市场营销外文翻译.docx

1、市场营销外文翻译 IEEETRANSACTIONS ON ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT, VOL. EM-34, NO. 3, AUGUST 1987 Defining the New Product Strategy ROBERT G. COOPER AbstractNew products are critical to the growth and survival of most corporations. The new product strategy is the master plan that guides the product innovation eff

2、orts of the firm, and links new product development to the corporate plan. This article looks first at what a product innovation strategy is, its role in the corporation, and why an innovation strategy is essential to an effective new product program. Next, the article focuses on the development of

3、a new product strategy, beginning with objectives and moving to arena selection. A matrix approach to arena definition and selection is used. Empirical data from research by the author is employed in the model to prioritize new product arenas. INTRODUCTION NEW products are central to the growth and

4、prosperity ofthe modern corporation. Increasingly, progressive managementsrecognize that a new product or technology strategyshould be an explicit and central element of the corporatestrategy. This article is about new productstrategy at the corporate levelabout the need for a newproduct strategy, a

5、nd about defining and developing such astrategy. THE IMPORTANCE OF A NEW PRODUCT STRATEGY New product development and technology bear an integralrelationship to a companys strategic thinking by helping todefine the range of that companys choices . For manycompanies, new products and technologies hav

6、e become theleading edge of corporate strategy, opening up new market andnew business opportunities. The rapid growth of countlessfirms in office-of-the-future, bioengineering, microelectronics,and robotics is evidence of the growth potential of awell conceived new product strategy. Similarly, many

7、oftodays corporate giants, such as Xerox, IBM, Polaroid, andTexas Instruments, were fledgling companies only decadesago, but became great because of new product choices madeby management in earlier years. The companies that are most likely to succeed in thedevelopment and launch of new products are

8、those firmswhich implement a company specific approach, driven bycorporate objectives and strategies, with a well-defined newproduct strategy at its core. These are some of the conclusionsof a study of business practices by Booz-Allen and Hamilton. There were other recommendations as well, but a pro

9、ductinnovation strategy ranks high on the list of the keys tosuccess. Some firms do develop such strategies. For example,product innovation charters were described by Crawford in hisstudy of 125 firms. He notes that firms are now beginningto pull all the multifunctional elements of a new productstra

10、tegy together in one document, which specifies the types ofmarkets, products, technologies, and orientation the firm willpursue with its new product program. PROBLEM In spite o f the importance of new products, management canfind little help from the traditional literature in the formulationof a new

11、 product strategy. Few guidelines have beendeveloped to assist the manager in the choice of areas and thedirection for the new product program. That is, thereexist few conceptual frameworks or proven methodologies forformulating a new product strategy. Moreover, littleempirical research has been und

12、ertaken to determine thecomponents and results of firms new product programs: thatis, how companies directly or indirectly choose new marketsand areas of technology, and organize and focus their R&Defforts in different ways. Although there are many strategy development models inuse today, most deal

13、with resource allocation and strategydevelopment for the firms existing business units and existingproduct lines. For example, various portfolio models havebeen developed, essentially variations of the Boston ConsultingGroup modelcash cows, stars, dogs, and wildcats. While these portfolio or resourc

14、e allocation models maysuggest new areas for product development, these modelswere developed principally to deal with products or businessesthat the company already possesses. Similarly, the PIMSmodel, another popular strategy development aid, looks atalternate strategies and their impact on profita

15、bility, but againlargely for existingbusinesses in the company. Inshort, these strategy models deal with what is rather than withwhat might be. What is lacking in these approaches is asystematic procedure for generating and choosing new strategicoptions, including new products and new businesses. TH

16、E PRODUCT INNOVATION CHARTER In a business context, strategy has been defined as theschemes whereby a firms resources and advantages aremanaged (deployed) in order to surprise and surpass competitorsor to exploit opportunities. More specifically,strategic change is defined as a realignment of the fi

17、rmsproduct/market environnent. Strategy is closely tied toproduct and market specification. Corey identifies marketselection and product delineation as the two key dimensions ofcorporate strategy. Product innovation strategy, while closely related to corporatestrategy, tends to be more specific. In

