essay about the product development

The Process of the New Product Development Essay

New product development.

There are various stages that have to be followed in coming up with a new product that will suit the market. In this case, our product will have to go through various stages before it is fully commercialized in the market. Therefore, new product development is a good process within the company’s strategic plan that needs to be well attended to (Koen, 2004, p. 8). As a matter of fact, our product will go through the following stages.

Idea Generation

In this stage, ideas for the new product will be obtained through various channels. In a broad perspective, the company can get these ideas by conducting a good SWOT analysis. These ideas can also come from consumer and market trends (Ullman, 2009, p. 5). Employees and our salesmen will play an important role in coming up with new ideas that will help us to develop and launch our new product.

Idea Screening

Ideas that have been generated will be screened to come up with the best outcome. This will be done to eliminate unsound concepts that might not suit our market. Screening is necessary before resources can be devoted to the whole process of developing the new product (Koen, 2004, p. 12).

Concept Development and Testing

In this stage, the company will develop the engineering and marketing details that have to be used. This will include looking for the target market, the amount it will cost to develop the product, and how the market will react (Ullman, 2009, p. 15).

Business Analysis

Business analysis can be done by looking at various market dynamics. In this case, the company will have to come up with a price, estimate sales, and project the break-even point and profitability (Koen, 2004, p. 17).

Market Testing and Beta Testing

In this stage, the company will have to test the product in the market and make the necessary adjustments in relation to customer needs and expectations (Ullman, 2009, p. 15). This will help the company to evaluate if the product is acceptable in the market.

Technical Implementation

Technical implementation includes various processes that have to be followed or initiated (Ullman, 2009, p. 21). This includes; resource estimation, logistical planning, contingencies, supplier collaboration, and others.

Commercialization

In this stage, the company will now launch the product in the market (Koen, 2004, p. 23). As a matter of fact, the company will run various promotions and advertisements to popularize the new product in the market.

New Product Pricing

New product pricing involves various aspects that relate to the new product in the market. These aspects revolve around value segments of the product, product costs, and value analysis (Ullman, 2009, p. 25). All these aspects should be evaluated because pricing will play an important role in the success of the product in the market.

There are various approaches that will be used to get ideas on the new product. As a matter of fact, the company will use distinct approaches and mechanisms to idea generation to get the best possible outcome. In this case, the company will carry out a basic research based on SWOT analysis (Ullman, 2009, p. 28). Other ideas will come from the current and existing consumers and market trends. It should be known that the company has its own research and development department that will also help in coming up new ideas.

Employees will be given an opportunity to have a say on product development. In extreme cases, the company will look at competitor products in the market to come up with its own product. Different ideas have to be filtered to settle on the best possible outcome (Koen, 2004, p. 25). In this case, the company will have to filter all ideas as time goes by. Forums will be used to share different ideas and come up with the best new product ideas.

This is because different people can be able to identify faults in a given idea than when it is done on an individual basis. Critical analysis will also be done on each idea to identify its strengths and weaknesses (Koen, 2004, p. 28). This is because an idea can be technical and difficult to implement based on its strengths and weaknesses. In the long run, the company will settle on an idea with more strengths and less weaknesses.

Software like Jive will also be used to filter and settle on the best possible idea. This will be done through the channeling of different voices from the market and competitors to pick the best idea (Koen, 2004, p. 15). The company will also run through its business values to settle on the best idea. This is because an idea might not be in conformance with the company’s goals and objectives.

For an idea to move to the next stage, it will have to suit the target market. This is because customers are supposed to benefit by using the product. In addition, the product must be technically feasible to be manufactured. An idea will only be selected if it can meet the current and expected market competitive pressure.

This is because market trends are always changing as time goes by and a product must be flexible to suit such market needs (Ullman, 2009, p. 22). As a matter of fact, expected profits from the proposed product will be evaluated and analyzed to see if the idea is indeed feasible.

Source: RFFlow, 2010

Reference List

Koen, P., A. (2004). The Fuzzy Front End for Incremental, Platform, and Breakthrough Products . New York: Prentice Hall.

RFFlow. (2010). Sample Flowcharts and Templates . Retrieved from https://www.rff.com/flowchart_samples.php

Ullman, D, G. (2009). The Mechanical Design Process . New York: McGraw-Hill.

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• Product development process: The 6 stag ...

Product development process: The 6 stages (with examples)

The product development process is a six-stage plan that involves taking a product from initial concept to final market launch. This process helps break down tasks and organize cross-departmental collaboration. Find out how to implement a process of your own.

Product development is both an exciting and difficult endeavor. From initial ideation to research and prototyping, no two product launches are the same. However, there’s a general process that can help you get started with the product development process. 

The product development process describes the six steps needed to take a product from initial concept to final market launch. This includes identifying a market need, researching the competition, ideating a solution, developing a product roadmap, and building a minimum viable product (MVP).

The product development process has evolved in recent years and is now commonly used by dividing each step into six separate phases. This helps better organize the process and break individual deliverables into smaller tasks.  

What is product development?

Is product development the same as product management.

Though they sound almost identical, there's an important difference between product development and product management. Product development describes the process of building a product, where product management is the overseeing of that work. It's a slight difference, but an important distinction. A product manager, who often oversees a team that is in the product development process, will lead product management.

The 6 stages of product development

Not only does the product development process help simplify a launch, but it also encourages cross-team collaboration with teamwork and communication at the forefront of the process. 

Let’s dive into the product life cycle and define the six product phases. All of which can help you successfully launch your next product. 

1. Idea generation (Ideation)

The initial stage of the product development process begins by generating new product ideas. This is the product innovation stage, where you brainstorm product concepts based on customer needs, concept testing, and market research. 

