Product Strategy Development Idea Generation and Screening
3.1 Introduction
New product ideas are seldom revolutionary, they are mostly evolutionary. Many develop from the products of the past, making improvements in quality; convenience, cost or variety. The truly innovative product starts a new sequence of these evolutionary products. For example, quick frozen peas were an innovative product which started a sequence of quick frozen vegetable products. Most often in the past, a new method of preservation – freezing, canning, drying – was the revolutionary innovation in the food industry which led to many new evolutionary products.
Idea generation is knowledgeable, creative and systematic. It develops from knowledge of the consumer, the market, the technology and the general environment, and it creates newness in product, production and marketing. It systematically develops product ideas to satisfy the aim of the project and therefore the business strategy. Idea generation in industry is strategic and not left to chance. Ideas can come from ‘blue skies’ research or from inventions, but in product development these are systematically developed into innovations in the company and the marketplace. Idea generation occurs not only at the initial stages in developing product concepts but throughout the project – in the design of the product, package and process, and in developing the marketing strategy. In idea generation, the field is kept wide so that no possible innovations are ignored, but it is focused within the aim of the project. This is a dichotomy that can cause problems.
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In screening, the many ideas are reduced to smaller numbers and eventually to the one product concept, prototype product, processing method and advertising plan. The screening begins qualitatively and gradually develops, as more information is obtained, to a quantitative evaluation of the predicted outcomes for the product, production, market and finance.
There is a constant cycling of idea generation and screening throughout the project until the final market launch. A wide range of ideas gradually becomes focused into the final launch plans. Control of these activities of idea generation and screening ensures that no good ideas are lost and that poor ideas are dropped quickly. This is the ideal outcome but it is very hard to achieve. The extent of idea generation and screening varies with the type of innovation and the product; it is minor for the product line extension, slightly greater for the me-too product and product improvements, and is very extensive throughout the company for the innovation.
After the project’s aim has been established, ideas can come from free brainstorming, from systematically studying how the consumer may use the product, and from developments in technology, the industry and the market. These ideas are qualitatively screened so that they agree with the project aims and constraints, using a simple but disciplined system of judging. The selected ideas are developed into descriptions of the product and the target markets, and are further reduced in number by a more complex screening method such as checklist screening and economic evaluation. Then there is the development of the product idea concepts by the consumers, where the idea generation focuses on the product benefits; the consumers and company staff gradually reduce the number of product ideas and build more detailed product concepts. Evaluation at this stage becomes quantitative and more detailed, and is based on market research, product costing and technical evaluations which predict if the product is to be a success or a failure in meeting the company’s aims.
The activities of product idea generation followed by screening are continued in product design, product commercialisation and product launch; the product concept becomes more focused, more detailed and more quantitative. Idea generation and screening are therefore important skills for anyone working in product development.
This chapter discusses mainly the product idea generation and screening at the initial stages of the project as shown in the activities diagram, Figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1 Product idea generation and screening
PROJECT AIM
_______________________________________
Activities
Company idea generation Consumer idea generation Product ideas classification
Company screening on crucial factors Company product idea development
Consumer ranking screening Consumer product idea development
Company evaluation on important factors Consumer product concept development
Consumer survey Market survey
Company market evaluation Company processing evaluation Company financial evaluation Complete feasibility study
PRODUCT IDEA NAMES
PRODUCT IDEA DESCRIPTIONS
PRODUCT IDEA CONCEPTS
PRODUCT CONCEPTS
THE PRODUCT CONCEPT TARGET MARKET
MARKET POTENTIAL MARKETING METHOD PROCESSING METHOD COSTS, INVESTMENT, PROFIT PRODUCT REPORT
_____________________
TOP MANAGEMENT DECISION
Think Break 3.1
Product design: product idea generation and screening for new dried pasta product
• For a new dried pasta product, identify the activities involving product idea generation and screening during the product design stage, from the product concept to the final product specifications
• Draw a general product design activities and outcomes diagram in the same form Think Break
as Figure 3.1 for the idea generation and screening from the product concept to
the product specification at the end of product design.
Identify some of the activities in product design which involve idea generation
and screening.
3.2 DIdraewaangeacntievritaietsidoinagram for the idea generation and screening in the product design, from the product concept to the product specifications at the end of
Idea pgreondeuractiodnesisgnb,asinedthoenstahme einftoermrelastiFoingsuhrieps3.b1e.tween: Company Product Consumer
These relationships are constantly changing, and the surrounding environment is also subject to continuous social and technological change; understanding the changes that are occurring leads to innovative products which fulfil a need. The product developer needs to be aware of all these forces and their interactions, from the crudest level where marketing simply wants a copy of a competitor’s new product (a ‘me-too’ product) to the complex use of a new technology such as pressure preservation or to a major marketing change such as the shift from multi-person to single and two-person households. It is the study of the interactions that identifies and refines the product ideas. Is the consumer increasingly concerned about waste packaging – can we make an edible pack or a short-term pack? New low temperature technology produces a tomato powder with a fresh tomato flavour – what new product would consumers want with a fresh tomato flavour, a tomato soup or a fresh breakfast drink?
