corporation
We identified the five U.S. companies that have moved the farthest, the fastest in answering that call for change. These are the enterprises that are best positioned to redefine our future and point the way to a better tomorrow.
Design Co-creation and Performance in New Product Development ProcessWaqas Tariq
Co-creation is a kind of marketing strategy or business strategy that stresses the generation and continuing realization of mutual firm-customer value. Product design, marketing, and Innovation ought to be closely coordinated in companies. Most researchers have indicated that highly effective connection among innovation R&D, marketing activities, and design pushes products in to the marketplace and guarantees their success. However, empirical studies from the Co- creations among design, marketing, and innovation strategies in New Product Development (NPD) performance are intermittent. Within this study, enterprises through the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA) database were chosen randomly as subjects. Inside the first survey, the status from the marketing strategy, innovation strategy, and design strategy was determined. Following a new product was marketed for one year, another survey was conducted for NPD performance check. After repeated contact, 285 enterprises (21.11%) responded. Major findings in the study are listed below: (1) The Structural Equation Model (SEM) results demonstrate a good fit involving the theoretical model and observed data for innovation, marketing, and design strategies; (2) The NPD performance is influenced by an enterprise’s innovation, marketing, and design strategies. Moreover, innovation and marketing strategies also influence NPD performance through design strategy. For NPD performance, design strategy is both a completely independent variable and an intervening variable; (3) The NPD performance could be reinforced when enterprises struggle for design, innovation, and marketing strategies.
This document discusses how companies can gain a competitive advantage through the use of information systems and technology. It provides examples of both successful and unsuccessful uses of IS/IT. Specifically, it explains that IS/IT can help lower costs, differentiate products/services, and foster innovation. However, some companies have failed to keep up with new technologies, causing their competitive advantages to diminish over time, like what happened to Nokia. Both internal factors, like strengths/weaknesses, and external factors, such as opportunities/threats, can influence the success or failure of a company's IS/IT strategies.
Mba 670 project 3 individual analysisthis report is not reflectamit657720
The document provides instructions for creating an annotated bibliography. It defines an annotated bibliography as a list of citations on a particular topic that includes a brief summary and/or critical evaluation of each source. There are two main types of annotations: summary annotations that describe the source, and evaluative annotations that both describe and critically assess the source for accuracy, relevance, and quality. The document outlines the process for writing an evaluative annotation, which involves citing the source, describing its main ideas and intended audience, evaluating the author's expertise and potential biases, comparing it to other sources, and identifying its strengths, weaknesses, and conclusions as they relate to the research topic.
R&D Research & Development Strategy & ManagementChief Innovation
Am one of the few people I know who has an R&D Strategy background, but you almost never can sell projects in that area unless you have a domain PhD. Most of this is from 3rd Generation R&D, written by former colleagues from Arthur D. Little, Phil Roussel, Tammy Erickson and Kamal Saad. Phil is no longer with us, great guy and good friend (always tell people, I taught him how to use a fax machine, 'Jay, how do I work this thing.' - 'Phil, put the page in there, and push that big green button.' - 'Oh, that was easy.' Safe to say, 23 years later I still have never written a cool book, but did know something he did not! This had 3 slides at the end of it that I cannot remember where they came from, think in the book but not in order.
The document discusses various aspects of product management including product definition, quality, features, design, classification, mix, lines, strategies, development process, and reasons for new product failure. It defines a product and different types of products. It also covers topics like quality, features, design considerations, product classification, mix, lines, and strategies for development.
This article discusses innovation practices in the consumer products industry. It finds that top-performing companies introduce more new products than competitors, generate 20% more revenue from new products, and bring products to market five times faster than average. These companies develop "actionable insight" by systematically gathering and analyzing multiple data sources. They also leverage crowdsourcing ideas from customers and employees. Successful conversion of ideas requires balancing short and long-term innovation investments and ensuring efficient processes.
Product innovation presentation by architArchit Sharma
This document discusses product innovation and the new product development process. It defines product innovation as the creation and introduction of new or improved goods and services. It describes different types of new products and outlines the typical steps in the new product development process, including idea generation, concept development and testing, marketing strategy development, business analysis, product development, test marketing, and commercialization. Key aspects of marketing strategy, packaging, positioning, common product failures, and approaches to commercialization are also summarized.
Global R&D – An Update on the Latest Scenario and the Challenges Facing ItChristopher Breach
The document summarizes the evolution of research and development (R&D) and challenges of global R&D. It discusses how R&D has evolved from being centralized in a few countries to being distributed worldwide. It then analyzes different models for organizing international R&D such as ethnocentric, geocentric, polycentric, hub, and integrated network models. Finally, it discusses challenges of setting up global R&D subsidiaries including communication barriers, cultural differences, staff training, and managing dispersed projects across R&D centers.
Do you need a new product development strategysamatong
Firms often rely on a single new product development process for all projects, but this approach is misguided as different business contexts require different processes. Products for stable, mature markets need a process optimized for control and efficiency, while breakthrough products for emerging markets require a more flexible process focused on discovery. Applying a uniform best practice process ignores these differences and can lead to missed opportunities or products that do not meet goals. The article describes a framework developed by Hewlett-Packard to match development processes to specific project aims and business contexts.
This document discusses strategies for minimizing cannibalization effects when introducing new products. It presents a four-step model for assessing cannibalization patterns within a firm. The model helps determine if cannibalization presents an opportunity or threat by analyzing the internal and external impacts of a new product introduction. Prior research is criticized for ignoring cannibalization impacts on market share and failing to distinguish between intra-firm and inter-firm cannibalization effects. The proposed model evaluates strategies for introducing new products to increase overall market share while reducing cannibalization of existing products.
That is a PPT presentation used for a lesson about the Business Model Innovation.
The class was held in December 2014 as a part of the larger course "General Management" at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
Main contents are: business modeling, business model innovation, blue ocean strategy, BMI as a set od key decision.
New products often fail due to misinterpreted market research, overestimated demand, high development costs, poor design, incorrect positioning, insufficient support, and strong competitive responses. Failure rates for new products are estimated between 50-95% in the US and 90% in Europe. While failure is common, truly innovative companies accept it as inevitable for success. Initial failures may lead to later successes if companies identify new uses for failed products. Managing the entire new product development process from idea generation to commercialization is important to improve success rates.
This document discusses new product development. It begins by outlining different new product options like acquisition or internal development. It then describes types of new products from incremental improvements to radical innovations. Several challenges in new product development are explored like the need for continuous innovation, high failure rates of new products, and difficulties in budgeting and organizing development efforts. The document concludes by examining various stages of managing the development process from generating and screening ideas to concept development, testing, and analyzing consumer adoption.