It’s a good idea to consider the following factors when initiating a new product concept:

Target market: Your target market is the consumer profile you’re building your product for. These are your potential customers. This is important to identify in the beginning so you can build your product concept around your target market from the start.  

Existing products: When you have a new product concept, it’s a good idea to evaluate your existing product portfolio. Are there existing products that solve a similar problem? Or does a competitor offer a product that doesn’t allow for market share? And if yes, is your new concept different enough to be viable? Answering these questions can ensure the success of your new concept.

Functionality: While you don’t need a detailed report of the product functionality just yet, you should have a general idea of what functions it will serve. Consider the look and feel of your product and why someone would be interested in purchasing it.

SWOT analysis : Analyzing your product strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats early in the process can help you build the best version of your new concept. This will ensure your product is different from competitors and solves a market gap. 

SCAMPER method : To refine your idea, use brainstorming methods like SCAMPER , which involves substituting, combining, adapting, modifying, putting to another use, eliminating, or rearranging your product concept.   

To validate a product concept, consider documenting ideas in the form of a business case . This will allow all team members to have a clear understanding of the initial product features and the objectives of the new product launch. 

2. Product definition

Once you’ve completed the business case and discussed your target market and product functionality, it’s time to define the product. This is also referred to as scoping or concept development, and focuses on refining the product strategy. 

During this stage, it’s important to define specifics including:

Business analysis: A business analysis consists of mapping out distribution strategy, ecommerce strategy, and a more in-depth competitor analysis. The purpose of this step is to begin building a clearly defined product roadmap.

Value proposition: The value proposition is what problem the product is solving. Consider how it differs from other products in the market. This value can be useful for market research and for developing your marketing strategy.

Success metrics: It’s essential to clarify success metrics early so you can evaluate and measure success once the product is launched. Are there key metrics you want to look out for? These could be basic KPIs like average order value, or something more specific like custom set goals relevant to your organization. 

Marketing strategy: Once you’ve identified your value proposition and success metrics, begin brainstorming a marketing strategy that fits your needs. Consider which channels you want to promote your product on—such as social media or a blog post. While this strategy may need to be revised depending on the finished product, it’s a good idea to think about this when defining your product to begin planning ahead of time. 

Once these ideas have been defined, it’s time to begin building your minimum viable product (MVP) with initial prototyping.

3. Prototyping

During the prototyping stage, your team will intensively research and document the product by creating a more detailed business plan and constructing the product.

These early-stage prototypes might be as simple as a drawing or a more complex computer render of the initial design. These prototypes help you identify areas of risk before you create the product.

During the prototyping phase, you will work on specifics like:

Feasibility analysis: The next step in the process is to evaluate your product strategy based on feasibility. Determine if the workload and estimated timeline are possible to achieve. If not, adjust your dates accordingly and request help from additional stakeholders.

Market risk research: It’s important to analyze any potential risks associated with the production of your product before it’s physically created. This will prevent the product launch from being derailed later on. It will also ensure you communicate risks to the team by documenting them in a risk register . 

Development strategy: Next, you can begin working through your development plan. In other words, know how you’ll be assigning tasks and the timeline of these tasks. One way you can plan tasks and estimate timeline is by using the critical path method . 

MVP: The final outcome of the prototyping stage is a minimum viable product. Think of your MVP as a product that has the features necessary to go to launch with and nothing above what’s necessary for it to function. For example, an MVP bike would include a frame, wheels, and a seat, but wouldn’t contain a basket or bell. Creating an MVP can help your team execute the product launch quicker than building all the desired features, which can drag launch timelines out. Desired features can be added down the road when bandwidth is available.

Now it’s time to begin designing the product for market launch. 

4. Initial design

During the initial design phase, project stakeholders work together to produce a mockup of the product based on the MVP prototype. The design should be created with the target audience in mind and complement the key functions of your product. 

A successful product design may take several iterations to get just right, and may involve communicating with distributors in order to source necessary materials. 

To produce the initial design, you will: 

Source materials: Sourcing materials plays an important role in designing the initial mockup. This may entail working with various vendors and ordering materials or creating your own. Since materials can come from various places, you should document material use in a shared space to reference later if needed.  

Connect with stakeholders: It’s important to keep tight communication during the design phase to verify your initial design is on the right track. Share weekly or daily progress reports to share updates and get approvals as needed. 

Receive initial feedback: When the design is complete, ask senior management and project stakeholders for initial feedback. You can then revise the product design as needed until the final design is ready to be developed and implemented. 

Once the design is approved and ready to be handed off, move onto the validation phase for final testing before launching the product. 

5. Validation and testing

To go live with a new product, you first need to validate and test it. This ensures that every part of the product—from development to marketing—is working effectively before it’s released to the public.

To ensure the quality of your product, complete the following:

Concept development and testing: You may have successfully designed your prototype, but you’ll still need to work through any issues that arise while developing the concept. This could involve software development or the physical production of the initial prototype. Test functionality by enlisting the help of team members and beta testers to quality assure the development. 

Front-end testing: During this stage, test the front-end functionality for risks with development code or consumer-facing errors. This includes checking the ecommerce functionality and ensuring it’s stable for launch.

Test marketing: Before you begin producing your final product, test your marketing plan for functionality and errors. This is also a time to ensure that all campaigns are set up correctly and ready to launch. 

Once your initial testing is complete, you’re ready to begin producing the final product concept and launch it to your customer base. 

6. Commercialization

Now it’s time to commercialize your concept, which involves launching your product and implementing it on your website. 

By now, you’ve finalized the design and quality tested your development and marketing strategy. You should feel confident in your final iteration and be ready to produce your final product. 