The creation of all new product ideas – revolutionary or evolutionary – can only be successful if there is an atmosphere which stimulates innovative thought and the search for new ideas. If the company does not encourage the process of generating ideas, then new ideas will not be produced. To many individuals in the company trained in logical and
systematic thinking, free idea generation is frequently difficult. It seems to be almost a fact of life that a company has very few really creative ideas to work on. Product development is often improvement, needed because of technological or marketing change or increased knowledge. As marketing and technical research either struggle to look for modifications to existing products or try to react to a competitor’s product, they are often surprised by the absolute simplicity of some original and successful new product which meets real consumer needs and which is showing rapid market growth. The true innovation can form a new product platform on which to build many new evolutionary products.
There are two methods of idea generation: focused or convergent thinking and free or divergent thinking, and both are useful depending on the company’s product strategy. Focused, systematic thinking is useful for the slow evolution of the product mix. Free, lateral thinking is useful for the discontinuous major step-changes. In the food industry where there is pressure to continuously launch new products, there is an emphasis on focused, systematic thinking. If food companies plan to have innovative new products in their product mix, there is a need to develop an atmosphere which gives the freedom for idea generation.
There are always problems in finding new ideas, and also risks in choosing the direction for product development – either product improvement, apparently low-risk, little research and low cost or product innovation, high-risk, extensive research and high cost. As can be seen in Case Study 3, slow failure can occur through making minor product changes, and a fast crash through choosing the revolutionary new product! There needs to be knowledge and intelligence in selecting the new product direction.
3.3 Systematic focused idea generation
Ideas come from both a ‘technology push’ and a ‘consumer pull’. The technology push comes from knowledge of marketing, processing and product technology and their related scientific bases. The consumer pull comes from knowledge of the consumers and their individual and societal bases.
Case Study 3.
Food Companies Hunt for the Next Big Thing
About twice a month teams from giant food companies travel along a dusty gravel road to a large warehouse – the Showcase and Learning Center, Ithaca, a morgue of sorts storing 60,000 extinct grocery products. They are hunting for ideas for the next blockbuster.
Food companies are starving for new ideas. Launches of new foods in the USA fell 20% in 1996, their sharpest decline in at least two decades. After the 1980s’ round of mergers, food research departments shrank, and food patents filed in the USA by foreign companies began to eclipse those of domestic researchers.
Admittedly, finding a supermarket blockbuster has become much harder; most of the easy innovations have already been introduced. New demands stemming from technology and health worries also have generally been met. Essentially the American companies have mastered the science of mass production and become expert in off-the- rack edibles. But many ‘new’ products of the 1990s were just the tweaking of old ones. Many of the promising up-scale products are percolating in from foreign laboratories. The American food industry is increasingly looking outside the USA for cutting-edge technologies.
Breakthroughs have been elusive partly because food companies devote only 0.6 – 0.7% of sales to research and development – less than half the percentage of other consumer products such as toothpaste. Also products need to have large markets to be acceptable to the large food companies; this means large launch costs and also ignoring small markets which may grow into large markets in the future.
A real innovation requires a clear benefit that can be patented – but that process can take years, cost a fortune, and for all the trouble end up simply making consumers wary. Proctor and Gamble suffered that fate with its rocky introduction of snack chips fried with olestra. Many promising new products have lacked ingredients and processes innovative enough to win patents, so they end up slaughtered by me-too products.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(From Michael J. McCarthy, (1997) ‘Food companies hunt the “Next big thing” but few can find one’, Wall Street Journal, 6 May.) Reprinted by permission of the Wall Street Journal© 1997 Dow Jones & Company Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
Think Break 3.2
Systematic focused idea generation: new products launched in 1990s
A drop in new food products launched continued through the 1990s, but then started to rise again after 2000. What do you think started this turn around?
Identify the major new products that were introduced.
Do you think the trend will continue and in what product areas?
Figure 3.2 Idea generation: technology push and consumer pull
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Technology push
Technology opportunities
Idea generation Synthesis of consumer needs and technological means Consumer and market needs
Consumer pull
INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETY
The consumer needs analysis includes the relation of present products to user needs, defects in present products, unfulfilled needs. Consumer concerns have been a strong pull in the 1990s, with the proliferation of ‘deprivation foods’ low in sugar, salt and fat, nutritional foods offering supplements of proteins, minerals and vitamins, functional foods offering physiological benefits and/or reductions in the risk of chronic disease beyond nutritional needs, and pharmaceutical foods (nutriceuticals) offering health benefits.