Targeting innovation and implications for capability developme.docxjosies1
Targeting innovation and implications for capability development
Dave Francis
a
, John Bessant
b,*
a
Centre for Research in Innovation Management (CENTRIM), University of Brighton Brighton, UK
b
School of Management, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK
Abstract
Innovation is often described in terms of changes in what a firm offers the world (product/service innovation) and the ways it creates and
delivers those offerings (process innovation). Arguably this definition is insufficient since it does not take into account two other areas where
innovation is possible-market position and business models. Market position relates to the situation where an established product/service
produced by an established process is introduced to a new context; here the innovation management challenge is concerned with issues like
adoption behaviour and technology transfer. Business model innovation relates to the situation in which a reframing of the current
product/service, process and market context results in seeing new challenges and opportunities and letting go of others.
Each of these poses challenges for the ways in which innovation is organised and managed—what we term innovation management
capability. The paper explores some of these challenges and also looks at the additional issues raised by discontinuous innovation, moving
beyond the steady state conditions of ‘doing what we do but better’ to a new set of conditions in which ‘doing different things in different
ways’ becomes the norm.
q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Innovation; Targeting; Innovation capability; Discontinuous innovation
1. Introduction
Since the Palaeolithic period (Curwin, 1954) some, but
not all, human societies formed enterprises that created new
or improved artefacts, devised ’better’ processes, developed
new ways of selling and devised alternative models of
organising (Diamond, 1997). These enterprises were
innovative—they found ways to exploit the latent potential
of ideas. Innovation can be defined simply as “the successful
exploitation of new ideas” (DTI, 1994). Others have defined
innovation more elaborately, but in similar terms; for
example (Baumol, 2002) writes that innovation is:
“the recognition of opportunities for profitable change
and the pursuit of those opportunities all the way through
to their adoption in practice”.
Embedded in these definitions is the notion that
innovation can be managed. For example, Drucker (1994)
argues that innovation is a core process for a firm; he
suggests that: “in…a period of rapid change the best-
perhaps the only-way a business can hope to prosper, if not
survive, is to innovate. This is the only way to convert
change into opportunities. This, however, requires that
innovation itself be organised as a systematic activity”
(Preface 1).
It follows that enterprises that are better able to manage
innovation than others and demonstrate a record of
succes.
This document summarizes the key insights from a research study on collaborative innovation between consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers and retailers. The research found that collaborative innovation can provide benefits like increased sales and profits of 15-20% by better satisfying customer needs. However, it requires manufacturers and retailers to shift away from traditional adversarial relationships to more collaborative partnerships. The study identifies best practices for collaborative innovation in four areas: developing a strategy, collaborative business planning, internal organizational changes, and building trusted relationships. Adopting these practices can help companies better implement collaborative innovation initiatives to drive business growth.
Early successes, they explain, become reflected in organizational culture, structures, and practices, which slowly become invariant over time, even in the face of a “dramatically-changed strategic context and a palpably clear recognition of the need for change.”
This document outlines the key steps in the new product planning and development process: idea generation, idea screening, project planning, product development, test marketing, and commercialization. It discusses factors that contribute to new product success or failure such as adequate market research, developing products that customers need, and cross-functional team collaboration. Common sources of new product ideas are discussed as well as different types of new products such as new-to-the-world products, line extensions, and product improvements.
This document discusses key challenges facing business leaders and how design can help address them. It summarizes the findings of a PwC survey that found the top concerns of CEOs are innovation, human capital, digital capabilities, competitive advantage, and customer experience. It then discusses each of these areas in more detail, focusing on innovation approaches like blue ocean strategy, disruptive innovation, and open innovation. It also covers human capital concepts from thinkers like Chris Argyris, Ikujiro Nonaka, and Henry Mintzberg. For digital capabilities, it emphasizes the importance of technological expertise. The document argues that addressing these challenges with design thinking can help companies capitalize on new opportunities.
The document discusses strategy and defines it as a direction and scope that achieves advantage through resource configuration to meet market needs and stakeholder expectations. Strategy involves gaining a competitive advantage through a blueprint that moves an organization from its current position to its desired future position. Different levels of strategy include corporate, business, and operational strategies.
Building an innovation engine - foundations for growth: how to identify and b...John Pisciotta
The document discusses strategies for companies to identify and build disruptive new businesses that can drive significant growth. It outlines two main strategies:
1. Creating a new market as a base for disruption by targeting non-consumers and developing simple, affordable innovations that allow new types of customers to consume in new ways.
2. Disrupting an existing business model from the low end by targeting the least demanding customers in a market where existing products are over-serving them, and doing so with a disruptive business model allowing deep discounts.
The strategies are based on two sets of "litmus tests" innovations must pass to have success - tests related to targeting non-consumers, simplicity, and helping customers do
Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words new productsaryan532920
New products are big business, with over $100 billion spent annually on technical development. Successful new products provide more value to customers than existing offerings and do more good for firms than anything else. While new product development is difficult due to complex cross-functional collaboration and high failure rates, the best firms achieve success rates over 80% by implementing principles of new product management such as using market research, portfolio analysis, and cross-functional teams.
skip to main contentmenuMy HomeTIM-7001 V3 Changing Times Ma.docxjennifer822
skip to main content
menu
My HomeTIM-7001 V3: Changing Times: Managing Technology & Innovation in the 21st Century (9045874881)
Select a course...
Message alertsMessage alerts - You have new alerts
Subscription alertsSubscription alerts - You have new alerts
Update alertsUpdate alerts - You have new alerts
Mala Samaroo
ProfileNotificationsAccount SettingsProgressLog OutCourse HomeContentDropboxGradesBookshelfLibraryThe CommonsCalendar
More
Course HomeContentDropboxGradesBookshelfLibraryThe CommonsCalendar
Menu Start
Menu Start
close
My HomeTIM-7001 V3: Changing Times: Managing Technology & Innovation in the 21st Century (9045874881)
Select a course...
TIM-7001 V3: Changing Times: Managing Technology & Innovation in the 21st Century (9045874881)TIM-7001 V3: Changing Times: Managing Technology & Innovation in the 21st Century (9045874881)
TIM-7001 V3: Changing Times: Managing Technology & Innovation in the 21st Century (9045874881)Course HomeContentDropboxGradesBookshelfLibraryThe CommonsCalendar
Menu End
Are You Still There?
Your session expires after 180 minutes of inactivity, which protects your information in case you've left your device without logging out.
Hit a key or click anywhere to stay logged in.
Oh, There You Are!
Side PanelExpand side panelCollapse side panel
Loading...
Breadcrumb:Table of ContentsSection 4: Technology and Innovation: ApplicationWeek 7Books and Resources for this WeekWeek 7 Assignment Signature Assignment RubricWeek 7 Assignment Signature Assignment RubricSend to BinderSubmit FeedbackDownload
PDF documentPrevious Next
YOU
NEED
AN
INNOVATION
STRATEGY
It’s the only way to make sound trade-off
decisions and choose the right practices.
BY GARY P. PISANO
THE BIG IDEA
44 Harvard Business Review June 2015
Gary P. Pisano is the
Harry E. Figgie Professor
of Business Administration
and a member of the U.S.