In this stage you should be working on:

Product development: This is the physical creation of your product that will be released to your customers. This may require production or additional development for software concepts. Give your team the final prototype and MVP iterations to produce the product to the correct specifications. 

Ecommerce implementation: Once the product has been developed and you’re ready to launch, your development team will transition your ecommerce materials to a live state. This may require additional testing to ensure your live product is functioning as it was intended during the previous front-end testing phase. 

Your final product is now launched. All that’s left is to measure success with the initial success metrics you landed on. 

Product development process examples

Now that you understand the six stages of the product life cycle, let’s look at real world examples of some of the most successful product development strategies of iconic startups to inspire your own.

Example 1: How Figma expanded their product features

Originally started in 2012, Figma was the first professional-grade UI design tool built entirely in the browser. Today, Figma has grown into the leading competitor for design web applications.

Their mission is to make design accessible to more people and help them bring their creativity to life. They’ve shown this by continuously adding new product features—like multiple flow capabilities, a brainstorming timer, and an interactive whiteboard—coordinating successful software releases, and building trust through transparency.

Read our case study to learn how Figma uses Asana to manage development backlogs. 

Example 2: How Uber solved a market gap

While today we think of Uber as the biggest ride-sharing service, that wasn’t always the case. They too started with a compelling product strategy that made them into the innovative company they are today. 

Uber’s strategy began by solving a gap in the existing taxi industry: creating an easier ride-hailing process with simplified payment processing. But they didn’t stop there: they continued to innovate their product portfolio by developing ride tiers ranging from luxury to budget-friendly. 

While each situation varies slightly, with the right product strategy, you too can create an innovative portfolio. 

Who is part of the product development team?

There are many stakeholders and various teams that assist with the product development process. The main leader is the product manager, who oversees all product tasks related to ideation, research, development, and product launch. 

Additional important stakeholders include:

Product management: A product manager oversees all areas of the product life cycle and works to bridge communication gaps between various internal and external teams. The product manager works to initiate new product launches and initiates product ideation and market research.

Project management: A project manager may be involved in the product development process to assist with cross-departmental communication. They might also assist with task delegation and goal tracking.

Design: The design team helps during the prototyping and designing phase to support the visual product concept. It’s important to connect product designs with brand guidelines and UX best practices. 

Development: The development team helps with the implementation of the product on your website. Most commonly, a team of developers will work together to build the new product offering depending on the complexity of the concept.

Marketing: The marketing team will assist with developing the marketing strategy and testing it before the product goes live. They will also measure the success of the marketing initiatives.

Sales: The product manager works with the sales team to come up with an effective strategy and report on success metrics after the product has been implemented. 

Senior management: Senior stakeholders may need to give final approval before the product can go to launch. 

In addition to these important roles, other teams that may be involved are finance, engineering, and any other related stakeholders. All of which can play a role in the process depending on the complexity of the concept. 

The process that simplifies product development

The right product development process can help you streamline each step with organized tasks and team collaboration. The six stages outlined above will get your team through all steps of the process, from initial idea screening to the development phase. 

But you might need help along the way. Coordinate tasks and organize your product development process with Asana for product management . Asana can help get your products to market faster by tracking workload and simplifying planning.

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Published: 22 November 2023 Contributors: Alice Gomstyn, Alexandra Jonker

Product development is the creation and launch of products to meet customer needs. The product development process includes stages such as ideation, marketing strategy and commercialization. It’s used for new product development (NPD) and the improvement of existing products.

Product development is a collaborative and interdisciplinary endeavor. While the composition of a product development team may differ depending on the product being developed and the company behind it, specialists from functions such as product marketing, product design and engineering play key roles in a successful product development process. In addition, product managers may convene cross-functional teams and fill various other roles in the product development process. 1  While product managers may sound similar to project managers, product managers tend to work on more strategic tasks, while project managers focus more on logistics and tactics. 2

External stakeholders also participate in product development. Customer feedback following a product’s launch and over a product’s lifecycle helps inform and influence subsequent product development cycles, when product development teams refine the product in new iterations.

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Moving from product idea to go-to-market happens during the stages of product development. How many stages there are and how they are defined varies depending on the source you consult or what template you follow. In their book  Marketing Management , marketing professors Philip Kohler and Kevin Lane Keller list eight stages of the new product development process, while various companies count as few as four and as many as nine.

A product development plan known as a product roadmap often delineates exactly which product development process and stages that a product development team will undertake. The common stages of product development include:

The conceptualization of ways to improve existing products or create new ones to meet customer needs happens during the ideation, or idea generation, stage. Teams can use different techniques for coming up with product ideas, such as brainstorming and  storyboarding . 

Ideation is often considered the first stage of product development, although some companies consider the first stage to be defining goals for the product. The early stages of product development may be referred to as the "fuzzy front end" or FFE because of their typically unstructured nature. 

Not all new product ideas that surface during the early stages of product development are viable. Idea screening can provide important validation for a product idea. Teams can conduct market research to evaluate a product idea, determining, for instance, whether it meets a market need and would appeal to potential customers.

In this stage, the product idea evolves into a product concept: something that a company can present to target audiences for gauging customer feedback. This presentation can take the form of a detailed description or a prototype that demonstrates the feasibility of the product vision but with more limited functionality.

Marketing is often associated with product messaging, social media and marketing campaigns geared toward target markets. But a marketing strategy could also include sales and market share goals and product pricing and distribution strategy, among other facets. 3

Will the product under development be good for business? This is determined during the business analysis stage, where teams calculate projections for sales, costs and profits. 3

Companies may choose to roll out the product in a limited fashion in specific markets before engaging in a wider product launch. In traditional test marketing, sales results are compared among multiple cities for a duration of six months to a year. What product development teams learn from user feedback during test marketing can lead to adjustments in marketing strategy. 4

The commercialization stage entails the mass production of the product and the introduction of the final product to the general market—in other words, the official, scaled product launch.

