Chapter 7: Concept Evaluation and Testing

1.     What evaluation tool is used at Phase I of the Product Development Process?  What is its purpose?  How does it do it?

–      Evaluation tool used: Opportunity identification and evaluation.

–      Purpose of evaluation: To keep the firm out of product developments where it stands a poor chance of winning.

How does it do it: By specifying the firm’s core competencies

  What evaluation tool is used at Phase II of the Product Development Process?  What is its purpose?  How does it do it?

–      Evaluation tool used: Initial review

–      Purpose of evaluation: To avoid the big loser or the sure loser. Also, to try to spot potential big winners.

How does it do it: Concept testing. Ideas should be assessed in terms of the following criteria

What are the 5 criteria that are used for early stage screening?

•       Uniqueness: Is the idea original? Is it easily copied by competitors?

•       Need fulfillment: Does it meet a customer need?

•       Feasibility: Can we develop and launch it?

•       Impact: How will our firm be affected?

•       Scalability: Can we become more efficient in production?

•       Strategic fit: Does it match with corporate strategy and culture?

   What evaluation tool is used at Phase III of the Product Development Process?  What is its purpose?  How does it do it?

   What evaluation tools are used in Phase IV of the Product Development Process?  What is its purpose?  How do they do it?

A) Technical evaluation tools used: Prototype tests, product use tests, protocol checks

–      Purpose of technical evaluation: To determine when the product technically meets its intended purpose.

B) Marketing evaluation tools used: speculative sale, simulated test market, controlled test market, test market, informal selling.

–      Purpose of the marketing evaluation: To determine if the firm is able to market the product on a commercial scale

What evaluation tool are used in Phase V of the Product Development Process?  What is its purpose?  How do they do it?

–      Evaluation tool used: Post-launch evaluation

–      Purpose of the evaluation:To determine if the product is meeting its objectives.

–      How does it do it: Rollout tracking, sales, profits, market share.

What are the characteristics of the Rolling Evaluation?

-             Project is assessed continuously (rather than a single Go/No Go decision)

-             Financial analysis also needs to be built up continuously

What are Potholes in the development process?

Know what the really damaging problems are for your firm and focus on them when evaluating concepts.

What are Surrogate Questions and why they may be needed?

Surrogate Questions are essentially indirect or substitute questions used to gain early insights about a new product or concept before the actual, full-scale data can be obtained. ex: are we gonna sell 100000 units this year? we cant actually answer it but these types of questions get us thinking and predicting.

What do the letters in the A-T-A-R model represent?

1.        They must become AWARE that it exists

2.        They must decide to TRY it

3.        It must be AVAILABLE for use

4.        They must decide to REPEAT USE

•       Buying Unit: Purchase point (person or department/buying center).

•       Aware:  Has heard about the new product with some characteristic that differentiates it.

•       Available: If the buyer wants to try the product, the effort to find it will be successful (expressed as a percentage).

•       Trial: Usually means a purchase or consumption of the product.

•       Repeat: The product is bought at least once more, or (for durables) recommended to others.

What is a Product Concept Statement?  What are its purposes?

•       A statement about anticipated product features (form or technology) that will yield selected benefits relative to other products or problem solutions already available.

•       Therefore, the Product Concept is a claim of proposed satisfactions.

•       Example: “A new electric razor whose screen is so thin it can cut closer than any other electric razor on the market.”

 

Purposes of Concept Testing

•       To prepare the team to do the full screen (keep in mind that concept testing is part of the prescreeningprocess).

•       To identify very poor concepts so that they can be eliminated.

•       To estimate (at least crudely) the sales or trial rate the product would enjoy (buying intentions, early projection of market share).

•       To help develop the idea (e.g. make tradeoffs among attributes).

What does a non-commercialized concept statement consist of?

•   (“stripped description”)    just facts, can be in bullet points.

What does a commercialized concept statement consist of?

(“embellished description”): sounds like the way the product would be promoted or advertised.

1.     What are 2 ways of describing a concept for testing purposes?

•Focus group with early-batch production or 3D-printed prototype

Two or three different versions of a new package can be 3D printed, then passed around at focus groups to obtain reactions and preferences

•Virtual reality (VR)

Steelcase uses VR to build three-dimensional images of office furniture concepts and allow customers to walk around rooms and visualize from any angle