New Product Management

As a new product manager you have been asked to identify a suitable new product/service for you organisation. At this stage, your manager has requested an in" rel="nofollow">interim report which identifies a suitable opportunity and a recommended new product concept. In your report in" rel="nofollow">include: A brief description of the organisation and the market it operates in" rel="nofollow">in. Select a potential opportunity which could be exploited by the organisation, and justify its selection. Generate two new product concepts, provide a clear explanation of the concept and illustrate how they are connected to the opportunity. Evaluate the two new product concepts and recommend one new product concept for the organisation to take forward in" rel="nofollow">into the next stage of full screen testin" rel="nofollow">ing. Your evaluation needs to consider factors such as fit with the strategy, technical and marketin" rel="nofollow">ing feasibility. Please note you are not expected to undertake market research for this project. However, the evaluation needs to be substantiated usin" rel="nofollow">ing credible sources such as journal articles and reports. Provide recommendations. This assignment focuses on the early stages of the new product process, in" rel="nofollow">in particular stages 1–3. You may choose to base this on your own organisation or an organisation you are familiar with, or a fictitious company. Ensure you support your discussion with relevant journal articles and reports. RE STAGES 1-3 Notes from course material: The textbook process has five main" rel="nofollow">in phases: 1. Opportunity identification and selection This part of the process is needed in" rel="nofollow">in order to identify ideas and concepts that are strategically significant to the particular organisation. That is the value of strategic plannin" rel="nofollow">ing–fin" rel="nofollow">indin" rel="nofollow">ing opportunistic pathways in" rel="nofollow">into the future. Those paths are in" rel="nofollow">invariably based on products. 2. Concept generation Raw and speculative ideas that may or may not have merit for development must be processed in" rel="nofollow">into product concepts with enough detail so that managers can make useful decisions about whether they have market potential. For example, from brain" rel="nofollow">instormin" rel="nofollow">ing, hundreds of ideas must be reduced to just a few relevant ones based on company strengths, market prospects and so on. 3. Concept/project evaluation Just as ideas are screened and reduced, concepts must be evaluated further in" rel="nofollow">in order to test their potential for the in" rel="nofollow">investment of valuable development cash. At this stage the textbook discusses the ‘fuzzy front end’ of New Product Development i.e. the phases of strategic plannin" rel="nofollow">ing, concept generation, and concept evaluation when the new concepts are still somewhat vague. 4. Development It is here that the product begin" rel="nofollow">ins to take shape and form. It is where the product is designed in" rel="nofollow">in both technical design and marketin" rel="nofollow">ing program design. For a service, the process of the service is bein" rel="nofollow">ing designed. Of course the new product must be tested and modified until it is eventually right for the market. 5. Launch This phase looks at plannin" rel="nofollow">ing the tasks needed to prepare for launch, the actual launch activity, and the post-launch tasks needed to track and secure the product's place in" rel="nofollow">in the market. For example, imagin" rel="nofollow">ine the tasks in" rel="nofollow">involved in" rel="nofollow">in launchin" rel="nofollow">ing a new mobile phone worldwide–the advertisin" rel="nofollow">ing tasks, the product distribution needed to have stocks in" rel="nofollow">in each country, and the trackin" rel="nofollow">ing and post-launch analysis tasks needed to check why it isn't sellin" rel="nofollow">ing as planned or why it is sellin" rel="nofollow">ing better than planned. ......................................................... COMPANY OF CHOICE: SOOTHE - massage on the demand: (www.soothe.com). Products I would like the assignment based on. 1) Silicone suction cuppin" rel="nofollow">ing. 2) Gua Sha (scrapin" rel="nofollow">ing, aka - coin" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing or spoonin" rel="nofollow">ing). - Please note... I personally thin" rel="nofollow">ink Gua Sha is a better product - Marks on the skin" rel="nofollow">in fade in" rel="nofollow">in 3 days compared to 2 weeks, and you need less tools, and can access more of the body (no suction is needed) so perfect for limbs and neck work - not just the back... However cuppin" rel="nofollow">ing is more widely known by the public especially after Jennifer Anniston and Gwenuth paltrow did red carpet walks with cuppin" rel="nofollow">ing bruises....) Note also - Soothe will be launchin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in Asian, middle eastern and european markets soon, so this market research applies globally. Factors to consider: - curriculum of massage schools and likelihood for therapists to already know the techniques - Gua sha and cuppin" rel="nofollow">ing are taught in" rel="nofollow">in Australian massage diplomas but only briefly, not sure about other countries. - marketability in" rel="nofollow">in various countries given cultural practices (ie, Asian countries are all comfortable with the techniques, western countries still have fear associated with misunderstandin" rel="nofollow">ing around "bruises / stagnation marks".