Because each stage in the traditional product development life cycle can take months, some entrepreneurs and businesses—especially startups—pursue product development strategies and milestones on a more compressed timeline. They undertake repeated product development cycles to create minimum viable products (MVPs)—products containing only critical features. Companies introduce MVPs to users, gather their feedback and then use it in the next product development cycle to improve the MVP. 5  An MVP is the  foundation upon which to iterate  to deliver measurable business outcomes.

In addition to general product development processes, specific methodologies are often used in the development of software. These methodologies provide a framework for workflow, including how teams and different functions work together, as well as how and when specific steps are taken. Software development methodologies include  Agile development ,  DevOps ,  Rapid Application Development  (RAD),  Scaled Agile Framework  (SAFe) and  Waterfall .

Making the product development process sustainable is a challenge for many companies. A lack of visibility into product components or design elements that underperform or consume too much energy can hamper efforts to meet environmental compliance objectives and slow a product’s time to market. 

Fortunately, integrated software solutions can help product development teams improve traceability across processes, including concept testing and prototyping. Such solutions can empower teams to optimize product lifecycle management (PLM) and  application lifecycle management  (ALM), including areas such as  requirements management, systems design management and workflow management. This optimization can enable the adoption of sustainable designs earlier the product development process, helping companies accelerate innovation and time to market while resulting in higher-quality products developed at lower costs.

How can a company determine if its product development process has been successful? In a study of more than 40 companies by McKinsey, researchers determined that product volume, revenue, unit cost and time-to-market key performance indicators (KPIs) were the most widely used metrics.

Researchers found that companies that rely on these metrics tend to see better short-term performance than companies that don’t. This apparent competitive advantage notwithstanding, researchers recommended that companies concerned with long-term success should also evaluate customer satisfaction, team morale and relationships with suppliers and partners in product development processes. 6

Use product information management and collaborative master data management capabilities with cloud deployment options.

Deliver higher-quality systems and software faster with a proven solution for modeling and design activities.

Manage requirements efficiently to reduce your development costs and speed time to market.

Conquer complexity from design to execution, unite teams through digital threads, harness insights from automated reporting and confidently operate at scale.

Nobo Technologies and IBM worked together to create a new generation of digital R&D management.

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IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management 7.0.3 brings new capabilities and efficiencies that empower engineering professionals to deliver high-quality complex systems and software.

Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing the way companies manufacture, improve and distribute their products.

Why are good engineering requirements important to software and product development?

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) can help you embrace an end-to-end management approach to your systems and software development. Conquer complexity from design to execution, unite teams through digital thread, leverage modelling and reuse, harness insights from automated reporting, and confidently operate at scale.

1 " Modern CPG product development calls for a new kind of product manager ”(link resides outside ibm.com) McKinsey, Oct. 22, 2020

2 " Project Manager vs. Product Manager: Similarities And Differences ”(link resides outside ibm.com) Forbes, Nov. 8, 2022

3 Marketing Management,  14th Edition. Prentice Hall, 2012

4 " Test Marketing: A Primer ”(link resides outside ibm.com) NM State University Business Outlook, 2016

5 " Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything ”(link resides outside ibm.com) Harvard Business Review, May 2013

6 " Taking the measure of product development ”(link resides outside ibm.com) McKinsey, Oct. 16, 2018

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• Learning Center

What is Product Development?

Product development typically refers to all stages involved in bringing a product from concept or idea through market release and beyond. In other words, product development incorporates a product’s entire journey.

Standard Stages of Progress in Product Development

There are many steps to this process, and it’s not the same path for every organization, but these are the most common stages through which products typically progress:

Identifying a market need.

Products solve problems. So identifying a problem that needs solving (or a better way of being solved) is where this journey should begin. Conversations with potential customers, surveys, and other user research activities can inform this step.

Quantifying the opportunity.

Not every problem is problematic enough to warrant a product-based solution. However, the pain it causes and the number of people or organizations it impacts can determine whether it’s a worthy problem to solve and if people are willing to pay for a solution (be it with money or their data).

Conceptualizing the product.

Some solutions may be obvious, while others may be less intuitive. Here’s where the team puts in the effort and applies their creativity to devising how a product might serve its needs.

Validating the solution.

Before too much time is spent prototyping and design, whether the proposed solution is viable should be tested. Of course, this can still happen at the conceptual level. Still, it is an early test to see whether the particular product idea is worth pursuing further or if it will be rejected or only lightly adopted by the target user.

Building the product roadmap.

With a legitimate product concept in hand, product management can build out the product roadmap , identifying which themes and goals are central to develop first to solve the most significant pain points and spark adoption.

Developing a minimum viable product (MVP).

This initial version of the product needs just enough functionality to be used by customers.

Releasing the MVP to users.

Experiments can gauge interest, prioritize marketing channels and messages, and begin testing the waters around price sensitivity and packaging. It also kicks off the feedback loop to bring ideas, complaints, and suggestions into the prioritization process and populate the product backlog.

Ongoing iteration based on user feedback and strategic goals.

Product Development is Not Product Management

When you understand product development this way, you can see that it is not synonymous with product management , although many people mistakenly use the terms interchangeably. Indeed, product development does not refer to a single role at all.

In some organizations, “product development” may be shorthand for the implementation team, comprised primarily of developers, engineers, and possibly quality assurance.