Competitiveness Project at
Harvard Business School.
G
U
ST
AV
O
B
R
IG
A
N
TE
HBR.ORG
June 2015 Harvard Business Review 45
DESPITE MASSIVE
INVESTMENTS OF
MANAGEMENT
TIME AND MONEY,
INNOVATION
REMAINS A
FRUSTRATING
PURSUIT
IN MANY
COMPANIES.
my more than two decades studying and consulting
for companies in a broad range of industries, I have
found that firms rarely articulate strategies to align
their innovation efforts with their business strategies.
Without an innovation strategy, innovation
improvement efforts can easily become a grab bag
of much-touted best practices: dividing R&D into
decentralized autonomous teams, spawning inter-
nal entrepreneurial ventures, setting up corporate
venture-capital arms, pursuing external alliances,
embracing open innovation and crowdsourcing,
collaborating with customers, and implementing
rapid prototyping, to name just a few. There is noth.
GLOBAL STRATEGY AND POLICY MAN 4720, Schwartz Distanc.docxMARRY7
This paper analyzes concepts related to innovation, small businesses, and not-for-profits from various articles. It discusses how companies must focus on developing new technologies and products to drive innovation, and how not-for-profits face challenges in strategic decision making. The paper also examines how strategic piggybacking can help not-for-profits raise funds, and how new ventures can differentiate themselves and focus on customer needs. The analysis shows how these concepts apply to real organizations like Procter & Gamble, Kodak, Susan G. Komen Foundation, National Council of La Raza, and YouFit Health Clubs. The student learned the importance of applying classroom concepts to understand business challenges and strategies
The essay defines strategic management concepts like mission, vision, objectives, goals, and core competencies. It explains that a mission statement outlines an organization's purpose and priorities, while the vision statement describes the desired future state. Objectives and goals are measurable targets to work towards the vision. Core competencies refer to an organization's strengths that provide a competitive advantage. The essay distinguishes between these concepts and discusses their importance in strategic planning and business operations.
The document summarizes key concepts around managing innovation and new product development. It discusses that innovation is often opportunistic and nonlinear, and that managers can plan directions but surprises are likely. It also describes different types of development projects including derivative, platform, breakthrough, and research projects. Additionally, it discusses concepts like disruptive innovation, sustaining innovation, product families, and characteristics of successful innovators like experimentation and real-time communication. Overall, the document provides an overview of innovation management strategies and frameworks.
This document is a master's thesis that examines the impact of customer relationship marketing strategies on market performance among Iranian telecommunication service providers. The thesis involved collecting data from 105 telecommunication managers in Iran to understand the relationship between attraction activities, loyalty programs (bonus programs, contact, customer satisfaction, complaint handling), and market performance measures (market position, customer perception, customer loyalty). The hypotheses were evaluated using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings suggest that loyalty and interaction programs have a greater impact on market performance than service quality alone, particularly on market position. Attraction activities have a greater impact on customer perception, while bonus programs and customer satisfaction are more strongly associated with customer loyalty.
This document is a master's thesis that aims to identify factors influencing Generation Y Thai consumers' purchase of luxury cars. Specifically, it seeks to suggest effective strategies for Volvo to increase sales among this group in Thailand. The thesis uses a quantitative survey method to examine perceptions of luxury cars regarding demographic factors, social influence, personal values, brand identity, and country of origin. Preliminary findings indicate demographic indicators like gender, occupation, and income significantly impact buying decisions. Personal values like materialism and brand identity also influence purchases. The thesis aims to provide recommendations to help Volvo better target Generation Y consumers in Thailand.
This thesis examines the relationship between strategic marketing and business performance, and how this relationship is moderated by country-specific factors. The thesis aims to identify which types of strategic marketing most positively impact company financial performance in different business environments. Survey data from over 5,600 companies in 13 countries is analyzed. Statistical analysis, including structural equation modeling, is used to test hypotheses derived from literature. The results provide insights into how strategic marketing effectiveness varies between countries and industry groups.
Finance project report for bbs 3rd yearClassic Tech
This document is a finance project report submitted by Pradeep Pariyar for their 3rd year of a Bachelor of Business Studies program. The report examines tourist arrivals in Nepal over the past decade. It provides context on the importance and evolution of tourism in Nepal's economy. The report includes an introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, and conclusions. Data on tourist arrivals by mode of transport, nationality, gender, age, and purpose of visit between 2000-2010 is presented and analyzed.
This document presents a project plan to reduce goat meat imports in Nepal by 50% by 2012, 75% by 2013, and 100% by 2015. It analyzes the current situation of goat farming and meat production in Nepal, outlines objectives and limitations. It projects population growth and estimates future demand for goat meat. The plan involves establishing farmer-managed goat breeding centers, strengthening existing centers, and supporting commercial farms to increase domestic production and meet demand without imports by 2015. A SWOT analysis identifies strengths like goats' hardiness and opportunities like diverse habitats, as well as weaknesses like lack of funding and threats like disease.
This document summarizes key concepts related to individual behavior from chapters 2-5 of an organizational behavior textbook. It discusses how ability, personality traits, values, and biological characteristics can predict employee performance and satisfaction. It also outlines several theories of individual learning and motivation, including classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and reinforcement strategies used by managers. Cultural differences in areas like power distance and individualism are examined, as well as how perception, attitudes, personality, and values shape individual behavior in organizations.
Organizational behavior is the field of study that investigates how individuals, groups, and organizational structure impact behavior in organizations. It draws from various contributing disciplines including psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and political science. There are many challenges and opportunities for organizational behavior today, such as responding to globalization, managing workforce diversity, improving quality and productivity, and improving customer service. Organizational behavior aims to understand and predict workplace behaviors in order to help organizations operate more effectively and improve outcomes like productivity, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship.
Multiple choice questions with answersClassic Tech
This document contains a list of 44 multiple choice questions related to organizational behaviour. The questions cover topics such as organizational structure, job enrichment, strategic planning, leadership styles, communication, motivation theories, and frameworks for understanding human behavior like cognitive, behaviorist, and social learning approaches. Sample answers are provided for some of the questions.
Brihat investment proposal for internetClassic Tech
WorldLink is proposing internet connectivity to Brihat Investments Pvt. Ltd. WorldLink is Nepal's largest internet service provider with over 500 employees. It owns its international private leased circuit network and has points of presence throughout Nepal, including 15 locations outside of Kathmandu. WorldLink aims to provide reliable, high quality internet access and is ISO9001 certified for its quality management system.
Organizational behavior is a field that studies how individuals, groups, and structure influence behavior in organizations and how that knowledge can be applied to improve organizational effectiveness. It draws from various behavioral disciplines including psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and political science. Psychology contributes an understanding of individual behavior, while sociology provides insight into group and social dynamics. Organizational behavior aims to understand how characteristics of people and the workplace impact human behavior and performance in order to help organizations achieve their goals and better manage their environments.
