New Product Development Flashcards
What factors does a new product development cover?
The NPD process covers the creation of everything that is needed to make a new product
What is the purpose of a product protocol?
Crawford, 2008
- Determining what each business function needs to do
- Communicates the essentials of the plan so everyone is on the same page
What is considered to be the critical success factor between winning and loosing projects?
The product protocol, it has been found that a product protocol has been the difference between the success and failure of a new product
What are the basic stages of the NPD process?
Crawford & DiBenedetto, 2015
- Opportunity identification & selection
- Concept generation
- Concept/project evaluation
- Development
- Launch
Who is responsible for the typical stage gate model?
Cooper, 1990
Give the definition of a stage gate model:
Trott, 2008
“Development process that divides the effort into distinct time-sequenced stages separated by management decision gates”
What are some limitations of stage gate models according to Trott, 2008 & Cooper 2008?
Trott, 2008
- The people at the gate may not be knowledgeable enough to make good decisions
- Product concepts may not be frozen too early or are not change sufficiently later on
- Sequential and slow process
- Process is focused on the gates and therefore may lose sight of the customer
Cooper, 2008
- Each stage costs more than the last, therefore potential to become more committed
- Can become too much of a guideline, and companies do no differ from it and therefore miss out on opportunities
- Weak gates: around 30% of firms are said to have tough and rigorous gates
- Teeth don’t have any gates: they rarely get stopped, and once past the first gate it becomes a mere rubber stamp exersize
What are some of the benefits of using a stage gate model according to Cooper, 2008?
- Most best practice companies have an idea-to-launch system in place
- They’re flexible and adaptable to each individual firm
- Can act as a checklist for a firm
Cooper, 2008
- Increased success rates
- Greater project profits
- Often shorter times to market
What is the most popular/widely cited NPD model?
Cooper, 1990
Where is Cooper’s 1990 stage gate model used?
Within academia and the workplace
Discuss if the NPD process is linear, why it is/is not NPD not a linear process?
MacCormack et al, 2002
- No: not usually
MacCormack et al, 2002
- Stages can generally be revisited as more information is gathered
- Stages can overlap (E.g. concept development is still continuing as the product is being developed
Cooper, 2008
- Confirms it is not a linear process
- Only depicted as a linear process because of the geographical images
- No activity or gate is mandatory, merely suggesting best practices
- Simultaneous execution of activities and even stages
- Spiral development: ‘build, test - feedback, revise’: helps to get the concept in front of customers in some form
What is the traditional approach to development?
- MacCormack et al, 2002
Concept development - Detailed design - System level test - Launch
All stages are separate
What are some issues with the traditional approach with development?
- MacCormack et al, 2002
- In fast paced environments the needs and wants are changing rapidly, if the concept is frozen too early it may not meet consumers needs
- Assumes that all information about a new product concept is learnt during the concept development stage
- Feedback is not obtained until late on in the process
What is the flexible approach to development?
- MacCormack et al, 2002
Concept development - Detailed design - System level test - Launch
(All stages overlap)
What are some issues with the flexible approach to development?
MacCormack, 2008
- Have to start designing before the product is fully defined
- Is how to respond to new information arising during the later stages of a project.
What is a prototype?
Ulrich & Eppinger, 2012
- An approximation of the product along one or more dimensions of interest
What form can a prototype take?
Ulrich & Eppinger, 2012 - Physical Tangible artifacts, - Analytical prototypes (intangible) computer simulations, generally more flexible
What is the purpose of prototype testing?
- To see if the product works as expected
- How consumers actually use the product
- The liability of the product: is it representative? Unfit for purpose?
What is a stage gate?
Cooper, 2008
- A conceptual and operational map for moving new product projects from idea to launch and beyond
What is the stage gate model made up of?
Cooper, 2008
- A series of stage: this is where the project team undertakes work, obtains information needed
- Followed by gates: This is were either kill or go decisions are made
Discuss the characteristics/role of the stages in Cooper’s stage gate model:
Cooper, 2008
- Each one is designed to gather information to reduce uncertainties and risks
- Each stage will cost more than the previous
- Activities within the stages are done by a team of people from different areas of the business at the same time
- Every stage of the process is completely cross-functional
- Meetings about gates should be similar to a resource allocation meeting
Unlike the ‘phased review’ what was the stage-gate model built for?
Cooper, 2008
- Built for speed
What is the percentage of projects that go through the stage-gate model meet their sales targets?
Cooper, 2008
- 44% of development projects meet their sales targets
Why is it better to have cross-functional teams as opposed to one function running to NPD process?
Cooper, 2008
- Leads to better decision making over a single functional view
What are some issues with gatekeepers?
- ‘pet-projects’ these are projects that receive special treatment from the gatekeepers: and are the projects that have the highest failure rates
- Gate meetings held but decisions are not made
- Go/kill decisions made on opinion & speculation not fact
Why is an effective stage-gate system essential to portfolio management?
- The funneling effect: Having tough teeth to get rid of bad projects
How can the Stage gate model be adapted for either risky or less risky products?
Cooper, 2008
- Very risky product: this should use the entire stage-gate model in full
- Moderately risky projects: (Improvements, modifications & extensions: Stage Gate X
- Less risky projects: (Very small projects like a customer request): Stage Gate Lite
What are some steps that can be taken in order to ensure gatekeeping is improved?
Cooper, 2008
- Ensure gates really have teeth
- Define who the gatekeepers are
- Put the gatekeepers rules of engagement in place
- Use scorecards to make better Kill/Go decisions
What are some ways in which the gates of the stage-gate model can be made faster and more efficient?
- Leaner and simpler gates: e.g. P&G stage gate meetings: project teams would come with a big file with many attachments: which took a long time to decipher. Need to look at it from the view of management: what do they need to know in order to make the kill/go decision?
- Making it clear what the deliverables to the gate/work that has been done
- Electronic & virtual gates:: everything is send online, scorecards filled out online, then a video conference is had to discuss the findings and make the decision
Discuss how to implement continuous improvement in the NPD process & its benefits :
Cooper 2006
- Having performance metrics in place
- Establishing team accountability for results
- Building in learning and improvement
- Projections of: profit, sales and time to market become more realistic
- Expectations are clear so work can be focused solely toward that target
What does an effective stage gate system give a company?
Cooper, 2008
- Positive results in terms of getting new products/services to market quickly, efficiently and profitability
