Week 1 - Generating and screening new product ideas

Question 1

What is opportunity identification?

Answer 1

It is the initial stage In the new product development process where ideas for new products are generated and screened.

Question 2

What are the two steps involved in the OI

Answer 2

1. identification and collection of new product ideas

2. Screening / evaluation of the ideas

Question 3

What are the two categories of idea source

Answer 3

internal or external.

Question 4

Can you give examples of internal sources of ideas

Answer 4

employess
existing Rand D programs
technological surveys

Question 5

Can you give examples of external sources of ideas?

Answer 5

1-customer needs
2-Government reports
3- public reports

Question 6

What is a focus group ?

Answer 6

It is a method used to understand the consumer needs during the OI which relies on the making a small, but demographically diverse group of people and whose reactions are studied especially in market research in guided or open discussions about a new product to determine the reactions that can be expected from a larger population

Question 7

What is a delphi group ?

Answer 7

interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of experts. The experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds. After each round, a facilitator provides an anonymous summary of the experts’ forecasts from the previous round as well as the reasons they provided for their judgments. Thus, experts are encouraged to revise their earlier answers in light of the replies of other members of their panel, . It is believed that during this process the range of the answers will decrease and the group will converge towards the “correct” answer

Question 8

T or F : ). Individual idea generation produces better and more creative solutions than groups (tauber and davies).

Answer 8

true

Question 9

what are the two class of idea generation techniques seen in the rochford article

Answer 9

1. problem find/solve approach

2. The fortuitous scan approach

Question 10

What is the problem find/solve approach

Answer 10

idea generation technique based on identifying unmet needs and problems and developing solutions for these problems. ; it includes market research to find problems and brainstorming to identify the possible solutions.

Question 11

What is the fortuitous scan approach?

Answer 11

It is an idea generation tehcnique which relies on looking at existing products and improving them (example creating new lines). . It implies the analysis of properties (listing attributes) of existing products and seeing what can be improved. It can also be the analysis of technoeconomic designs and so can results in more incremental improvments and products and more creative discoveries of breakthrough new products.

Question 12

What is a successful idea generation step

Answer 12

The idea generation is successful when the idea generated are sound ideas and in reasonable number (depending on the objectives

Question 13

What are the limiting factors of the new ideas?

Answer 13

1. the complexity
2. time
3. Applicability

Question 14

What is the screening step?

Answer 14

a step done the opportunity identification in order to evaluate the collected ideas to identify the ones that are worth spending effort and money on. This screening is done in two steps.

Question 15

What are the two steps of the screening process?

Answer 15

Coarse screening

Finer screening

Question 16

Wha is the advantage of doing the multi-step process of screening? (2)

Answer 16

Save time and cost

narrow down the number of ideas

Question 17

What are the evaluation criterias of the finer screening?

Answer 17

For this purpose, evaluation criteria should be developed and established on the basis of “must” objectives and “want” objectives, meaning that some criteria are given a higher weight or have a higher priority. (qualitative and quantitative)

Question 18

What are the evaluation criteria in the coarser screening ?

Answer 18

The criteria used in coarser screening can be as simple as “whether the project is do-able or not” and “whether it fits the objectives and limitations which the company has stated before” (quantitative)