Mr. C.H. Chote created a website called "chahooindia.com" that provided similar services to the renowned website "chahoo.com". The owners of "chahoo.com", M/s C.H. Bade and Company, claimed that Mr. Chote's website was confusingly similar and constituted cyber squatting as internet users searching for their site could be misdirected to his instead. Mr. Chote argued that the plaintiffs trademark was not registered in India so there was no infringement, his site offered services not goods so there was no passing off, and internet users were educated so there was no chance of deception or confusion. The legal rights and claims of the parties must be discussed
This course provides a summary of 4 courses for BBA students in their third year, sixth semester:
1. Entrepreneurship - The course teaches fundamental concepts of entrepreneurship and developing a business plan.
2. International Business - Students learn about international trade theories, the global business environment, and international strategic management.
3. Operations Management - Core concepts of operations management are covered including forecasting, capacity planning, quality management, and inventory systems.
4. Human Resource Management - Key HR functions like recruitment, training, compensation and performance management are addressed.
WorldLink offers several wireless internet service plans with different rates and features. Their Wi-ZOOOMe plans include unlimited data options at various speeds and durations from 1 month to 12 months. They also offer Night Surfing plans with reduced rates during evening and overnight hours. Additional plans provide a set volume of data over 3 or 12 months or a set number of hours to use over 6 or 12 months. The document is outlining the rates for WorldLink's wireless internet service plans as of February 18, 2013.
The document provides an overview of Chapter 2 from the textbook "The Legal Environment of Business". It defines the legal environment of business and discusses the sources and classifications of law. It also summarizes different schools of jurisprudence, including natural law, positivist, sociological, American realist, critical legal studies, feminist, and law and economics. The chapter examines key concepts such as definitions of law, the study of legal reasoning, sources of law, and the international dimensions of business law.
This document discusses different schools of legal thought and approaches to jurisprudence, including natural law, positivism, historical, and legal realism. It also outlines the common law tradition and legal system in the United States, including the roles of courts of law and equity, precedents, and methods of legal reasoning such as deductive, linear, and reasoning by analogy. Additionally, it defines key classifications of law such as civil vs. criminal and substantive vs. procedural, and how to find primary sources of law including statutes, regulations, and cases.
The document contains PowerPoint slides about the introduction to the Australian legal system from a textbook on business law. It covers topics such as the definition of law, why laws exist, the components of the legal system, sources of Australian law including its English common law roots, the federal structure of government and lawmaking powers, and the process for creating statutes and delegated legislation.
The document provides an introduction to the nature of law. It discusses several key classifications of law:
1) Public law governs relationships between citizens and the state, including constitutional, administrative, and criminal law. Private law governs relationships between individuals and includes civil law.
2) Criminal law prohibits wrongful conduct and punishes offenders, while civil law addresses private rights and remedies between individuals.
3) Common law developed from local customs and precedents set in royal courts. Equity developed separately in the Court of Chancery to remedy deficiencies in the rigid common law system and provide equitable remedies and rights.
This document outlines the curriculum structure and course requirements for a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program offered by Oxford College of Engineering & Management in Nepal. Over the course of 8 semesters, students take a variety of core business courses and can specialize in areas like finance, accountancy, marketing, or management information systems. The curriculum includes courses in subjects like English, mathematics, economics, accounting, finance, marketing, human resources, and business law. Students complete internships and have the option to take additional courses to complete a 4-year BBA program in 3 years. Course descriptions are provided for some core first semester classes in business math, English, financial accounting, and principles of management.
SATTA MATKA DPBOSS KALYAN MATKA RESULTS KALYAN CHART KALYAN MATKA MATKA RESULT KALYAN MATKA TIPS SATTA MATKA MATKA COM MATKA PANA JODI TODAY BATTA SATKA MATKA PATTI JODI NUMBER MATKA RESULTS MATKA CHART MATKA JODI SATTA COM INDIA SATTA MATKA MATKA TIPS MATKA WAPKA ALL MATKA RESULT LIVE ONLINE MATKA RESULT KALYAN MATKA RESULT DPBOSS MATKA 143 MAIN MATKA KALYAN MATKA RESULTS KALYAN CHART
Adani Group's Active Interest In Increasing Its Presence in the Cement Manufa...Adani case
Time and again, the business group has taken up new business ventures, each of which has allowed it to expand its horizons further and reach new heights. Even amidst the Adani CBI Investigation, the firm has always focused on improving its cement business.
SATTA MATKA DPBOSS KALYAN MATKA RESULTS KALYAN CHART KALYAN MATKA MATKA RESULT KALYAN MATKA TIPS SATTA MATKA MATKA COM MATKA PANA JODI TODAY BATTA SATKA MATKA PATTI JODI NUMBER MATKA RESULTS MATKA CHART MATKA JODI SATTA COM INDIA SATTA MATKA MATKA TIPS MATKA WAPKA ALL MATKA RESULT LIVE ONLINE MATKA RESULT KALYAN MATKA RESULT DPBOSS MATKA 143 MAIN MATKA KALYAN MATKA RESULTS KALYAN CHART INDIA MATKA KALYAN SATTA MATKA 420 INDIAN MATKA SATTA KING MATKA FIX JODI FIX FIX FIX SATTA NAMBAR MATKA INDIA SATTA BATTA
AI Transformation Playbook: Thinking AI-First for Your BusinessArijit Dutta
I dive into how businesses can stay competitive by integrating AI into their core processes. From identifying the right approach to building collaborative teams and recognizing common pitfalls, this guide has got you covered. AI transformation is a journey, and this playbook is here to help you navigate it successfully.
Efficient PHP Development Solutions for Dynamic Web ApplicationsHarwinder Singh
Unlock the full potential of your web projects with our expert PHP development solutions. From robust backend systems to dynamic front-end interfaces, we deliver scalable, secure, and high-performance applications tailored to your needs. Trust our skilled team to transform your ideas into reality with custom PHP programming, ensuring seamless functionality and a superior user experience.
Tired of chasing down expiring contracts and drowning in paperwork? Mastering contract management can significantly enhance your business efficiency and productivity. This guide unveils expert secrets to streamline your contract management process. Learn how to save time, minimize risk, and achieve effortless contract management.
Prescriptive analytics BA4206 Anna University PPTFreelance
Business analysis - Prescriptive analytics Introduction to Prescriptive analytics
Prescriptive Modeling
Non Linear Optimization
Demonstrating Business Performance Improvement
1. C. MERLE CRAWFORD
STRATEGIES FOR
NEW PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
Guidelines for a critical
company problem
C. Merle Crawford is a faculty member at the University of
Michigan.
In spite of much evidence of its success, many
managers hesitate to establish a policy for
new product development. Their indecision
often arises from two reasons: they fear that a
defined strategy may discourage innovation
and they are uncertain how to formulate a
new product strategy. The author of this
article discredits the former notion and, in
reply to the latter, proposes the guidelines for
developing such a statement. As new products
are essential to the continued success of most
firms, the strategy must exist and must be
operant if the firm is to avoid wasted time,
effort, and money as well as employee con-
fusion and discouragement.
