If you were a chief executive of Southwest Airlines, in need of a new strategic vision, which course of action would you choose and why in terms of a "cost leadership" or a "differentiated" business strategy? Use table 5.1 in the text as a foundation for

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Home>Business & Finance homework help>Management homework help>If you were a chief executive of Southwest Airlines, in need of a new strategic vision, which course of action would you choose and why in terms of a "cost leadership" or a "differentiated" business strategy? Use table 5.1 in the text as a foundation for

Chapter 10: Video Case: X-1: Breaking the Barriers of Sound with New-Product Development

1. One unique attribute of X-1 products is their special sized ear buds for women, as women tend to have smaller ears than men and can have a significantly difficult time finding ear buds to fit their ears. Another unique attribute is the fact that their earphones are waterproof, weatherproof, and sweat proof. This is very appealing for those individuals that workout frequently, work outside, and especially swimmers.

3. When X-1 implements a new product it goes through several stages over a 12-month period, typically. Stage 1 consists of environmental scans to determine what types of products are needed. Stage 2 is the development of ideas of products done by employees of X-1. Stage 3 screens and evaluates each idea to determine if it should be pursued. Stage 4 creates a “business case” for the idea that is chosen. Stage 5 develops a prototype by using a 3D printer. The 3D printed prototype is then sent to a factory to develop a functional prototype. Stage 6 is market testing, which consists of a team of amateur athletes that are used to test out the prototypes before they are completely developed. Figure 10-3 in the book shows the new-product process which isn’t much different from the stages X-1 uses besides the first. Instead of doing an initial environmental scan, Figure 10-3 describes stage 1 as “the stage of the new-product process that defines the role for a new product in terms of the firm’s overall objectives.”

References

Kerin, R. A., Hartley, S. W., & Rudelius, W. (2015). Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill

Education.