The technology sources include the scientific and technical literature, R&D scientists in the company, universities and research organisations, the production, engineering and quality assurance staff in the company, and the raw material and equipment suppliers. In small
companies, it tends to come from production and engineering staff, in the large company from the R&D department.
The marketing sources include competition, overseas markets, sales journals, consumers, consumer books and magazines, advertising agencies, market research companies, distributors (wholesalers, retailers, food service, agents, brokers), sales personnel and marketing people in the company. This information includes market trends, new product introductions, market needs and market analysis. Retailers may see a need for further brands of a certain product, and they can under their own brands copy a product already on the market to supply this need. The market can be analysed by studying trends in sales, by gap analysis to see if there is a product missing, by measuring shelf space to see if a product line needs to be extended, and by comparison testing with competing products to see if the company’s product needs to be improved. The company can set up a product matrix of their own and competing products, i.e. product classes, product lines and individual products, to discover gaps into which the company can introduce a new product. The company is continuously monitoring the ‘feel’ of the market by doing market research, including retail audits and consumer studies. Sales trends and information from supermarket sales are now extensively available and analysed. More general information can be found on business and economic trends from banks and consultants, and on social changes from social studies reports by government or academics.
Think Break 3.3
Systematic focused idea generation: technological changes in the food channel
What innovations in agriculture, processing, packaging, distribution and marketing led to the production and marketing of canned and frozen fruits and vegetables?
What present-day innovations in agriculture, processing, packaging, distribution and marketing have led to increasing sales of fresh fruit and vegetable products?
There are two significant groups in food production – the food processors who supply the food ingredients and the food manufacturers who produce the final consumer products. Many ideas in the food manufacturing industry come from the ingredient suppliers, the
food processors, who not only supply the ingredients but increasingly supply the formulation and also the relevant consumer and market research. So where do the food processors find their ideas for new ingredients? Very often from new agricultural and marine products and from their studies of the manufacturers’ needs and wants, as well as from their basic research. The food processors cooperate with the agricultural and marine primary producers in developing new raw materials, and with the food manufacturers in developing their ingredient products and their applications. Therefore they do much of the research in the food industry, usually spending a higher percentage of their sales on research and development than the food manufacturers.
The product improvement, product line extension and me-too product come usually from the market and the consumers; the cost reduction comes from production; but the innovation comes from studying long-term technological and social changes. There are always trends occurring and people predict the outcome of these trends using different techniques. In econometric forecasting, historical trends of populations, population demography, household sizes, agricultural production and food production are projected forward to predict the future. In scenario painting, different scenarios are presented and future outcomes predicted; for example, possible scenarios could be:
‘A return to living in small towns in 30 years time’ – what effect would this have on the food industry?
‘China will develop technically and it will be also the largest world market and strongly influence the international food market’ – noodle soup instead of hamburgers as the global food take-away?
‘Genetic engineering produces animals with the white meat of chicken and the size of a beef animal’ – will this see the demise of red meat?
It can be seen that scenarios are searching for long-term social and technological changes, and there are various methods such as the Delphi technique which are used to develop and analyse these scenarios.
There is a wide range of sources for knowledge in product idea generation and it is important to recognise them and not to work in too narrow a knowledge base. Some important areas are shown in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1 Some knowledge sources for new product idea generation
• Researching consumer life changes
• Researching changes in eating patterns
• Studying what consumers need now and in the future • Studying what consumers want now and in the future • Studying the growing consumer concerns
Technology:
• Basic research on food properties and reactions
• Research on processing and manufacturing engineering • Research on new raw materials and ingredients
• Research on transport and storage methods
• Invention of new types of equipment
• Adaption of other technologies
• Researching social, cultural, economic changes
• Studying competing products
• Looking for a gap in the food market or a specific target market • Studying new products on the food market
• Improving present products
• Looking for a different market or market segment
• Studying marketing changes, particularly distribution channels
Think Break 3.4
Systematic focused idea generation: food buying trends
Many of the next generation of women will have lived, as children, in homes where the adults worked and therefore meals were bought semi-prepared and ready-to- serve apart from meals for special days, such as Christmas. What effect will this have on their food buying?
Develop ideas for new food products to serve this market.
3.4 Free idea generation
Free or lateral thinking can be used by the group or the individual. Brainstorming, by a group of people, is common in companies who want to foster creativity in the company, and for product ideas it is called the PIG (Product Idea Generation) group to focus it onto product ideas and away from general brainstorming. The individual, often called the inventor, is the person who develops their own creative techniques to develop new ideas. Individuals can be taught techniques to improve their creativity.
3.4.1 The group
Brainstorming (or the product idea generation, PIG, session) is a group technique to develop ideas concerning a specific problem. It can be either informal, free brainstorming, where the general problem area is described and then ideas allowed to generate, or a formal, nominal group technique where the general problem is described, members write down 3 to 4 ideas and produce these for the discussion. It is useful to use a variety of people,
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