For longer than most of us care to remember,
Dan Gerber has been proclaiming that babies
are his business, his only business. With some
nostalgic regret I read recently that he has
altered his strategy: he now permits limited
diversification beyond products for babies.
A leading toiletries manufacturer has an
equally tenacious, though unpublicized,
commitment to only those new, nonfood,
packaged goods that do not compete item-
to-item with Procter and Gamble.
Richard Rifenburgh, president of Mohawk
Data Sciences, manufacturers of peripheral
computer equipment, was cited recently in
Fortune as a man who, at the present time,
would rather be an agile follower than a
creative leader. 1 On the assumption that it
would be too expensive to develop frontiers,
Rifenburgh prefers to wait to see on which
newly opened trails the volume of activity
will fall.
All of these companies have a powerful
managerial tool-what I call a New Product
Development Strategy Statement. They have
formed convictions concerning new products
that seem most appropriate for their respec-
tive firms. Under vigorous leadership, their
policies are being implemented.
Contrast the clarity of these approaches
with the following charge given to a product
development group :
... to take the lead in meeting the needs of the
company's customers for improved and new
products, to develop new uses for existing products,
and to develop high-profit products for introduction
to existing and potential customers.
Research directors who labor under
guidance like this are the ones who lament the
lack of vision of marketing and top manage-
ment personnel: the top brass can't recognize
a good product idea when it is shown to
them. Research operations which "benefit"
from the most liberal guidelines also endure
1. Dan Cordtz, "Bringing the Laboratory Down to
Earth," Fortune (January 1971 ), p. 106.
49
DECEMBER, 1972
2. C. MERLE CRAWFORD
50
the most idea rejection, development diffi-
culties, and product failure.
Specifically, does the statement of that
company limit the search to improving or
extending the present product line? What
degree of relationship to the present scope of
activity is necessary for the idea to be
acceptable? May the search proceed into
unrelated areas? Is search limited to the firm's
present technological capabilities, distribution
system, raw materials, and plant and human
resources? Is the door to acquisition open or
dosed? Will functional capability be added to
match each new idea, or should the ideas
match present functional capabilities?
The idea of putting definitive restrictions
on the new product activity is not novel, but
use of it, especially sophisticated use, is still
not widespread. Most large firms have some-
thing they call new product strategy but it is
more for directors and stockholders than for
serious internal direction; other firms have
sketches of such strategy but they are rarely
available for personnel down the line from the
president's office. As the president of a
medium-sized firm recently said to me, not
entirely in jest: "Sure, we have a new product
strategy; just ask me!"
Early in this century General Motors
committed itself to a full line of automobiles,
a strategy that proved superior to Ford's.
Only recently did Coca-Cola abandon its
strategy of no line additions. General
Electric's approach, a broad attack upon
markets susceptible to electrical technology,
is decades old.
Indeed, new product strategies are so old,
and in so many cases credited with such
successful outcomes, that one is prompted to
ask why all firms don't have them. There are
essentially two reasons:
1. Management is not certain what such state-
ments should cover.
2. Management fears that limitations may
discourage some useful or successful inno-
vation.
These are the points to which we will now
turn our attention.
WHAT SHOULD THE STATEMENT
INCLUDE?
The basic purpose of new product strategy is
to provide unifying direction. It specifically
notes any tempting development areas that
are off limits; it clearly specifies those areas
where effort is to proceed; and it adds any
other direction appropriate and relevant to
the firm, as in the Mohawk strategy.
• A review of representative strategy state-
ments reveals how the following dimensions
are in actual use.
Technology/Market Mix
As long ago as 1957, the Harvard Business
Review ran an article by Samuel C. Johnson
of S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. and Conrad
Jones of Booz, Allen & Hamilton which
became a classic because it spelled out what
was rapidly gaining fame as the BA/H method
of organizing the new product function.2 The
article contained a table which should be on
page one of every firm's planning document.
It diagramed the alternatives available for new
product activity as a 3x3 matrix (see
accompanying table).
This table structurally depicts the possible
nine combinations of market and technology.
Some, all, or none of these may be encour-
aged, as the applicability of each of the
options will vary from firm to firm. Unless it
values new and improved products for their
own sake, any management will want to study
thoroughly the various cost/return relation-
ships and stipulate those which it wants to
stress and those it wishes to avoid.
Market Width
The bottom row of the matrix, New Market,
provides the third dimension into the consid-
2. Samuel (2. Johnson, "How to Organize for New
Products," Harvard Business Review (May-June 1957), pp.
49-62.
BUSINESS HORIZONS
3. Strategies for New Product Development
Options in the Market-Technology Mix
No Technological
Change
Improved
Technology
New
Technology
No Market No
Change Activity Reformulation Replacement
Strengthened Improved Line
Market Remerchandising Product Extension
New New Market
Market Use Extension Diversification
SOURCE: Samuel C. Johnson and Conrad Jones, "How
Products," Harvard Business Review (May-June, 1957), p. 52.
erations the table does not include. There are
the categories of industrial, institutional, and
consumer, of domestic and foreign, and of
specific product use categories, such as deter-
gents, shoes, boats.
If a company has any new product
strategy, it usually covers this dimension
fairly well. Most industrial firms feel at home
in institutional markets but avoid consumer
products (if not at first, then several expen-
sive exercises later). Involvement in foreign
markets is usually deliberate and, in most
situations, so is choosing broad product
categories. When the United Shoe Machinery
Corporation decided to move into other lines,
all concerned personnel knew it.
But this shouldn't imply for a second that
strate~es score well on this dimension. In
fact, you can usually start an argument by
asking two executives of the same firm if their
firm is attempting to move into closely allied
markets or product types which it is not now
in. Is the manufacturer of drugs for human
use willing to enter the veterinary market?
Should the soup company market snacks?
Two years ago Lyle H. Polsfuss, then vice
president of marketing for Green Giant
Company, stated that his top management
(including the chairman) had delineated the
specific spheres of interest within which new
product activity would proceed. 3 The fact
3. In a speech, as reported in Advertising Age,
(September 1, 1969), p. 51.
to Organize for New
that a team was developed for each sphere
emphasizes the positiveness as well as the
restrictiveness of the strategy.
Degree of Innovation/I rnitation
This is the third and last dimension on which
most managements have made commitments,
not because strategic direction is consciously
desired so much as because innovative
research requires different scientific staffs.
Thus the product development staff at
Mohawk Data Sciences is clearly directed to
taking someone else's new technology and
improving, or at least individualizing, it in
some way. In contrast, the Cabot Corporation
is thoroughly committed to innovation and
takes in fifty times as much money from
licensing processes as it pays out. 4
Examples of both approaches can be
found in Theodore Levitt's "Innovative
Imitation," an article in which the world's
leading opponent of myopic marketing
vigorously pleads for the option of imitation,
though it too requires thoughtful develop-
ment as well as faithful executions, s
If a management wants to assume the
high-risk/pay-off character of innovative
4. Cordtz, "Bringing the Laboratory," p. 108.
5. Theodore Levitt, "Innovative Imitation," Harvard
Business Review (September-October, 1966), pp. 63-70.
