New Product Development Q & A’s

2. New Product Development Q & A’s • Source http://www.pdma.org/

3. 1.Which of the following is the best approach to developing a new product concept? a. Start with an interesting technology, develop a form that gives it substance and sell the benefit to the customer b. Envision a form of a new product, use a technology that creates that form and sell the benefit to the customer c. Understand the needs of the customer to clarify the benefits, identify the technology that meets those needs and develop a form to deliver the technology d. None of the above are any good

4. 2. New products include: I. New to the world products, or breakthroughs, e.g. the personal computer II. New category entries, or platforms, e.g. Intel's 386, 486, Pentium, etc. III. Additions to product lines, or enhancements, e.g. Pentium II 500mhz, etc. • a. I and II • b. I and III • c. II and III • d. I, II and III

5. 3. A product innovation charter includes which of the following for a new product concept: I. The market and technology focus II. The goals and objectives III. A detailed financial analysis and project plan a. I and II b. I and III c. II and III d. I, II and III

6. 4. Which of the following best describes a new product portfolio management system? a. A decision process that generates a once a year new product project funding list. b. A dynamic decision process whereby a business' list of active new product projects is constantly updated c. A multi-project management process whereby resources are balanced across projects generating a constant list of funded projects d. None of the above

7. 5. In the concept generation phase of the new product process, which of the following statements below is correct? a. Only generate one new product concept for a new product opportunity and stick with it b. Generate as few new product concepts as possible for a new product opportunity because this process takes time and speed to market is of the essence c. Generate as many new product concepts as possible for a new product opportunity, because the more concepts that are generated, the higher the probability of a successful concept. d. None of the above are correct

8. 6. Which of the following statements regarding portfolio management is most appropriate? a. The best new product portfolio is the one where the projects with the highest net present value (NPV) are selected b. The best new product portfolio is the one where the projects with the best Monte Carlo results are selected c. The best new product portfolio is the one where the projects with the highest scoring value returns based upon management input are selected d. The best new product portfolio is the one where a number of techniques are used to select the projects possibly including the items above and others

9. 7. Regarding senior management's involvement in new product development, which of the following statements is most appropriate? a. Senior management should hold off on getting involved until late in a new product's development so that they don't waste their time b. Senior management should get involved early in a new product's development when they can most effectively impact outcome c. Senior management should be heavily involved in a new product's development from start to finish because they should not expect the project leaders to be effective d. Senior management should not have any involvement in a new product's development because this is not a good use of their time

10. 8. A product innovation charter is valuable for which of the following reasons? a. To provide focus and direction for a new product concept b. To clarify new product project purpose and team member roles and responsibilities c. To define the new product project milestones and detailed team deliverables d. To identify new product project risks, contingency plans and financials

11. 9. Which of the following is an item that separates the winners from the losers in new product development? a. A senior management role in which they micro-manage the process b. A strong market orientation: market driven, customer focused c. Frugal resource investment, at the expense of speed and quality of execution d. Reactive jumping to new product project execution without wasting time on predevelopment homework

12. 10. Which of the following are good sources for new product concepts? a. Internal sources from R&D, Marketing and/or operations b. External sources from educational institutions, inventors and other companies focused on pure research c. External sources from customers, including lead users d. All of the above are good sources for new product concepts

13. 11. Concept testing should be accomplished on a new concept primarily for which of the following reasons? a.To test the combined package of product and its marketing plan to determine the level of success b. To screen and eliminate poor concepts and help develop the good concepts c. To determine whether the product works as expected d. To determine whether the new product meets the customer needs and whether the new product is cost-effective for them

14. 12. Which of the following is a purpose of the product protocol? a. It communicates essentials to the development team b. It defines the deliverables that R&D will deliver to the final product that the customer buys c. It defines the requirements in terms of results that can be measured d. All of the above are purposes of the product protocol

15. 13. Which of the following is the best answer regarding the use of financial analysis to evaluate new products? a.Financial analysis is easy and straightforward for new products - just generate a forecast and calculate an ROI b. Forecasts and financial analysis should be viewed as a living thing - it evolves and is revised as we learn more about the new product/concept c. The same type of forecasts and financial analyses should be used for all project types: new to the world, new to the company, product improvements, platforms, etc. because this consistency results in more accurate analysis d. You can and should generate a sales history for forecasting and financial analysis for a new product

16. 14. Strategic platform and/or driving decisions, usually under the control of the new product marketing manager, include which of the following? a. Determining whether to outsource manufacturing b. Determining what customer acceptance measures to use to define success c. Determining how to position the product versus the competition d. Determining what issues to track in a launch management system

17. 15. Which of the following is the most appropriate role for the marketing team member in technical product development? a. Always lead the development team b. Screen technical development team members attempts to talk to customers c. Stay informed about technical progress, via attendance at team meetings, etc. d. Make marketing decisions without the involvement of technical people

18. 16. In a 1997 PDMA (Product Development and Management Association) study on best practices in product development, the "best in bringing new products to market" were defined as those organizations that achieved at least 49% of their sales from products not in their product lines 5 years previously. Which of the following is a key best practice of these organizations? a. Make organizational changes at least once every two years b. Use financials to make all new product development decisions c. Focus on speed to market and have the fastest cycle times in their industry d. Drive new product development through a well-thought out strategy

19. 17. Which of the following statements is the best regarding the use of market testing during new product launch a.Market testing must always be used to test the combined package of the product and the marketing plan to determine the level of success b. Market testing is not necessary when product use testing was successful, capital investment is low, and the organization understands the business c. Pseudo sale market testing is a valuable tool because it provides complete and very accurate information on whether a customer will purchase a new product d. Test marketing the product is the most powerful and successful approach to market testing

20. 18. Which of the following questions are answered through product use testing? a. Whether or not or not the product works b. Whether the product solves whatever problems led to development of the product in the first place c. Whether the product solves all the problems of the customer d. All of the above are answered through product use testing

21. 19. According to the results of 1997 PDMA study that evaluated the use of market research tools in new product development, based upon 383 projects, which of the following was the most essential and used tool? a. Focus panels b. Customer site visits c. Survey research, sampling and statistics d. Market testing

22. 20. Launching a new product can be one of the most exciting but challenging tasks that a new product team and most directly, the marketing manager assigned to the new product will ever experience. To assure that a new product launch is successful, which of the following is most important? a. The continued involvement of each member of the development team in the launch phase b. A launch management system used to identify and track potential problems with the new product launch c. Market testing used to confirm new product success during launch d. None of the above are important

23. Thank you