Business
Administration Department
BA347 New Products Management
Dr. Geoffrey
Lantos
Fall 2007
TEAM NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS ANALYSIS TERM PAPER PROJECT
Overview
Throughout the semester you will be
working in teams of about four students each on a project that involves description
and analysis of the process used in the development of a new product. Teams will be used since this corresponds to
new product team activity in real-life settings. I recommend that you divide up tasks among
team members according to team members' interests, skills, and abilities
(specialization and division of labor) and that you meet periodically to
coordinate your effort and review and polish each other's work.
You will choose one of the three options described below. Each of these alternatives will involve development and analysis of a new product plan according to the organization scheme outlined below (pp. 4-5). You are encouraged to study products, markets, technologies, and organizations of common interest to all team members. You will submit a written term paper (described below) that will constitute 20 to 30% of your final grade (in the standard grading plan).
Procedure
You are to submit to me by September 12
names of up to four students who wish to work together. On September 17 all ungrouped students will
be assigned to a team. By October 1 you
will submit a brief (one page maximum) proposal explaining which option you
chose and the nature of the organization and its product or service. On November 1 you will turn in an interim
peer evaluation report to give your teammates anonymous feedback on their
contribution to the team project thus far.
On November 7 you will hand in a progress report (one page maximum)
describing research done and strategy formulated to date, as well as major
tasks which still need completion and plans for their fulfillment, plus any
roadblocks to completion you might be facing.
You might wish to arrange to meet with me at this time (as well as at
any other time) for additional guidance.
On December 11 you will submit final peer evaluation forms, and by 10:30
a.m. on December 12 (last day of classes) you will turn in your final written
term paper. Each team will be briefly
presenting parts of their project in class during the semester as part of their
Special Class Activities oral presentations assignment.
Objectives
The project is being assigned in order
to apply the concepts covered in the textbook and in class—the entire process
of new product development, management, and marketing will be the focus of the
paper.
Specifically, the purposes of this
assignment are for you to:
1. Learn how to practically apply new
product management theory to a specific real-life problem situation;
2.
Learn to work cooperatively with
others on a team project (teamwork), gaining experience in handling
interpersonal relationships;
3. Become more familiar with course material
by discussing it with others; and
4.
Develop your written communication
skills and ability to think critically and creatively.
Options
Option 1 – Local Organization Study
Investigate and analyze the new
product development process within a local organization. Information you report on the organization
and its industry should be based on both personal interviews (in person or
phone, supplemented by e-mail if you wish) and on publicly available information
(published, online, and/or in other available media).
You may focus on either a new product
still being planned or developed by the organization or on one that they
recently launched. Specific issues to be
emphasized, in addition to the organization scheme found below (pp. 4-5
include: the role of new products in the organization, the particular process
and decision sequence they use in developing and marketing new products (this
might differ somewhat from the organization scheme below), and the
organizational structure used for managing new products, including how
individuals work together and interact with each other during the new products
process.
Include your own recommendations on
any areas where you think use of the new product development process could be
improved. Predict or discuss the new
product’s success or failure based on what you have learned in this course this
semester. You should submit a copy of
your final paper to the organization, along with a thank-you letter for their
assistance in supplying you with information.
Attach a copy of your thank-you
letter to the report you submit to me to assure me that you followed up.
Option 2 - Library Study
Based on publicly available information (published, online, and/or in other available media), select a very successful new product marketed within the past few years or a new product that was marketed and failed within the past several years. Write a report investigating and analyzing the process involved in the development and marketing of this product, following as closely as possible the organization scheme found below. Identify the main issues in each of the stages in new product development and marketing. Summarize the reasons for success or failure, including your recommendations on how the new product management process could have been improved.
Note 1:
It is relatively easy to find out information on new products by perusing trade
publications such as Advertising Age,
Brandweek, Marketing News, and other trade papers (see list on p. 2 of the
“Applications-Oriented Written Assignments” handout). Try www.gadgetguru.com or www.newproductworks.com (click on the “hits or misses” link for
information on recently launched new consumer products). Typing “new products,” “innovations,” and
similar terms and phrases into a search engine can also be fruitful. Or, try one of the sources in the websites
handout.
Note
2: See the handout "Using the Business Library" for other
general hints on locating information.
Note
3: In Options 1 and 2, if you are not able to obtain information on
certain stages of the new product development process, make your own
assumptions on what the organization probably did or else give suggestions on
what they should have done. Be sure to
indicate the points of your paper that are your assumptions and ideas as
opposed to things that the organization actually did.
