Lecture Mail: Lesson 3 Day 1
Hi All!
Chapter 3 touches on a variety of major marketing topics, such as (1) the new product/service process, (2) the different levels of innovation, (3) bases for segmenting the market, and (4) the consumer decision process, AMONG OTHERS! We’ll zero in on just a couple of those in this and the next 3 lecture mails. Of course, if you’d like to discuss any of the others, please feel free to ask questions or make points on the bulletin board.
But on to market opportunity framework analysis (MOFA)….
Exhibit 3.1 labels the steps in MOFA which correspond roughly to the steps outlined
in the new product development process (you can find a discussion of these in
any marketing principles textbook). The steps are (1) Idea Generation, (2) Idea
Screening, (3) Concept Development and Testing, (4) Business Analysis, (5) Prototype
Development, (6) Test Marketing, and (7) Commercialization.
As new products/services drive increased sales and profits for many companies,
each one develops a system similar to the steps outlined in the preceding paragraph.
It’s interesting to see which companies choose to rigidly go through each
step in a careful, linear manner and which ones tend either to skip steps or
to slide through them before they have completely satisfied themselves that
they have a “go” situation. American companies have traditionally
been very careful and have tried to eliminate duds before the organization is
too invested in a new idea. They often take what is called a rifle approach.
Japanese companies, however, are inventing successors to products sometimes
before the first product is launched. Their approach is called a shotgun approach.
The Japanese have taught American organizations to speed up the new product
process, which means the thresholds or standards that stop movement from one
step to the next must be lowered/loosened/fuzzified. The Point-Counterpoint
discussion on page 79 addresses this issue further.
Think how technology has changed the process. Not only does it speed things
up, but it also provides opportunities to develop new products and processes,
and to form unusual alliances (also a form of innovating). The authors call
this co-opetition, which is when competitors also become collaborators in certain
circumstances. For example, who would have guessed that Toys R Us would team
up with Amazon.com to jointly sell toys? Aren’t they supposed to be competing
with each other? What possible advantages could they offer each other?
Have you signed up for the electronic
copies of The Augusta Chronicle or The New York Times? Why would each make the
paper available on line instead of encouraging readers to subscribe? Is this
a form of co-opetition when you compete/collaborate with yourself?
http://www.augustachronicle.com