51
DECEMBER, 1972
4. C. MERLE CRAWFORD
52
development, all persons in positions to
influence company activities should know it.
This applies to imitation as well, or to any
blend of the two.
Actually it may be more complicated than
a simple innovation/imitation choice. Igor
Ansoff and John Steward recently spelled out
a four-point scale of orientation:
1. First to market.., based on strong R & D,
technical leadership, and risk taking.
2. Follow the leader.., based on strong develop-
ment resources and the ability to act quickly
as the market starts its growth phase.
3. Applications engineering.., based on product
modification to fit the needs of particular
customers in mature markets.
4. Me-Too... based on superior manufacturing
efficiency and cost control.6
Price/Quality Ranges
From this point forward in the consider-
ations, the various dimensions are optional in
the sense that any one firm may or may not
find them desirable. Position on the list
(whether here or near the end) carries no
implications.
The Campbell Soup Company has an
outstanding reputation, and cares not to lose
it. No surprise then that Campbell's product
development people are told: "Prepare and
market products that represent superior
values to consumers and constantly improve
those values. Our products are sound values
because they are made from superior quality
ingredients .... " Value can come from either
quality or price but Campbell people know
which route they are to take. 7
In contrast, many firms take the opposite
tack. Small appliances purchased in the chain
drugstores, for instance, seem to come from
manufacturers whose position is far to the
right on the quality/price spectrum.
6. Igor Ansoff and John Steward, "Strategies for a
Technology-Based Business," Harvard Business Review
(November-December,1967),pp. 71-83.
7. Speech by John W. Dodd, Jr., Sixth Annual New
Products MarketingConference,Detroit,Mich.,March,1966.
The strategy statement of a large pharma-
ceutical firm contains the expression: "New
products must enhance the company's
stature." It goes on to clarify this by pointing
out, among other things, the need to restrict
the number of products that are modified
copies of ones already on the market for
which low price would be a primary or
tempting strategy.
ParticularPromotional Requirements
The range of options here is limited only by
the diversity of marketing tools, but it is
customary for marketing people to orient to
those new products which match current
promotional strategy or marketing resource
structure. Just as commonly, R & D people
do not-unless they are told.
Several years ago, researchers in Wallace
Laboratories were seeking new drug products
which could be sold by advertising, since, in
contrast to every other firm of significance in
the industry, Wallace had no sales force.
Procter & Gamble wants products where
brand manager skills-advertising, packaging,
promotions-can be the deciding factor.
Until Metrecal forced a change, Mead
Johnson sought only products which could be
promoted ethically through the professional
health team rather than as proprietaries on
television.
A certain mini-conglomerate which holds
a major interest in radio stations wants only
those products which can be effectively adver-
tised on radio. Still other firms want products
which (1) can be sold through mass merchan-
disers where the company is strong, (2) can be
sold by mail, (3) can be carried by route
salesmen in small trucks, or (4) need be (or
need not be) sold through state-owned retail
outlets.
The list is literally endless, yet within any
one firm the necessary or desirable promo-
tional restrictions are apparent to one who
observes the marketing operation. One manu-
facturer of small electrical appliances decided
BUSINESS HORIZONS
5. Strategies for New Product Development
to redefine his business as any product with
an electric cord at the end of it. But the
resulting flow of product ideas and proto-
types revealed the folly of not stipulating the
promotional requirements, including trade
channels, that any new electric product would
have to meet.
Inside vs. Outside Facilities
Preparing a strategy statement provides the
opportunity to decide whether the firm will
limit R & D facilities and personnel. Few
operating functions are better than research in
creeping expenses. Each new piece of equip-
ment requires operators and materials, and
new operators inevitably require additional
equipment. Active in-house research and
development programs legitimately require all
of these things, and it is temptingly easy to be
penny-wise and pound-foolish.
Management is obligated to define the
extent of the continuing activity; if the need
for major R & D output is to be sustained, the
expansion of in-house facilities is not only
justified but mandated. If R & D expansion is
not possible or desirable, the strategy must
allow for this condition.
Competitive Situations To Be Sought or
Avoided
One classification of caveats that is inevitably
present in a new product situation, yet just as
often goes unstated, consists of competitive
circumstances in markets being evaluated.
Unless clarified they can be tragically dis-
appointing.
One company dealing in several toiletries
lines rejected numerous reasonably good ideas
over a two year period before someone
realized what the ideas had in common: all
would have pushed the firm into direct
confrontation with P & G's important areas.
This undisclosed criterion was so basic as to
be of strategic meaningfulness, yet it was not
included in the policy. The omission was
promptly corrected; although some firm
members probably winced, the statement was
necessary in order to save a great deal of time
in fruitless work. Most frequently, this type
of provision is directed against any market
which has one dominant leader. In contrast,
at least one company deliberately seeks out
such situations, figuring to catch a fat,
complacent competitor getting careless.
Some markets are said to have deterior-
ated and, therefore, are to be avoided.
Perhaps technology is simple and entry is
easy-cut-throat pricing is likely to have
ruined the market. Or perhaps competitive
enthusiasm got out of hand and tactics exceed
the bounds of propriety.
In contrast to these and other exclusion
guides, competitive conditions can also be
used to define outstanding areas of oppor-
tunity. One drug company made a tally of
innovations in each of the industry's product
categories, seeking as deliberate strategy any
in which there had been no significant new
product activity for five years. A relatively
modest innovation in one such market was
highly profitable.
For any company there are good competi-
tive situations and there are bad ones.
Depending upon their strategic value, situ-
ations should be so designated.
Production Requirements
In those rare cases when production require-
ments are omitted from strategy, they soon
get incorporated. The company, for example,
which expands to new facilities commonly
builds beyond its present needs and then
promptly undertakes a search for new
products to manufacture. Or equipment may
be unique in some way--such as continuous
liquid processing, or package filling, or
delicate hand assemblies--giving greater value
to new items which capitalize on them. One
firm simply states that it wants products that
53
DECEMBER, 1972
6. C. MERLE CRAWFORD
54
can be mass produced. But, however stated,
applicable restrictions should be known.
Patent Requirements
The small New England firm which developed
and marketed Lestoil would no doubt have
welcomed patent protection for it, but the
absence of a patent didn't stop them. As
desirable as a patent is, small firms can take
the nonpatent gamble; their investments are
small, and they hope they have a product so
good that the big boys muscle in.
Large firms feel quite differently; some go
so far as to deny development funds for any
idea which has poor patent probability.
Others look beyond patents and stipulate
whatever level of protection is desirable.