Option 3 - Your Own Original New Product Study
Using your creative powers and
insights, aided by secondary research and/or personal observation, identify and
develop your own idea for a new good or service that could be marketed by an
existing organization (E.g., given changing beverage preferences toward
healthier fare, what new product might Pepsico be expected to market next; or,
given the increased demand for environmentally-friendly sport utility vehicles,
minivans, and light trucks, what new vehicle might Ford market next,
etc.?).
Your idea should be original and
clearly a contribution to satisfying genuine human needs and wants. Don't tell me it is hard to know whether
others may have thought of an idea; we know it is, but the law requires that
you make this judgement before submitting an idea for patenting. Avoid gimmicks, avoid solving some problem
thousands of people have spent years unsuccessfully trying to solve, and deal
with some situation that is at least reasonably important in one or more market
segments’ lives today. In other words, I
want great concepts—ideas that are problem based and truly original. To stimulate your thinking, consider visiting
the Totally Absurd Inventions website at www.totallyabsurdinventions.com.
Then, develop your own original new
product development process plan according to the organizational outline
below. For this option you will be
expected to do your own original field research on concept generation, concept
positioning, and concept screening and selection. Your concept test itself is to consist of
five to ten interviews with strangers (not students, unless they are the target
market), all of whom would be logical potential users of your proposed product. In case you have a business-to-business
product, where multiple persons are involved in each buying situation, I will
accept at least two personal or phone interview situations, but check with me
about it first. You should also develop
your own recommendations for prototype development and testing, product use
testing, the marketing program (especially branding and packaging), and market
testing and launch (although you obviously won't be implementing these stages).
Organization of Paper
Your paper should be organized
according to the steps that are usually sequentially taken when new product
strategy is planned and executed. (Of
course, in practice many of these decisions don't proceed in chronological
order. As it is, many steps proceed at
different paces, many occur simultaneously, unplanned accidents spawn problems
and inspirations, outside factors exert more control than inside planning,
etc.). If your organization (Option 1)
or product (Option 2) deviates significantly from the pattern below, you might
need to modify your paper's organization.
However, try to follow the scheme below as closely as possible. These stages, for the most part, parallel the
course outline.
I. Title Page: Include the
full title of your project, your names, the course number and name plus your
section letter, the professor's name, and the due date.
II. Table of Contents: Include a
list of divisions and subdivisions of the report with page references. If the report includes many figures or
tables, a list of these should also be included immediately following the table
of contents.
III. Executive Summary: A
one-to-two page managerial summary outlining the project's background,
objectives, findings, and recommendations.
IV.
Situation Analysis and Strategic Planning:
A description and analysis of the new product's internal and external
environment, considering both the current situation as well as trends. If one or more of the following factors are
irrelevant to your situation, you should note this and very briefly explain
why.
A. Organizational
Environment: background sketch, corporate mission, corporate goals and
objectives, internal strengths and weaknesses, current product
portfolio/product mix, historical new product performance, the role of new
products, overall strategies for organizational growth and for new products,
and organization for new products.
B. Industry:
definition and description, data and trends (e.g. past and future rates of
growth, sales volume, profits, stage in the product life cycle, marketing mix
changes, etc.).
C. Competitive
Environment: Identify competitors (direct and indirect), their shares of
market, positioning, and strengths and weaknesses.
D. Channels
of distribution: suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and any other
strategic partners in the value chain.
E. Cultural
and Social Environment: consumer behavior issues such as social trends,
aversion to (or love of) new technology, buyer decision processes, etc.
F. Legal,
Political and Ethical Environment: public policy, legal, social
responsibility, and ethical issues (current and future).
G. Technological
Environment. New and emerging
technologies that do or could affect this industry.
H. Economic
Environment. Any macroeconomic
factors influencing industry players and their customers.
I.
V. Product Innovation Chapter:
Strategic arena, goals and objectives, degree of innovativeness, precedence,
time/quality/cost priorities and tradeoffs, and miscellaneous strategic issues.
V.
Concept and Product Generation, Development,
and Evaluation: A description and analysis
of idea generation, concept design, and
pretechnical evaluation.
A. Concept Generation: source(s) of ideas, idea generation methods, and management of the idea generation function.
B. Concept Development: core benefit
proposition, analytical attribute analysis, consumer perceptions and
preferences, and positioning.
C. Concept Evaluation, Screening and
Selection: management preliminary screen, consumer evaluation and testing,
technological assessment, corporate strategy full screen, and concept
selection.
VII. Technical Development and Testing:
Prototype development and testing, and product use testing.
