Systematic product development

Gordon Douglas,

Philip Kemp, and Jeremy Cook, S~SDevelopment, Halsted Press, New York, 173 pages. tematic

Product

This is definitely a practitioner-oriented book. The authors are directors of an English consulting firm that specializes in new product development activities. They first present the case for having a systematic approach for new product development. This is followed by a detailed discussion of the steps and methods involved in the particular systematic approach to managing the new product function which they have evolved during the course of their consulting experience. Therefore, this book is also a highly personal perspective on the process of new product development, rather than a comprehensive academic treatment of the subject. This book is generally not representative of the levels of marketing knowledge and techniques that have been developed in the area of new product development. The authors’ particular systematic approach has the virtue of being relatively simple and straightforward, but, because of the authors’ emphasis on their approach, the breadth and variety of material that is relevant to their subject has not been mentioned or referenced. Thus there are only two references in the entire book and no bibliography to guide the interested reader toward further reading in the area. This does not mean that the authors’ approach to new product development is wrong or not sound. It is sound and well explained. However, at the same time, the approach and method may also seem too simplistic for consumer-packaged goods marketers who have experienced more sophisticated new product related activities. Instead, the reader most likely to find this book of value is the marketer at a smaller firm interested in starting up a systematic new product activity within the organization. Unfortunately, should that reader be with an industrial firm, he might find the book less helpful than it could be because all the examples are for consumer-packaged goods. The industrial marketer may not see how all the authors’ research methods can be applied to industrial markets and buyers even though the steps in their systematic approach are equally appropriate in both types of markets. The core of the book comprises five chapters that cover the substance of the four main steps in the authors’ process of new product development. The four steps are: (1) identify the specific direction the firm’s new product

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activity should take, (2) generate new product ideas, (3) use marketing research to build the idea into a brand, and (4) forecast the new product’s performance in the market. The two chapters covering the identification of areas for the firm’s new product development activity and the generation of ideas do an acceptable job of explaining how to accomplish these two tasks. In order to identify fruitful areas toward which to direct the firm’s development activity, the authors present an approach that starts with systematically analyzing the firm’s area of particular strengths. The answers to the question of where the firm can best utilize its strengths, produce a set of candidate market areas which are then systematically screened. This approach narrows the scope of search and at the same time helps insure that the firm’s development activities will capitalize on its strengths. The result is a set of strengths and candidate market areas which can then be explored more carefully using a structured approach to the generation of more specific ideas for new products. Two chapters address the use of marketing research to build a new product idea into a brand. The authors use the term “brand building” in a way that was new to this reviewer. By brand building they refer to using research to flesh out a new product idea by evaluating the ideas about its name, package design and size, positioning, price, and other product features in the marketplace before any technical development of the product begins. I found these two chapters to be the most interesting in the book because the authors’ present a nontraditional approach to using marketing research in the development process. The authors’ approach, which they call creeping research, involves small sample, ad hoc, qualitative research which can be quickly and inexpensively executed in an evolutionary manner utilizing a variety of concept testing type research tools. These include mock-ups of press releases, newspaper and magazine ads, billboards, and inexpensive recordings of radio and television commercials to measure consumer interest in product ideas that have not had their physical development even begun at the time of the research. The essence of their practical approach to new product research is exemplified by the following quote: given a research program lasting tww or three weeks it is quite conceivable that every single element in a new product concept-name, pack design, product attributes, price recipe, pack size, positioning-might be altered while the research was in progress.. But by the end of the research one could assume with a reasonable degree

of certainty that the brand had been “optimized”. and that the brand itself “worked” as a complete entity. [pp. 106-7, emphasis added] The clear articulation of this pragmatic approach to research accompanied by illustrations and descriptions of the research tools and examples of their application represents the primary contribution of this book to the new product area. Practitioners will find the approach easy to implement, while most academics will probably find it an eye-opening introduction real-world research for new products. The chapter on forecasting new product performance presents a forecasting model which the authors have developed and for which they claim accuracy “between seven and eight times out of ten. ” It is a trial/repeat type model and is very simple and easy to understand as compared to other new product models. The model has very limited data requirements. Data for trial comes from concept test results about what percentage of respondents said they would try the product, while data for the repeat purchase rate comes from product test results about what percentage of respondents said they would buy the product after having used it. Unfortunately, the authors only spend one page discussing product tests. They also have no serious discussion of test marketing methodology; rather they advocate using the forecasting model as a substitute for test marketing. While recognizing that this book represents the authors’ own perspectives on new product development the book still has some limitations that the reader should be aware of. It treats only the marketing and marketing research aspects of the new product development process. As the authors mention (p. 160), research expenses comprise only a small portion of the cost of developing a new product. Yet the presentation neglects all the other important activities that account for the larger part of the cost and how those activities interrelate with the marketing activities. Therefore, the book’s orientation may not be relevant for interested readers in technology-driven firms, where new products tend to spring from research activities, as opposed to packaged goods situations, where market research leads to product development. Furthermore, the book does tend to convey an oversimplified view of the new product development process. It neglects practical problems such as scheduling multiple new product projects, allocating funds to them or conducting financial or business analyses of alternative project proposals. In sum then, the book can best be characterized as the authors’ particular point of view about what

practitioners need as an introduction to the marketing aspects of new product development. The strength of the book is its strong research discussion, while its lack of breadth of coverage and oversimplification strike this reviewer as its chief weaknesses. Albert L. Page Department of Marketing University of Illinois, Chicago Circle

W. J. Stanton and R. H. Buskirk, Management of the Sales Force, 5th ed., Richard D. Irwin, Homewood, Illinois, 680 pages.

This new edition of a popular sales management text was written to take into consideration the fact that our “changing socioeconomic environment” has caused a change in the responsibilities of the professional sales representation. These changes have required “substantial upgrading of the sales force executive’s job”. The authors have “attempted to reflect these changing conditions” in all parts of their book and, in the opinion of this reviewer, have been fairly successful in doing so. Nowhere is the effect of this emphasis more clearly illustrated than in the case materials presented. The 44 cases (27 of which are new) at the chapter ends are realistic, readable, and comprehensive. They deal with the full range of sales management problems, from basic organization to dealing with the more complex problems of morale, motivation, and compensation. There are also cases that deal with such “down-to-earth” issues as kickbacks and gift giving; realistic but oft overlooked managerial considerations. In addition to these end of chapter cases, the authors have also included (at appropriate points within the chapters) a series of 12 operating problems experienced at one firm, the Majestic Glass Company. From a pedagogical point of view, these provide an excellent vehicle for bringing the text material to life. This not only breaks the tedium of straight text discussion, but also offers a chance to apply text material immediately. The Majestic materials are so effective that I periodically found myself leafing ahead in my reading of the text in order to see what new situations were developing in the Majestic ‘ ‘saga’ ’ . For example, in one incident, the Majestic sales manager is faced with the wife and parole officer of 183