But, when it comes to the house’s personnel side, it should instead view it as more of an overall process or method for bringing products to market, which involves many teams across a company, including:

• Product management
• Product marketing
• Project management
• Agile management (Scrum masters, product owners, etc.)
• Architecture
• Development/Engineering
• Manufacturing
• Testing or QA
• Shipping/Distribution

Essentially, it encompasses everyone involved, from idea generation through to customer delivery. Each of these groups plays an essential role in the process, defining, designing, building, testing, or delivering the product.

How to Create a Product Development Plan in 3 Steps

Not to be confused with a project plan, a product development plan encompasses the overarching journey from idea to market. It should include and engage as many stakeholders as possible to ensure all of their specific needs, requirements, and concerns are being considered (if not addressed).

1. Start with a product vision.

It begins with a product vision, which aligns everyone around the shared objective for this product. This is followed by a product mission—the ultimate purpose of the product, who it is for, and what it does for them. Finally, it establishes some guiding principles for the work to come.

With product vision and mission statements in hand, primary goals for the product can be established. These may be a little fuzzier in the early stages, such as finding product-market fit, but they can rapidly evolve into measurable KPIs or OKRs. These measurable targets help shape which features, enhancements, and capabilities the product needs to achieve them.

2. Craft a roadmap.

3. Implement the roadmap for maximum impact.

Once the product roadmap is agreed upon, it’s time to make things happen. Implementation teams can create schedules, break down significant themes into sprints, and generate iterations of the product. This creates a feedback loop from customers, the sales team, and support, identifying new opportunities, pointing out shortcomings, and shining a light on areas to hone, improve, and expand.

From here, it’s a cycle of reviewing data, synthesizing feedback, and continually updating the product roadmap while grooming the product backlog to ensure every development cycle is utilized for maximum impact.

How Do Product Roadmaps Fit Into Product Development?

Whether you start at the conceptualization stage or first try to identify and validate a market need—you will want to have a system in place for prioritizing, summarizing, and capturing your product’s key objectives and significant themes.

The ideal tool for this early-stage planning is a product roadmap designed to strategically and visually convey your high-level product. So why is it essential to build your roadmap visually? There are several reasons to do so, but here are the two primary benefits:

1. With a visual product roadmap, you and your team can more easily refer back to the product strategy you agreed on and quickly reacquaint yourself with those high-level objectives to make sure you’re still on track.

Contrast this visual, easy-to-review roadmap with a typical spreadsheet-based roadmap loaded with features and to-do items arranged in no particular order, and you can understand why dedicated roadmapping software makes all the difference.

A visually appealing roadmap can also help a product manager present its strategic goals and plans more compellingly to the company’s executives and other key stakeholders.

Earning this buy-in is often necessary to secure organizational approval to move ahead with new product development. Therefore, it makes sense to give your product roadmap every advantage you can before presenting it to your stakeholders.

What is Agile Product Development?

Agile product development is another term you might hear often. This refers to the familiar product development concept we described in the introduction—all steps involved in delivering a product to the market—including agile software development principles, such as rapid iteration based on user feedback.

The benefit of the agile framework is that it allows an organization to shorten the cycle from brainstorming through actually launching a product—because the product team intentionally pushes out versions of the product (starting with its early-stage MVP) much more quickly and with much fewer updates and improvements in each release. In addition, this allows the team to enlist the feedback of actual users to make the product better incrementally.

A More Literal Definition of Product Development

Finally, you might also encounter a far more narrow definition of product development, describing the product’s actual development: This would be the coding stage in software or manufacturing in a physical product).

When it comes to software, development teams can create and maintain their product development roadmaps to prioritize, summarize, and communicate their plans to build and ultimately release the product. For example, below is a product development roadmap template that your team can use to stay on track during the development process.

Takeaways: Where the Magic Happens in Agile

Product development is the hard part. It’s where bright ideas collide with reality and where utopian visions of the future crash into the limitations of technology and headcount that separates dreamers from doers.

To avoid a promising product vision from faltering in the face of challenging work and difficult hurdles, roadmap strategies should be tightly coupled with Agile planning to optimize the work being done. To learn more about how rapid iteration can stay true to long-term objectives, check out this webinar .

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Product development strategy: Definition, examples, and guide

Each year, thousands of startups emerge, hoping to create better alternatives to existing products. Yet, around 90 percent of these startups won’t survive longer than five years.

Why does this happen?

Many factors contribute to a startup’s demise. While there isn’t a single reason for it, a poor product development strategy almost guarantees failure.

What is a product development strategy?

Before diving into the topic, we should clarify what a product strategy isn’t.

A product development strategy is not:

• A beautiful, five-year, high-level plan that precisely outlines what will happen and when
• A detailed financial plan that illustrates how you will capture revenue and use it to grow your product
• A slide deck with an outstanding design that helps you impress everyone with your brilliant idea

These points are distractions from creating a real product development strategy. Now, let’s focus on what a product development strategy is.

A product development strategy is a comprehensive plan that guides a company in creating, testing, and marketing new products or improving existing ones. It encompasses the entire process, from initial ideation to product launch and beyond, and helps the product team understand the target audience, competition, and market conditions. The product development strategy aims to ensure that the company delivers value to its customers while achieving growth and success in the marketplace.

Creating a solid product development strategy involves identifying product opportunities, defining clear goals, and outlining the steps and resources needed to bring the product to life. A well-executed strategy ensures that the company aligns its efforts with its overall business objectives, reduces risks associated with product development, and maximizes the chances of a successful product launch .

Understanding the importance of strategy

To grasp this concept, let’s use soccer as an analogy.

In 2009, Barcelona had one of the best teams in history. Guardiola introduced the Tiki-Taka strategy , and they were almost unbeatable with Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta leading the team. They controlled the game and had an average of 65 percent ball possession.

