NEW PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
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CHAP1119.pptChapter 19
Launch Management
Launch Management Concept Showing Remedial Action
Launch
Now
6 months
Time
Plan
Actual
With action
Without action
Figure 19.1
% aware who
have tried
As of now
Goal
The Launch Management System
- Spot potential problems.
- Select those to control.
- Consider expected impact/damage.
- Develop contingency plans for the management of problems.
- Design the tracking system.
- Select variables.
- Devise measuring system.
- Select trigger points.
Adage: in driving a car, it is the potholes you don’t know about (or forget about) that cause you damage.
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Spotting Potential Problems
- Problems section from the situation analysis.
- Role-play what competitors will do.
- Look back over all the data in the new product's "file."
- Consider hierarchy of effects needed to result in a satisfied customer (A-T-A-R).
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A-T-A-R Hierarchy: Where Does the Problem Lie?
Aware
Unaware
Tried
Not
Tried
Reused
Not R.
Does the problem lie in awareness, trial, or repeat?
Figure 19.2
Decision Model for Building Launch Control Plan
Figure 19.3
Select the Control Events
Of all potential problems,
- Which have enough impact to warrant investigation?
- Which of these ought to be given special consideration?*
- Which of these should be given contingency planning?
- And which of these need to be tracked?
*Basis: Consider potential damage and likelihood
of occurrence.
Expected Effects Matrix for Selection of Control Events
Figure 19.4
Develop Contingency Plans
- "Is there anything we can do?"
- E.g.: competitive price cut or product imitation.
- Base contingency plan on type of problem:
- 1. A company failure (e.g., inadequate distribution)
- 2. A consumer failure (e.g., low awareness or trial)
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Designing the Tracking System
- Select the tracking variables
- Relevant, measurable, predictable
- Select the trigger points
- Consider the nontrackable problems
*
Advertising Weight versus Awareness Created
Figure 19.5
Questions from New Product Tracking Study
Category Usage Questions
In the past six months, how many times have you bought (product category)?
What brands of (product category) have you ever heard of?
Have you ever heard of (brand)? (Ask for 4 to 6 brands)
Have you ever bought (brand)? (Ask for 4 to 6 brands)
About how many times have you bought (brand) in the past six months?
Advertising Awareness Questions
Do you recall seeing any advertising for (brand)? (ask all brands respondent is aware of)
Describe the advertising for (brand).
Where did you see the advertising for (brand)?
Figure 19.6
Questions from New Product Tracking Study (continued)
Purchase Questions
Have you ever bought (brand)?
Figure 19.6
(cont’d.)
If "Yes":
How many times have you bought it?
How likely are you to buy (brand)
again?
What did you like/dislike about (brand)?
What do you think of the price of
(brand)?
If "No":
Did you look for (brand) in the
store?
Why didn't you try (brand)?
How likely are you to try (brand) in the future?
Metrics for Innovation
Source: Adapted from David Reibstein and Venkatesh Shankar, “Innovation Metrics,” in Jagdish N. Sheth and Naresh K. Malhotra, Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing, Volume 5, Product Innovation and Management (West Sussex, UK: John Wiley, 2011), p. 93.
Figure 19.7
| Input Metrics | Process Metrics | Performance Metrics |
| R&D spending | Number of new products introduced | Percent of sales from new products |
| Number of employees devoted to innovation | Average time to market | Number of new products |
| Number of new ideas in pipeline | Number of patents filed and commercialized | Return on investment in innovation |
| Number of projects in development | Budgeted versus actual time and cost incurred | Breakeven time |
| Percent of ideas sourced from outside the firm | Percent of projects that result in a launch | Improvement in customer satisfaction |
A Sample Launch Management Plan
Potential Problem
Salespeople fail to contact general-purpose market at prescribed rate.
Tracking
Track weekly sales call reports (plan is for at least 10 general-purpose calls per week per rep).
Contingency Plan
If activity falls below this level for three weeks running, a remedial program of one-day district sales meetings will be held.
Figure 19.8
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Another Problem Illustrated
Potential Problem
Potential customers are not making trial purchases of the product.
Tracking
Begin a series of 10 follow-up calls a week to prospects.
There must be 25% agreement on product's main feature and trial orders from 30% of those prospects that agree on the feature.
Contingency Plan
Special follow-up phone sales calls to all prospects by reps, offering a 50% discount on all first-time purchases.
Figure 19.8
(cont’d.)
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After Action Review
- Designed to capture the events leading up to product launch.
- Identify what went right (so it can be duplicated) and what went wrong (so it can be fixed in the future).
- Contains planned versus actual results, what has been learned, and outline for next steps.
A Sample After Action Review
- Objectives:
- Send customer sample by end December
- Send revised samples by end February
- Reduce test time in half (from 60 to 30 seconds)
- Results:
- Objective 1 missed by one week, other objectives achieved
- Reasons for variances:
- New product did not achieve performance requirements spelled out in the product spec.
- Too much time (six weeks) lost in redesign and remanufacturing as a result.
- Not enough time allocated for hardware or software changes.
- But, team was able to reduce test time due to newly developed efficient testing.
- Lessons learned:
- Relied too much on off-the-shelf processes.
- Testing procedure turned out to be more complex than expected, which should have been accounted for in the plan.
Source: Ken Bruss, “Gaining Competitive Advantage by Leveraging Lessons Learned,” in A. Griffin and S. M. Somermeyer, The PDMA Toolbook 3 For New Product Development, Wiley, 2007.
Figure 19.9
A Stepwise Product Deletion Process
Recognition of the product to be deleted
Analysis and revitalization stage
Evaluation and decision formulation stage
Implementation stage
Figure 19.10
Source: George J. Avlonitis, Susan J. Hart, and Nikolaos X. Tzokas, “An Analysis of Product Deletion Scenarios,” Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 17, No. 1, January 2000, pp. 41-56.
Source: George J. Avlonitis, Susan J. Hart, and Nikolaos X. Tzokas, “An Analysis of Product
Deletion Scenarios,” Journal of Product Innovation Management , Vol. 17, No. 1, January 2000,
pp. 41-56.