A. Prototype Development
and Testing: protocol, securing seed money (if relevant), prototype
development and design, prototype testing, and results/findings of testing.
B Product Use Testing: when, how, where,
who respondents are, who does the testing, product form, and results/findings.
VIII. Marketing Mix Development: A
description and analysis in general terms of the marketing mix: branding,
packaging, augmented product, pricing, distribution, and promotion. Relate these elements to the core benefit
proposition and positioning, and describe the mutual consistency (or lack
thereof) of the marketing mix elements.
IX. Marketing Mix Testing: A
description and analysis of the system used in market testing.
A. Component
Testing:
research techniques used on individual marketing mix elements such as branding,
packaging, promotion, and pricing.
B. Pre-Test Market Analysis: methods
and research services used, and results/findings.
C. Test Marketing: decisions (which
markets, number of markets, etc.) and research services used, and
results/findings.
D. Limited Marketing/Rollout: type of
limited marketing/rollout used and results/findings.
X. Commercialization:
Description and evaluation of the launch.
A. Pre-launch planning, implementation,
and control.
B. Launch: decision, implementation,
control/tracking, and results.
XI. Summary and
Conclusions/Recommendations - Reasons for (potential) success or failure,
effectiveness of use of the new product development process, and learning for
the future (for this and/or other organizations).
XII. Endnotes - These may be on a
separate page or in the body of your paper identified numerically from your
Bibliography, e.g., (6, p. 158).
XIII.
Bibliography
- An alphabetical list of all sources
consulted (library research, on-line searching, audiovisual media, original
survey research, individuals interviewed, etc.).
XIV.
Appendices
– Exhibits, tables, and any detailed/technical material.
Format of Papers
You may organize the text in outline
form (using headings and subheadings) following the above organizational
format. The report should include
approximately 17 to 23 pages of typewritten, double-spaced text (for four students),
plus title page, table of contents, introductory section (objectives, overview,
logic and structure of your paper), endnotes, bibliography, appendices, and any
other supporting materials that you might wish to include. Follow all other general format procedures
found on the syllabus and on the “Applications-Oriented Written Assignment”
handout.
Evaluation of Papers
Each student will receive an
individual grade determined by: 1) the team term paper grade and 2) an
evaluation of the individual's contribution to the paper (degree of participation
and cooperation) by other team members.
1.
Team Term Paper Grade:
Your team term paper write-up will be evaluated on the following
criteria:
a. Thoroughness of research
......................................….. 20%
Thoroughness means documentation and analysis of all relevant data. This includes use of (where appropriate) primary and secondary sources.
b. Evaluation of effectiveness of
strategy ........................ 30%
Thorough
evaluation of an existing new product strategy and/or persuasive proposal of an
original effective new product strategy.
All decisions/analyses should be logically justified, be based on the
situation analysis, and should show evidence of application of course theory.
c. Creativity and Originality
...................................…….. 20%
Creativity
is the ability to see new relationships and combinations for more efficient and
effective problem solving. Originality
means that your ideas are not based on what already exists.
d. Organization, Presentation, and Appearance
................. 15%
Includes
both text and accompanying exhibits.
Organization
includes:
1. Coherence - the paper is sequentially
logical, paragraphs and sentences are in the right order, topics are developed
within paragraphs, each paragraph represents a single topic, and transitions
between sections and paragraphs flow smoothly and logically.
2. Unity - introduction and
conclusion (summarizes and provides closure), the theme is clear, and
everything in the paper defends or explains the theme.
3.
Development - everything is fully explained.
Presentation
and appearance involves: neatness and proper formal paper format (including
title page, table of contents, bibliography, endnotes, headings and
subheadings, margins,
page
numbers, proper use of exhibits and illustrative charts, etc.).
e. Clarity
of Communication ........................................…. 15%
1. Writing style - the paper is
clearly and concisely written, not to impress, but to express (make the reader
understand); active voice; verb tense consistent; professional tone (absence of
contractions, appropriate vocabulary, no colloquialisms, etc.); interesting.
2. Mechanics - grammar, syntax,
spelling, punctuation, and word divisions.
Typographical errors, if present should be corrected in pencil.
100%
2. Peer Evaluation - If a team member
does not complete the assigned duties or does not do a fair share, he or she
will suffer the consequences, NOT the other team members!!!
a. I will grade your new product team
project. Grades will be numerical based
on the above criteria.
b. Each team project must be accompanied by
a rating from each team member
(handed in the last day of class) indicating the contribution of each
individual member. You must not rate yourself.
c. Contribution must be indicated by
percentage and must average out to
100 percent for the team.
d. The percentage given to any participating
individual member can vary between 80 percent and 120 percent.
e.
