What is a product product protocol?
Crawford and DiBenedetto, 2015
- Signed agreement between the business functions detailing what benefits or performance the product will deliver to the consumer
At what stage of the NPD are product protocols written?
The development stage
What information is in a product protocol?
12 items
- Target market: A firm will generally have a primary target market and (multiple) secondary target markets. This is so they can introduce it to them if the first launch is successful. OR so they have a fall back if for some reason the new product doesn’t work out (competition, product failure)
- Product positioning: Came out of the advertising world in the 1970s
- Product attributes (benefits): functionality/size
- Competitive comparison
- Augmentation dimensions: Warranty
- Timing
- Market requirements: Where will the announcements be made?
- Financial requirements: Losses should not exceed x amount, price levels, discounts, sales volume
- Production requirements
- Regulatory requirements
- Corporate strategy requirements
- Potholes
Who writes the product protocol?
All members of the NPD as it relates to all areas of the business
Why is a product protocol important/useful to a business?
Crawford & DiBenedetto, 2015
- They can set boundaries
- They can set timelines
- Determine what the different functions of business need to do
- Communicates the essentials so all activities go towards getting the same outcome
- Can force the business to do market research
What is a concurrent/parallel system and why should it be used?
Crawford & DiBenedetto 2015
- Leading product innovators use it
- It’s a system where all of the ‘players’ begin working and do as much as they can as the product rolls along
What other names does the product protocol go by?
- Product requirements
- Product definition
- Deliverables
Give an example of a company who has a product protocol type thing in place:
Toyota: Horikiri et al 2009: The Oobeya room.
- Essentially a large room that can hold the NPD team
- In centre of room there is a model, mockup or drawing of the concept
- Around the outside of the room there are different boards: e.g. actions, metrics, all objectives
- Team members are to give a 3 minute presentation about ‘where they are’ this avoids people neglecting to read reports and slow emails
- Generally takes one hour or less
What are the different layers & attributes that define a product/service?
- Core Benefit: This can be one or more
- Formal Product: The physical form or service
- Augmentation: ‘the extras’ e.g. presale technical service/money back guarantee
- Features
- Functions
- Benefits
Why is the product protocol sometimes known as the product deliverables?
Crawford & DiBenedetto 2015
- The first general purpose of it was to specify what you want each department to deliver to the final product that the customer will buy
- Each department will say what they want the product to achieve Tech: ‘be all weather purpose’ etc
What is the purpose of a product protocol?
Crawford & DiBenedetto, 2015
- The first general purpose of it was to specify what you want each department to deliver to the final product that the customer will buy
- The second is communicating the essentials to all of its players, in order to ensure consistency and ensure everyone is reaching for the same goal
- The third is to save time. By specifying what you want initially it takes away long laborious development testing steps which would eventually get narrowed down
- It allows for the product to be managed if it is written correctly
Crawford & DiBenedetto, 2015
- They determine what the various functions of the firm need to do
- Communicate essentials so all activities are integrated towards delivering outcomes consistent with the full sreen financial
- Set boundaries for project and timelines
- Critical factor between winning and losing projects
When looking at a NPD characteristics is there a way in which they can be categorised?
Crawford & DiBenedetto 2015
- Must meet / should meet criteria
Must: the basic functionality of the product and some of its attributes
Should: Some extra benefits, design features that they would like the product to have but isn’t completely necessary (perhaps it’s too comprising)
What are some other methods, aside the product protocol, that which allow firms to manage the NPD?
- PIC
- Concept testing
- Screening models
- Wildcatting: This is betting on new technology that has not yet been show to work or betting on a scientist that has a good track record of coming up with new products
What is the issue when coming up with a NPD of the design team just listing product features that they want to be included within the product?
Crawford & DiBenedetto 2015
- It means that the firms most creative and inventive people are deprived of giving their input (scientists, manufacturers etc)
What is the best way to write the product attributes section of a product protocol?
Crawford & DiBenedetto 2015
- Writing it in terms of benefits or specific features that it should contain so it does not inhibit too much
What is the voice of the customer (VOC)?
Crawford & DiBenedetto 2015
- The voice of the customer: is the complete set of customer wants/needs expressed within the customer’s own language, and organised by the way they think
How can the voice of the customer (VOC) be accessed?
Crawford & DiBenedetto 2015
- Direct interviewing
- Focus groups
What is the best way to research the voice of the customer (VOC)?
Griffin & Hauser
- 30 individual interviews lasting 45m
- These interviews should be recorded (at the consent of the interviewee)
- The interviewer will be able to extract around 90% of the wants/needs of the interviewee
What should happen once the voice of the customer have been recorded and documented?
Griffin & Hauser
- 70 - 140 should be had, and they should be organised by the customers into 15 - 25 groups; AFFINITY GROUPINGS (the customers will have a different way of doing it to the market researchers)
What can be the issue with collecting the voice of the customer for NPD purposes?
- Customers don’t know what they want until you give it to them, Steve Jobs
- Customers just want the better sameness not revolutionary change, Kawaski
How can you elicit the best & most meaningful information from the voice of the customer?
- Asking the right questions, this is done by focusing on experiences of desired outcomes
- Keep asking why, why do you need that, why that shape, why that colour etc
What is the quality function deployment (QFD)?
Quality function deployment is invented by the Japanese automobile industry. It is a structured approach to defining customer needs or requirements and translating them into specific plans to produce products to meet those needs.
What are the benefits of quality function deployment?
- Reduced design time
- Reduced costs
- More effective communication
What are some of the issues with the product protocol process?
- The process is complicated: all departments, even though working together are in competition for power & budget
- People have their own agendas when dealing with the product protocol .e.g. if the product is a success want to be associated with it etc
- It is needed early on within the process: not everyone may be able to start work as they may have other pressing short-term issues that need their attention first
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Risks, Needs & Motivations42
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New Product Development31
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Product Protocol37
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Customer Adoption & Diffusion24
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New Product Process12
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Product Strategy37
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Concept Generation13
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Sociological Issues20
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Understanding Consumers & Consumer Culture17
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Product Management/Concept Testing & Evaluation12
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Strategic Launch Planning13
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Managing the NPD Team17
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Market Testing17
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Early Market Influences11
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Decision Making & Influences12
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Consumers, product management and sustainability10
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Consumer Creativity27
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International Consumers13
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Attitudes & Perception22