During the Champions League quarter-finals, Bayern Munich faced Barcelona. Everyone knew Barcelona was the favorite, but Louis Van Gaal (Bayern’s coach) thought he had a winning strategy.

Van Gaal decided to apply high pressure on Barcelona, aiming to keep them on the defensive and reduce their ball possession. Despite skepticism from Bayern’s players, Van Gaal stuck with his plan. The result? Barcelona won 4-0.

What happened? Choosing a misfitting strategy led to defeat. Note that I said “misfitting,” not “bad.” This strategy may have worked in another game, but not against Barcelona in 2009.

Now, let’s consider a similar situation in the context of software product management. Imagine a software company that has developed an innovative, user-friendly email client. The company’s main competitor is a well-established player in the market with a strong user base and a reputation for providing both advanced features and robust security measures.

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In an attempt to capture market share, the company decides to focus solely on developing more advanced features to compete directly with the market leader, believing this will win over users. However, this strategy doesn’t take into account the company’s unique selling proposition: its user-friendly interface.

As a result, the email client becomes increasingly complex and less intuitive, alienating its original target audience. The product development strategy of focusing solely on advanced features has led to a product that no longer differentiates itself from the competition, resulting in disappointing sales and limited market penetration.

Just as in the soccer example, a misfitting product development strategy leads to suboptimal results. These examples underscore the importance of selecting a strategy that aligns with your product’s unique strengths and the needs of your target audience.

Common product development strategies

The game of business has various strategies, and you should understand before you start playing.

Below are some common product development strategies employed by product-led organizations around the world:

• Price-driven — Creating significant value allows you to charge a premium for your product or services. Apple charges a premium for its products while continuously increasing its market share
• Innovation — Being on the leading edge enables you to develop and charge for the most innovative alternative on the market. For example, Tesla created the most attractive electric car globally, and now customers eagerly await new models
• Time to market — Lead the pack by solving a problem differently. This approach can create a new market, as demonstrated by companies like Airbnb, Netflix, and Uber
• Customer-oriented — Use data to generate customer insights and develop products customers want. Amazon continuously refines its offerings to increase customer loyalty
• Platform — Develop a flexible, cost-effective, and scalable solution. For example, launching an e-commerce business is faster and simpler thanks to platforms like Shopify

There are many other types of strategies, but covering all of them in a single article isn’t feasible. To learn from other companies, I recommend reading The Invincible Company by Alexander Osterwalder, one of the most insightful books on the topic.

A good product development strategy focuses on understanding customers and creating value for them.

Product development strategy example

Now let’s get our hands dirty and walk through how to actually execute a product development strategy from start to finish.

The following steps apply not only to new products but also to evolving existing ones.

Think of product development strategy like a road trip. Along the way, you’ll encounter gas stations, restaurants, hotels, parking lots, radars, tolls, and more. As the driver, you decide what you need and make decisions based on the trip’s current situation. The same goes for product strategy — you’re the driver.

Keep in mind that these six steps aren’t a waterfall approach. They represent the elements you need for success, but the order and frequency with which you visit them will vary according to your current challenges, needs, and goals.

Without further ado, here’s an example of what a sound product development strategy looks like:

• Define the product scope
• Create a roadmap
• Develop the product
• Penetrate the market

1. Research

Explore the market to identify opportunities for creating products . This can be done using various methods, such as interviews, market research, search trends, and customer feedback.

The goal is to find something that is desirable to customers, business-viable, and technologically feasible. Define the market you want to penetrate, then understand its size, mechanics, style (innovative, conservative), available options, and current satisfaction level.

Analyze the competition to understand their strategy, market share, pricing model, target audience, and weaknesses. This information will help you evaluate how to differentiate your product .

Diverge before converging; use “how might we” questions to explore the problem space and imagine potential solutions. Employ techniques such as the crazy eights method to generate ideas, then narrow them down to test with the market.

3. Define the product scope

Once you understand the problem you want to focus on, the value to deliver, and the business value to collect, you’re ready to define the product scope .

Be sure to identify a specific audience, problem, and value proposition. I recommend using a lean canvas to keep everyone on the same page and maintain simplicity.

4. Create a roadmap

After completing the previous steps, you need to align on the next steps. Create a product roadmap to provide direction to teams while empowering them to make daily decisions.

A good roadmap ensures teams know what to prioritize. Use a roadmapping tool like ProductBoard, Asana, or Jira to make your roadmap transparent for everyone.

5. Experiment

Recognize that most ideas will fail, so test your assumptions and explore as many solutions as possible before development.

There are numerous experiments available to help you accelerate learning, such as the Wizard of Oz, concierge, 404, painted doors, A/B tests , and prototypes. Effective experiments help you weed out poor ideas.

6. Develop the product

Building your product isn’t a static process that you delegate to your product teams. This step is dynamic, and you will likely repeat ideation, experimentation, and development several times before getting it right.

Start by making small investments and testing the results with a portion of your audience. Inspect and adapt as often as necessary. Your goal is to create a product users want and will benefit from. Frameworks such as Kanban and scrum can work well once you’ve done your homework correctly.

7. Penetrate the market

Define your go-to-market approach and execute it. A good rule of thumb is to start small, learn from real customers, and grow gradually.

Aim high, but begin with small steps. Avoid making a full-blown launch; the longer you take to launch, the higher the risks. Select a specific audience, focus on it, and then gradually expand to a larger audience.

Final thoughts

Lacking a product development strategy ensures failure. Having a bad product development strategy ensures failure. Setting the product development strategy in stone ensures failure.

There are many ways to get the strategy wrong and only a few ways to get it right. Stay vigilant to changes around you and adapt your steps accordingly. Failing to do so could be fatal to your business.