Speed
Product development is a long-term proposi-
tion, and most companies recognize the
futility and costliness of hurrying things up.
There are instances, however, when manage-
ments place a priority on immediacy and are
willing to take the enormous risks associated
with such situations. They can be said to have
a short-term time dimension on their new-
product value system. Professional baseball
managers do exactly the same thing when
they pick up a twelve-year veteran relief
pitcher during a pennant drive rather than
draft a seventeen-year-old from the farm
system. Some firms are in "pennant drives,"
some are "rebuilding," and some are doing
neither. The strategy implications are obvious.
Risk/Failure Factors
Campbell Soup Company may have changed
subsequently, but in 1966 its Product Adver-
tising Manager said, "... uppermost in our
new products marketing philosophy--avoid
failure!s Feelings differ widely on this point,
ranging from the Campbell position (which
may be temporary or standing) to the
completely opposite strategy in which the
firm accepts the inevitability of failure on
new products. The latter approaches the
market frequently and fails frequently, but, if
development and market launch expenses are
modest, one success out of every three
attempts can be highly profitable. This
strategy works best, however, when the chief
marketing effort is advertising, since frequent
new product failures play havoc with sales
force morale and customer confidence.
Occasionally the failure factor is func-
tional, not total. A firm may want to avoid
production hazards or may feel ill-equipped
to undertake technically complex quality
control procedures. As Bon Vivant found, an
outbreak of botulism can threaten a firm's
existence. At least one management has gone
on record as wanting no part in transporting
explosive materials.
Pay-BackConditions
Most firms' financial conditions change from
time to time, from periods of cash prosperity
to periods of cash constringency, yet, the
many people involved down the line in new
product development are rarely informed of
these conditions. Only when some particular
idea or completed product is rejected because
of the excessive cash drain it would impose
(for outside technical development, patent
purchase, or introductory advertising) or its
slow pay-back are R & D people aware of the
overall financial situation.
No one suggests that the new product
program should shift gears with every turn of
the company's financial condition. But the
product development strategy does have the
flexibility to absorb some of the setbacks.
Ironically, the development departments of
high-prestige firms often harbor a few product
8. Speech by John W. Dodd, Jr.
BUSINESS HORIZONS
7. Strategies for New Product Development
ideas that are idle for lack of glamour but
which can generate cash for a short-term. Of
course the converse set of circumstances also
exists.
Minimum Sales
Although it applies only to those situations
where a sizeable fixed expense commitment
attaches to the new product, it nevertheless is
not too uncommon to hear management talk
of a minimum dollar sales criterion. One
industry in which this reality must be recog-
nized is ethical drugs; there each new item is
usually detailed to doctors and hospitals at
least once. Every drug firm, then, can
estimate the share of fixed costs entailed in
the initial sales approach and pretty quickly
come up with the minimum level of sales
necessary to support it. One large midwestern
pharmaceutical company uses two million
dollars as their minimum. This is profitable
strategy because, if volume is expected to be
significantly less than this, the detailing effort
should not be pulled off established products.
Need for Basic Research
Basic research is enormously expensive while
making no promises. Most firms avoid it by
including in their strategy statement a pro-
vision stipulating the immediate rejection of
any idea which necessitates it. Even those
firms with research programs addressed to
significant knowledge breakthroughs are wise
to ask the basic research question--Are such
ideas desirable?-as a matter of course, now
and then.
Using a procedure which I suspect is
rather common, one electronics firm
announced to all concerned personnel that
basic programs had been carefully selected
and adequately funded; these were to
comprise the company's total research in the
speculative unknown. All other new product
ideas were to be rejected if they called for
basic efforts. This may seem arbitrary, as may
most of the stipulations in a strategy state-
ment; it is in the sense of out-of-hand
rejection. The limitations should be based,
however, on a careful appraisal of research
opportunities; thus, they are not arbitrary in
the sense of casual or flippant. Research
design is a gamble, as is all strategy; any
resource commitment decision necessarily
rejects certain alternatives. (The criticisms of
this aspect of new product strategy are
considered later.)
Thousands of small manufacturing firms
exist outside the range of inventiveness by
simply making something that others have
created and selling it at a lower price. This is
not the strategy of innovative imitation.
There is nothing innovative about it. These
firms opt for Me-Too as a total strategy. It is
common, however, to find other manage-
ments rejecting the identical product
approach. As one president said, "Unless it's
an important part of a line which we must
have, we hold up on duplicates until we can
significantly improve upon them."
Other restrictions on competitive position-
ing run the full range: no product price can
increase more than 20 percent, no product
can require significantly more service, no
product can be larger, longer, hotter, deeper.
If these things matter, tell people about it.
Product/Service Relatedness
Increasingly these days, firms are relating
their products to systems of use or service.
One small midwestern instruments manu-
facturer decided that his analog and digital
computers could best be sold as parts of total
measuring and control systems, so he immedi-
ately ordered a halt to every development
project whose output would not fit this
concept. Other firms have decided that service
is their best chance of differentiation and so
seek products with a high service commit-
ment. Still others push in precisely the
opposite direction.
55
DECEMBER, 1972
8. C. MERLE CRAWFORD
56
Miscellaneous
There is actually no end to the possibilities, as
the following might attest:
1. Products which offset a sales or production
seasonality problem.
2. Products which utilize some particular raw
material, one common to that now used,
common to that of a sister division, or
incorporating a by-product or even waste
material.
3. Products to fill gaps in sales calls, such as
when a high volume product leads to calls
upon a given customer group for which the
firm has no other products. New items could
capitalize on the wasted (free) selling time.
4. Products which capitalize on a given technical
skill, such as the Corning Glass strategy that
new items should exploit the firm's excellent
glass technology.
5. Products which avoid certain types of
markets, such as the drug firm whose exec-
utives recoiled from marketing rectal medi-
cations.
6. Coca-Cola wants new products which exploit
its outstanding distribution system.
7. Hertz wants products to rent.
8. Warner-Lambert wants products which can be
mass-marketed.
The Knock of Opportunity
Several objections have been raised against the
practice of new product strategy statements.
Some critics point out the difficulty of
coordinating an assessment of market oppor-
tunities with the company resources and the
time involved as obstacles. Others cite the
bookshelf fate of many strategy statements.
But these concems are more than offset by
the reduction in wasted programs and false
starts, the enhanced morale which comes to
an organization that is working together, and
the degree of managerial control that good
strategy permits. By clarifying assignments,
management maintains control. Strategy
organizes the thoughts of the corporation,
provides rationale for decision models, and
affords the specific and detailed criteria by
which all new ideas are ultimately evaluated.
The one other major criticism, and the
only really serious one, is that a thorough
statement of new product development
strategy is inhibiting and restrictive.
Supposedly, creative people cannot function
under such restraints; ideas with great poten-
tial are rejected because people who execute
strategy lack the broad vision and flexibility
of those who set it.