18、recent years, theterm product innovation charteror PIC for shorthasbeen used. The PIC charts the entire strategy for a firmsnew product program. It is the essential link between theproduct development program and the firms corporate strategy. The PIC has two key elements: The PIC specifies the objec

19、tives of the game, the role thatproduct innovation will play in helping the firm achieveits corporate objectives. It answers the question: wheredo new products and product innovation fit in thecompanys overall plan? This role then is translated intospecific objectives for the new product program. St

20、atementssuch as By 1990, 30 percent of our corporatesales will come from new productsproducts that we willdevelop and launch in the next five years are typicalobjectives found in the PIC. The PIC specifies the arenas in which the game will beplayed. That is, it defines the types of markets, marketap

21、plications, technologies, and products that the newproduct program will focus on. These arenas provide afocus to the firms product development program. WHYHAVE A PRODUCTINNOVATION CHARTER AT ALL? Developing a PIC is hard work. It involves many people,especially top management. Why, then, go to all t

22、he effort?Most of us can probably name countless firms that do notappear to have a master plan for their new product program.How did they get by? Doing Business without an innovation Charter Running an innovation program without a PIC like runninga war without a master military strategy. Theres no r

23、udder,theres no direction, and often, we dont end up where wedlike to be. A new product program without a PIC will inevitably leadto a number of ad hoc decisions made independently of eachother. New product and R&D projects are initiated solely ontheir own merits, with little regard to their fit int

24、o the granderscheme. The result is that the firm finds itself in unrelated orunwanted markets, products, and technologies. Objectives: The Link to Corporate Strategy What types of direction does a PIC give a firms newproduct program? First, the objectives of a PIC tie the productdevelopment effort t

25、ightly to the firms corporate strategy.New product development, so often taken for granted,becomes a central part of the corporate strategy, a key plank inthe companys overall strategic platform. The question of spending commitment is dealt with bydefining the role and objectives of the new product

26、program.Too often, the R&D or new product budget is easy prey inhard economic times. In some firms, R&D is viewed as softmoneya luxury. But with product innovation as a centralfacet of the firms corporate strategy, with the role andobjectives of product innovation firmly established, cuttingthis bud

27、get becomes less arbitrary. There is continuity to theresource commitment to new products. The Arenas: Guiding the Game Plan The second facet of the PIC, the definition of arenas, iscritical to guiding and focusing the new product efforts (seeFig. 1). The first step in the new product process is ide

28、ageneration. But where does one search for new product ideas?Unless the arenas are defined, the result is a scatter gun searcheffort, undirected, unfocused, and ineffective! A second key step in the new product process is ideascreening. The first criterion for this early GO/KILL decisionis: Does the

29、 proposed product fall within the companysmandate for its new product program? This usuallytranslates into: is this the kind of market, product, andtechnology that we as a company have decided is fair game forus? Without a definition of fair gamearenasgood luck intrying to make an effective screenin

30、g decision! The definition of arenas also guides resource and manpowerplanning. If certain markets are designated top priority arenas,then the firm can acquire resources, skills, and knowledge tobe better able to attack those markets. Similarly, if certaintechnologies are singled out as arenas, the

31、firm can hire andacquire resources to bolster its abilities in those fields.Resource building doesnt happen overnight. One cant buy asalesforce on a moments notice; and one cant acquire acritical mass of key researchers or engineers in a certaintechnology at the local supermarket. Putting the right

32、people,resources, and skills in place takes both lead time and adirection, hence the need for the definition of arenas. Wheres the Evidence? The argument for a PIC, although logical, appears somewhatacademic. One cant help but think about all thosecompanies that have succeeded without a grand strate

33、gy forproduct innovation. Then wheres the evidence in support of aPIC? There isnt much, unfortunately. One reason is that nottoo many studies have investigated the role and impact of aninnovation strategy. Most of the business research into productinnovation has focused on the individual product project as theunit of analysisfor ex