Your product development strategy should establish constraints to concentrate on what you believe will lead to success. As you learn, you will realize that some things aren’t as you initially thought. Step back, inspect and adapt, rinse, and repeat.

Manage your expectations. Don’t change your product development strategy every other day. The strategy evolves slowly. You may make minor tweaks every quarter and conduct a significant review yearly.

Keep it simple. Set the product development strategy, make progress, learn, adapt, and excel in the product world.

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What Is Product Development?

This process consists of every step required to grow a product from an idea to its most viable product, with products often evolving over time to provide additional value to a company's customers. Successful product development relies on implementing the strategies and requirements laid out in the product roadmap .

What are the seven stages of new product development?

• The seven stages of new product development include idea generation, idea screening, concept testing and development, market strategy/ business analysis , product development, market testing and market entry/commercialization.

New product development focuses on new ideas that hold more uncertainty around the development process, however, new products can lead to widespread adoption and an increase in users. To guide developers through this process, seven stages are utilized to bring a product to market, this includes idea generation, idea screening, concept testing and development, market strategy, business analysis , product development, market testing and market entry/commercialization.

Idea generation involves brainstorming sessions to identify unsolved consumer problems. Once several product ideas are formed, they are screened through an internal review process to determine the best option with the highest potential for success. After an idea is chosen, a concept is developed that provides a detailed version of the idea that matches user stories. The concept is then tested for development and market feasibility before a market strategy is drafted. At this point, product development begins and a prototype is subsequently created before becoming a minimum viable product. After the development of the minimum viable product, market testing begins with alpha and beta testing . If testing proves successful, the product is brought to market.

What are the five stages of the product life cycle?

• The five stages of the product life cycle are development, introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

Product life cycle is used throughout product development to measure a product at different phases in its maturity. Even before a product’s development has been completed and it reaches the market, it has entered the first stage of its life cycle. Eventually, most products are taken off the market and replaced by another product or become phased out over time. The time between the product’s conception to its retirement represents its overall life cycle. 

Product life cycle is similar to the customer’s journey but from the other point of view. It begins with development, in which the product is iterated to meet customer needs and eventually leads to the creation of a minimum viable product. From here, the product is introduced to the targeted audience that matches the personas discovered during product discovery and is launched to this segment of the market, allowing a degree of control over the success of the product. The product then enters its growth phase, where the product’s reach is sustainably scaled and additional marketing avenues are invested in. Products spend a long period of their overall life cycle in the growth phase before eventually entering their maturity phase, the peak of the product life cycle where the product reaches its maximum potential and sales remain stable. Products with a great degree of longevity may spend the most time in maturity. Finally, sales begin to lessen and the product enters its decline phase before eventually being retired.

What are the six stages of software development?

The six stages of software development are planning, design , development, testing, deployment and maintenance.

Software development is among the most nuanced forms of product development, with more specific steps involved for meeting customer needs and deployment. The six stages of the software development life cycle includes requirement gathering and analysis, design, implementation and coding, testing, deployment and maintenance. 

The first step, planning and requirements gathering, is similar to the development of most products, in which a problem is defined, data is gathered, stakeholders become involved, and a proof of concept and roadmap are formed. After this point, design begins, with software architecture, prototype, and user experience designs providing a model of what the software will look like and how it will be utilized. From here, developers build staging environments and code the software’s functional elements. The software iteration is then tested and runs through quality assurance processes by QA analysts , engineers and managers to ensure functionality, resulting in a working prototype. The software is then deployed, either to a minimum viable product or as a fully-fledged product entering the market. The product is then regularly maintained, fixing bugs or deploying updates when needed.

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What is Product Development and Why is it Important?

Anyone doing a business must be familiar with the concept of product development . Whether you are starting a business, penetrating a new target market, or expanding it to new regions, you need to create a product development plan.

Product development is not only done when a company launches its first product. It sometimes needs to improve an existing product or make a product line extension . In growing companies, product development is done regularly. Some organizations often reinvest the generated revenue back into the business to develop a product that’s more advanced or in better quality than its previous products. Other firms like to diversify their product phase and thus indulge in product development every other quarter.

The importance of product development cannot be undermined. This post will discuss why it is essential for growing companies to build effective product development plans and implement them on time. Knowing this helps businesses allocate their budget and resources efficiently.

Like an organization needs to develop a good marketing plan , they also need to watch their resource allocation and product development. Before it can be launched and made available in the market, a product’s phases need to be carefully thought through. Skipping any critical phases or neglecting the optimum manufacturing procedures can lead you to develop a product with poor quality.

But before we go on discussing the importance of product development, let us define what product development means.

What is Product Development?

Product development is delivering a new good or item to the market or improving the existing products for increasing sales. In the beginning, a product is just a sample. A company needs to put a lot of effort and resources into transforming into something sellable in the market.

The process of product development involves everything that is required to be done to turn a product from a concept into a commercialized item that people would want to buy. The process usually starts with generating a new product idea and requires research and development work. Once the company conducts sufficient market research on the product idea, manufacturing is started until packaged and delivered. The process ends when the product is distributed via wholesalers, retail outlets, or other distributors.

Image taken from Strikingly user’s website

Product development is sometimes also called new product management. Some define it as a series of steps from conceptualizing a product idea , including the design and development, and end in distribution and marketing. When you develop a product, it doesn’t need to appeal to your target customers. That’s why it is critical to do proper research before commercializing a business idea. Quantitative market research needs to be carried out before manufacturing your product. If it is delayed, you might end up wasting a lot of your resources by keeping false hopes and using inaccurate or insufficient data about your target market.

Although product development is a creative process, it requires a systematic approach to it. The best way is to build a framework that puts all the stages of the product development plan in a well-organized structure. Here are the five elements of a well-structured product development plan.

