Brand Management Lecture Seven Managing the New Product Development Team Chapter 16, Trott This lecture

focuses on Chapter 16 of Trott (Ed 4), and, in reality, examines more than just the NPD team. Aspects of activities undertaken within the NPD process are also studied. In previous lectures, we looked at the conditions that are necessary for innovation to occur, and we examined various representations of the new product development process. However, to succeed the process has to be managed by people. This means that the concepts of strategy, marketing and technology have to be co-ordinated and managed effectively. Internal communications, procedures and systems need to be appropriate. Theory needs to be operationalised that is applied to the actual implementation of the NPD process in an organisation and, remember, this is context specific.

On completing this lecture, and independent studies on it, you should be able to answer the following hypothetical exam questions: Describe and discuss the key activities associated with the NPD process. Examine the contention that screening is a continuous rather than a single activity. Discuss why the knowledge base of an organisation influences the NPD process.

The Key Activities that Need to be Managed The network model of NPD, shown in lecture, as described in lecture 4, represents a generalised and theoretical view of the process. Is this useful to the practical manager? Not really. From his or her position, it is more useful to view the NPD process as a series of linked activities. See diagram below:
Scientific and Technological developments

Strategic Planning

Society and market developments leading to needs

Assembling Knowledge

R&D

Market Research
Generating Business Opportunities

Product Concept Generation Development of Product Prototypes Market and Technical Testing Market Introduction The NPD Process as a Series of Linked Activities

The Key Activities that Need to be Managed continued The extent to which the above activities are used, and how, is very much context dependent. Cooper (1979) identified twelve activities. These are: initial screening; preliminary market research; preliminary technical assessment; detailed market study; financial analysis; product development; product testing; (in-house); product testing (with consumer); test marketing; trial production; full-scale production; and, product launch. Other studies suggest that some are more important than others and some may even be omitted by organisations as said, it is context dependent.

The Organisations Knowledge Base and maintaining it The rest of this lecture will look at the activities that need to be performed by businesses and the NPD teams. Without the continual accumulation of knowledge, an organisation will be hindered in its ability to create new product ideas. On page 192 of Trott, you will find that Alder and Shenhar (1990) suggest that an organisations knowledge is made up of five dimensions. These are: 1. Individual assets. 2. Technological assets. 3. Administrative assets. 4. External assets. 5. Projects Maintaining the knowledge base requires a number of inputs. These are presented in the following diagram (p 484, Trott):

Knowledge base of the organisation

The Generation of Business Opportunities New product ideas, or business opportunities, can emerge from many sources and create, what is known as, opportunity identification (OI). Key sources for product ideas are exhibited in the following diagram (p485, Trott).

Generation of Business Opportunities

Turning Business Opportunities into Product Concepts: From Ideas to Concepts What next? Ideas need to be turned into potential product concepts. Crawford (1997), argues that three inputs are required to create a concept. These are: Form Technology Need

The Screening of Business Opportunities It is argued that screening product ideas is essentially an evaluative process not a single, one-off activity, but something that occurs at every stage of the NPD process. Questions that need answering include (to complete in lecture):

The following diagram represents an overview of many of the activities associated with the screening process.

Customer Screen Initial Screen

Types of Screening (evaluation)

Technical screen Technical testing

Final Screen Business Analysis

Development of Product Prototypes During this activity, the product becomes a tangible good. At this stage all aspects of scientific research and development, engineering development and design, possible technology transfer, patent analysis and cost forecasts will be undertaken.

Technical Testing (Comment)

Market Testing and Consumer Research (Comment)

Market Introduction At this juncture it is helpful to note the differences between industries.

New Product Development Across Different industries Technological activi-ties Industrial products Pharmaceutical industry Electronics industry White goods/domestic appliance industries FMCG Food and
Above diagram is: A classification of new product development activities across different industries

Balance of activities

Market-ing act-ivities

Comments?

Other Considerations Finally, this lecture wants you to gain some understanding of CAD, the marketing and R& D interface and (as mentioned in an earlier lecture) the high attrition rate of new products (ideas/concepts/prototypes) within the context of managing the NPD process CAD

Marketing/R&D interface

High attrition rate of new products

Your Task. There are many reasons for new product failure. Read Trott (p540) and make a note of these.