Critics who take this position do not lack
for examples. They point out that no strategy
could or should have contained Thomas
Edison. Or, how many strategy statements
would have rejected the xerographic process
or Dr. Land's camera. How many times every
day do researchers in various laboratories
around the country glimpse the rough outline
of a truly great idea only to reject it immedi-
ately as falling outside the firm's scope of
interest?
No one knows, of course, but it's a lot less
often than the question implies, for several
reasons:
1. Most people have adequate range within the
strategy--they don't want for stretching room
and are so busy within their range that they
are not tempted by "glimpses" outside of it.
2. Most ideas inhibited by strategy should be
inhibited. One role for new product strategy is
to stipulate those areas where the firm's
researchers are most likely to find good ideas,
based on the fertility of different fields,
researchers' capabilities, and the firm's ability
to capitalize on different types of ideas. By
definition then, other fields are most apt to
yield only fool's gold.
3. Finally, strategy serves the policy function of
a guideline, not a prison wall. Most researchers
who are capable of having really great ideas
know this and are not adverse to requesting an
exception. By this means, the issues of
strategy interpretation and strategy change are
regularly reviewed; an ongoing evaluation
process by those who set the strategy is forced
by the appearance of an idea or market change
which has survived the first-line challenge of
established guidelines before it became an
issue for mandating change.
Like any other policy, new product
strategy operates with two assumptions. The
first one is that there will be mistakes, such as
the rejection of good ideas, but these errors
are more than compensated by the savings of
the time and effort not spent on inappro-
BUSINESS HORIZONS
9. Strategies for New Product Development
priate ideas. Besides, who really knows
whether good ideas are rejected? It is claimed,
for example, that several top companies,
including Kodak, rejected the xerographic
concept. It was worth a fortune to those who
later made it successful, but who is to say it
would have been equally successful for one of
the established firms? The odds against a
Xerox must be in the million to one category,
making it quite appropriate for a venture
capital situation, but far outside most new
product strategies.
It seems safe to hazard an opinion that
more money has been lost developing bad
ideas within the strategy than by rejecting
good ideas outside the strategy.
The second assumption is that the cost of
dealing with highly repetitive, though slightly
dissimilar, situations is substantially reduced
by means of policy guidelines which permit
the delegation of decisions. Without strategy,
new product ideas are initially evaluated by
persons who, guessing about top management
desires, will be more conservative and restric-
tive than if they had strategy guidelines, or by
top management itself. Eccentric researchers
who object to the restraints of strategy like
the latter, but, for evident reasons, manage-
ment does not. The only exceptions arise in
the cases of the really inventive researchers,
the Edisons; these necessitate special handling
via independent, separately budgeted research
centers or via some other technique which
separates them from the group restrained by
strategy.
The claim advanced in this article is
that new product development so
engulfs an entire organization and is so crucial
to its long-term success that its skillful inte-
gration into the company operation requires a
guiding strategy: the selection of goals and
the purposeful arrangement of resources
dedicated to the achievement of those goals.
When based upon overall corporate goals and
an objective evaluation of company strengths
and skills, a new product strategy statement
can provide effective and uniform guidance to
the many persons in the various places who
participate in the product development
process.
The fact is, middle managers and staff
specialists cannot function without strategy;
if they are not given a policy for new
products, they will promptly make up one. It
will be based on their individual perceptions
of what management wants and will be
heavily influenced by what they think
management should want.
Not long ago the president of a company
was telling me how important a certain area
of recent diversification was. Later that same
week a key research manager in the same firm
cited the difficulties in that area as reasons
why it should be permitted to "cool" for a
while, if not permanently. Only the naive
believe that close working relationships
prevent misunderstandings like this.
Proof can come from a poll if your firm
does not yet have a well-understood new
product strategy in writing. And proof is a
must for those managers who sincerely believe
their new product programs are highly coordi-
nated without a statement of strategy. Ask
the firm's or division's key people the
following questions:
1. How big, in dollar volume, do you think we
will be in ten years?
2. Which three of our important product cate-
gories will have declined significantly in
importance?
3. Name two product or market categories which
you think would be good for the firm but
which we are not involved with now in any
way.
4. Acquisition is: (1) terribly important, (2)
important, (3) not really important to this
firm for the next ten years.
5. Most important in holding us back from more
and better new products is: (1) We'reshort on
good new product ideas, or (2) we're not good
enough at converting ideas into successful
products.
6. Name the two resources, assets, or skillswhich
we have which are the most important in our
overall new product activity. Is this pair the
same as the ones which should be playing the
major role?
57
DECEMBER,1972
10. C. MERLE CRAWFORD
58
7. For researchers: what two skills or tools have
been most valuable in the firm's marketing
successes? For marketers: what two attributes
or skills have been most valuable to the firm's
technical research and development program?
8. What policy guides our response to successful
innovation in our markets by other firms?
Readers can think of many more questions,
but whatever the questions, a poll like this
can be quite revealing.
The coverage and depth of detail that
should be in a new product strategy statement
is an open variable. James Geier of Cincinnati
Milacron may have covered enough bases
when he said recently, "The name of the
game is staying No. 1 in technology. ''9 On
the other hand, a pharmaceutical manu-
facturer took six typed pages to spell out
some twenty-seven criteria. The approach
depends on the complexity of the firm's
9. "A Machine Maker With Optimism," Business Week
(Nov. 20, 1971), p. 46.
business (number of options) and the diffi-
culties of communication. Management can
commence with a succinct statement and add
coverage as needed.
Fortunately, the process of developing
strategy for new products is not significantly
different from developing any other strategy.
Since the appropriate generic process for
strategy determination is becoming known,
there is no need to state it here. A new book
by Kenneth R. Andrews offers superb insight
on this matter and discusses in depth the
step-by-step process. 10
But the task is demanding. In most firms
today, new products are essential to con-
tinued success, so the strategy had better be a
good one. And if management is to avoid
wasted effort, false starts, confusion, low
morale, and even rebellion, it must effectively
communicate this strategy to all involved.
10. Kenneth R. Andrews, The Concept of Corporate
Strategy (Homewood, Ill.: DowJones-Irwin, 1971).
DD[3OOE~(3D(3OOORR~[3(30(30~DOO[3OO[3OE~OOID~ [3OO[3~OOC~OODI~(3(30~O
OUT-OF-PRINT AND BACK ISSUES
Business Horizons is now able to fill orders for most of its back issues.
Although the following numbers are out of print, xeroxed copies may be
purchased
Some
orders or
for 3 cents per page:
Vol. I--Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4
Vol. II-Nos. 2, 4
Vol. III--Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4
Vol. IV--Nos. 1, 2
Vol. V--No. 2
Vol. VI-No. 1
Vol. VIII-No. 1
Vol. IX--No. 4
Vol XII--Nos. 1,2, 4
Vol XIII--No. 4
bound volumes are also available. Please write for details. For
additional information write
Back Issues
Business Horizons
School of Business
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana 47401
BUSINESS HORIZONS