A percentage of 0 must be given to team
members who do not participate, for any reason
whatsoever, in production of a
particular team project. This is the
only reason that can
be used to assign a 0 percentage
for individual contribution, i.e., you "fire" that member.
If your team fires a member during
the semester, you must immediately notify me.
This
must happen at least thirty days
before the final due date.
f.
If a 0 percentage is assigned to a team
member, the average of 100 percent for the team will be determined by excluding
the absent member. (100 percent will be
averaged only for active participants.)
g. The team grades will be returned with the
grades assigned to individuals, the latter being determined by multiplying the
team grade times the contribution percentage assigned to the individual (by
averaging individual ratings).
You may wish to
use the following criteria in your peer evaluations:
1. Number of meetings attended and prompt
attendance at meetings
2. Amount of work contributed
3. Quality of ideas and work contributed
4. Cooperation/contribution to the team effort
5. Time contributed
6. Timeliness and consistency of work
contributed
7. Inspiration and leadership provided to the
team
8. Enthusiastic and positive attitude about team
activities and fellow team members
Example
Team project
grade = 90
Individual Team
Individual
Member Distribution Contribution
% Grade Grade
Daisuke Matsuzaka 95% 90 85
J.K. Rowling 100% 90 90
Richard Branson 95% 90 85
Lindsay Lohan 120% 90 108
Mitt Romney
80% 90 72
Hillary Clinton 110% 90 99
600/6 539/6
Average 100% Average
90
Columns
1 and 2 will be filled out by each team member for his or her peers and will be
handed in the last day of class. I will
grade the project and return the form, averaging the individual contributions
in column 2 and filling in Columns 3 and 4.
Project Timeline
1. Project Proposal - one page
maximum, submitted for approval by September
26. Include:
a.
Names of team members.
b.
Tentative title of your project.
c.
Brief discussion of which option you
choose (1, 2, or 3), including a description of the
product/service/organization you will be writing on
d.
Explanation of why the team finds their
choice is important and of interest.
e. Expected sources of information.
If you are doing a case study on an organization (option 1), make the initial contact and get the managers’ approval on allowing you to work with them. Specify the individual(s) you will be working with, along with their position(s) in the organization.
2. Interim Peer Evaluations – October
31.
Each student is to fill out the peer evaluation form discussed above. Although these ratings will not affect your
final grade in any way, they will provide constructive feedback to team members
on how other team members perceive their contributions to the project so
far. Each student’s peer evaluation
sheet—to be filled out anonymously
for this interim report—will be photocopied by me and returned to other team
members. Those doing a less-than-average
job will then be forewarned to improve their efforts so that their final grade
does not suffer as much as it might otherwise.
2. Progress Report - One page
approximately, due by November 3
Include:
1.
What has been done to date
2.
What needs to be done to complete the
project and a timeline for completion of remaining activities.
3.
A list of all references used to date.
4.
Any special issues or concerns and how you
plan to deal with them and/or whether you need my advice.
Your
team may choose to meet with me, if you wish, around this time for suggestions
and guidance (or at any other time, for that matter if you are having problems
or are uncomfortable in any way with your progress).
3. Peer Evaluation Forms – Each team
member is to rate his or her peers by December
8. These will be factored into
individuals’ term paper grades as described above.
3. Final Report - Due by December 11 at 10:30 a.m.
Remember: The gift of time is uniquely academic. Under most management situations, the
pressure of time is a given and the industry is characterized by yesterday's
deadline. In contrast, this classroom
project gives you a semester for completion.
Plan your paper well in advance and be working on it throughout the
semester.
NEW PRODUCT MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
PEER EVALUATION FORM
Name:
_______________________________________________
Team
Project Grade =
COLUMN
1 COLUMN 2 COLUMN
3 COLUMN 4
Member Distribution Individual
Names: Contribution X
Team Grade** Individual
Grade**
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Average =
100%
Average =
**To be filled out by the instructor
Instructions: Each individual should fill out columns 1 and
2, rating your peers but not yourself. Individually
hand in the forms on the last day of class.
I will average all ratings in column 2 and fill in columns 3 and 4, and
will return a completed form with the graded term paper to the team. Also, for each student who received any
contribution other than 100 above, you must provide a written justification in
the form on the next page. Failing to do
so will invalidate your evaluation
Justification of Individual Contributions
Names Written Justification for
other than 100%