Criteria changes across product development stages

This paper analyzes the criteria used at making go/no-go decisions at major points in the product-development process, taking each phase separately. First, the variation in the sets (market, product, and financial) criteria used from one phase to another is studied. Second, the specific criteria deployed are analyzed. The results of the decision-systems interviews conducted show shifts in weights among the three sets of criteria as the development cycle progresses. In terms of criteria, the product-development process can be summarized using the following three questions in this specific order: 1) “Is there a market for the concept?” 2) Can the concept be transformed into a concrete product?” and 3) “Can the concrete product be manufactured and marketed profitably?” The analysis of specific criteria reveals that the use of some criteria is restricted to one particular phase, whereas some are used at every decision-making point. Also, the orientation of the company in question will cause variation among specific criteria use and weighting. Some factors, however, are quite universally applicable.     

Economic factors that affect new product substitution: A case history

A scenario is presented of a U.S. industry whose traditional products were well into the maturity stage of the product life cycle and long overdue in introducing a new product to the marketplace.     

Measuring perceived pre-purchase risk for a new industrial product

Risk is an important element in industrial adoption decisions. This paper proposes a method to investigate how different group of individuals influencing the adoption of a new industrial product differ in their assessment of the risks. Two dimensions of risk are distinguished: (1) the likelihood that adoption of the new product will have undesirable consequences, and (2) the perceived intensity of these consequences both at the organizational and at the individual level. Purchase consequences are measured in terms of product economics and product reliability. Multivariate analysis of variance is used to assess how decision participants differ in their assessment of risk components. An attempt is made to assess the relative importance of these various components in the formation of individual preferences. The implications of the analysis for the development of better industrial marketing strategies are discussed.     

Risk in product development stages

Risk perceptions have an important bearing on the product-development process. The product-development literature reports risk-level and cost increases as a project advances in the R&D pipeline, but no quantification of these concepts is available. Data are provided on how people involved in the product-development process view the relationship between cost and risk escalation. The results are discussed in terms of how companies manage risk and uncertainty in product development.     

Identifying industrial new product success: Project NewProd

What is the key to success in industrial product innovation? This question is frequently posed, and many authors and managers have speculated as to which critical factors or variables decide the fate of new industrial products. What is missing in the debate is evidence based on actual new product successes and failures. Project NewProd is an investigation that was designed to fill this void. In this article we report the results of a study into a large number of successful and unsuccessful new products, project NewProd, whose goal was to identify the determinants of commercial success in industrial product innovation.     

Developing end-use marketing teams

This article describes how a sales group in a highly competitive business transformed itself—and its business volume and profits—with the help of a new marketing strategy and a results-focused training and development process.     

Tactical product decisions

The focus of this article is a discussion of both how and when to make tactical product decisions for existing products. Although the literature refers to these decisions in the context of strategic planning, the author considers that it is inadequate in explaining how and when these decisions should be arrived at relative to tactical planning. A range of criteria for tactical decisions is proposed.     

The impact of selling aids on new prospects

Once a firm has called a list of good prospects, it is necessary to turn those prospects into first-time customers. Through an empirical investigation in the business forms industry, lunches, plant tours, advertising specialties, and printed promotional material were evaluated as selling aids. Plant tours and lunches were found to be especially effective in turning prospects into customers.     

A comparison of opinion and regression forecasting for an industrial product

Opinion-based forecasting techniques are widely used by industrial marketers. Rarely, however, are the results of these forecasts compared with alternative forecasting techniques and/or evaluated against actual operating results. In this study, opinion-based forecasting results for an industrial equipment manufacturer are evaluated against actual sales data. Further, the opinion-based predictions are compared with the predictions of a naive regression model. The results of these analyses suggest that the current opinion-based forecasting system is deficient.     

A dynamic industrial product model

This article reports on the development of a marketing model for industrial products to aid marketing managers in developing marketing programs on a quarterly and yearly basis. The system incorporates a market response model which relies heavily on the involvement of managers in providing inputs. The model was parameterized and tested in the context of a large manufacturer of capital goods. The results were supportive of the conceptual soundness of the moral and its utility in decision making.     

OEM buying process for new components: Purchasing and marketing implications

This article identifies the buying process for a new component. In-depth case studies were conducted at a wide range of potential customers. The buying process was mapped or flow charted in each organization. A general model of component buying was developed.     

Learning curves for new products

A recent article addressing the extrapolation of learning curves fails to point out that the resulting learning curve is not, in general, a straight line but sharply alters its shape at high cumulative outputs.     

Industrial product managers: Authority and responsibility

This exporatory study concentrated on large industrial firms. The data indicate the IPM is well accepted, and has a very bright future. Their authority and responsibilities are similar to consumer goods PM's with technical aspects being the exceptions.     

Industrial product adoption in a technology push industry

Studies of the industrial adoption of innovatious have frequently concluded that managerial attitudes are a crucial determinant of adoption behavior. However, these studies have usually offered hypotheses rather than rigorous tests. Equally important, these studies have not specified the characteristics of those managers whose attitudes exert a particularly strong influence on the firm's adoption policy.     

Overall corporate strategies for new product programs

The strategy an industrial firm elects for its product development program is increasingly viewed as a critical element of the firm's total corporate strategy. New product development and technology bear an integral relationship to an industrial company's strategic direction by helping to define the range of its possibilities [13]. This article reports the results of an empirical study whose purpose was to identify the major types of innovation strategies that firms pursue—strategy scenarios. A second purpose was to assess which strategies yield the best results.     

Differences between industrial and consumer product managers

Marketing decision areas and general background characteristics of industrial and consumer product managers are examined in this article. A discriminant analysis identifies those marketing decision areas that separate industrial and consumer product managers. The position of industrial product manager was found to be more of a marketing coordinator while the consumer product manager was found to be a more active decision maker.     

Technology development: Determining what to forecast

This article discusses a proven conceptual technique for identifying, classifying, and relating the very large number of complex factors, known and unknown, that enter into venture analysis decisions. Frameworks for reducing complexities to manageable options are proposed. These frameworks highlight areas where additional knowledge— or even invention—is necessary. Planning managers may thus determine their present technological position (where they are in the scheme of the present state of the art), map out possible future developments, reduce the risk of future shock, and determine which alternative should be the subject of in-depth technological forecasts.     

Advisors and decision-makers in product eliminations

This article reports on the product elimination decision within selected sectors of the British engineering industry. The study identified and examined the key organizational participants in product elimination activities. The marketing function and a top management committee generally assumed a significant portion of the product elimination decision making. The results of the study suggested that the people responsible for product elimination varies considerably among companies, depending on such factors as size, product diversity, operations technology, and market competition.     

Industrial product concept testing

Concept tests are widely used for consumer packaged goods products; however, their use has not been widely described for industrial products. Concept tests can be particularly useful in situations where creation of working prototype products is expensive, as with many industrial products. We report a concept testing procedure that incorporates many features unique to industrial marketing problems. The results of a limited pilot test of the method are given.