1. Identify the Design Criteria

This stage identifies the design criteria by brainstorming different, possible, and new products .

2. Conduct an Idea Analysis

In this step, you evaluate the initial product concept deeper. Conduct concept studies to determine whether it is feasible or not for your company to manufacture the product.

3. Carry Out Concept Genesis

This involves turning the product development opportunity into a tangible and feasible concept.

4. Create a Prototype

Before you develop a product in its true sense, you need to create its prototype. A prototype is a small and simple version of the product, made with minimum resources and used to test the possibility of the product to drive sales. Prototyping gives you a rough idea of how well your actual product will perform in the market. If your prototype fails, you need to consider other product options that you might have thought of, instead of continuing with the production of this one.

5. Product Development

This is the final stage and involves the actual product development. This means you now manufacture the actual product that will be made available in the market for people to buy.

Importance of Product Development

Product development is vital for businesses for several reasons, as discussed below. The success of a new product requires a substantial amount of resources to be invested in it. There is always a chance of outright failure. Due to the high risk of failure, it is good to know why you should still invest in a product development plan. By understanding the importance of product development, companies are convinced to use product development services of professionals and experts to make sure that the process is handled correctly.

1. Provide New Value For Customers

You need to indulge in product development to provide new value to your customers. If you keep selling the same product to the same people over a long time, your audience will get bored with your brand and probably stop buying. Coming up with new product ideas and testing them in the market keeps your business alive. It gives an energetic feel to your brand and makes its brand personality more attractive. This is because your customers can see that you always have something new to offer. They get enticed to keep visiting your store every month, or at least visit your website regularly to check out what’s new.

2. Improve the Society

By making more and creative items available for people in a community to buy, you provide a variety and improve your society. Many new products are often an incremental improvement over their older versions. Companies that frequently upgrade their existing products can build a favorable impression of social innovation . It is as if these companies understand their social responsibility and work hard to contribute to the betterment of their people. In certain instances, new product development can give great and immediate gratification to the customers. That’s how it is beneficial to society.

3. Grow Your Business

Product development is also crucial for growing your business . More variety in your product base means more avenues for sales to come in. New products can prove to be the lifeblood for your company. If your past products fail, your new products have a chance to be successful. The more products you have to sell, the more chances you have of developing and maintaining a sustainable income stream in your business. New product development also helps you access more sponsors, investors, and partners for your business.

By growing your business, you are also serving society in other ways. You are creating more employment opportunities for the people in the community and supporting society at large through charity giving and taxation. Organizations do not have much choice but to grow. To grow and sustain their operations, they have to indulge in new product development once in a while, if not too frequently. The research and development they do to develop a product development plan help the business in many other ways. For instance, if you learn about your competitor’s pricing strategies through your research, you can price your product at a slightly lower level to penetrate the market faster.

Concluding Remarks

Product development is essential. But what’s even more important is to be able to market the product once it is launched. In this digital age, the most effective marketing means is done online.

If you want to grow your business by developing effective marketing and product development plans, you first need a professional website to showcase your brand. Trying to promote your products or services without having a website in this day and age is like closing your eyes and wondering why you cannot see anything.

Build a simple website on a user-friendly website building platform, which allows you to edit and update your content any time you like. If you choose Strikingly as your web development platform, you will get many easy-to-use tools and features to play around with until your awesome website is ready.

At Strikingly , we believe in product development as well. We implement this belief into our business by creating and updating the features that we offer for making your website building experience smoother and more convenient.

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The New Product Development

Introduction.

The New Product Development is the term employed to give explanation the whole procedure of bringing a very new manufactured goods or services to the marketplace. A new product is an entity in the market which is the result of the innovation or in making any additional features to the product. It is the product that consists of a complete market by replacing or adapting various changes in the product. The main intention in attending the American brainstorming conference is to launch a new product, which is on the small scale “brainstorming technique for breaking out and generating innovative business, product, or service ideas is to get all of the external senses involved. In the brainstorming session, break into small groups of three or four people, imagining how the sensory aspects could be incorporated into a new product or other new idea” (Kyle, 2010, para.5).

New Product Development Process

The NPD process consists of allied steps: They are:

Idea Generation

The Idea Generation is the new emergent ideas that are been in the individual minds. It takes an important place in the new product development. The idea generated is put across in the conference, which is considered for the discussion about the viability and the compatibility of the topic. The idea generated here is the pen with the multi-facility like the four colors in them, the eraser, calculator and the calendar within the same.

Idea Screening

The Idea Screening is the result after the brainstorming ideas of the various delegates present in the conference. The brainstorming in the Idea Screening is very important as they generate many advantages and disadvantages of the products and accessibility.

Business Analysis

Business Analysis is very important as it includes the analysis of the marketing conditions and the trends along with the viability of the products in the market.

Prototyping

The manufacture of the prototype is very essential in the new product development and the prototype of our pen is made to suit various requirements and the methods to check viability and the extent to which they meet the requirements.

Product Testing

The Product Testing is done to identify any limitations and additions for the prototype, if the prototype clears all the requisites and the final manufacturing process is to be started.

Pricing of the Product

Pricing is the phase where the manufacturers and the customers come together; the manufacturers fix the price of the product by various business analyses, budget and budgetary conditions.

Implementation

The product implementation is to be resumed at the stage when the products are tested. The implementation includes various kinds of operations to be performed like the operations, scheduling and time plan, selection of suppliers, logistics selection, resource planning and reviews, the controlling of various operations, and the contingency plans are also set at this stage.

Post Implementation

The Post Implementation consists of various services that are provided by the manufacturers after the implementation of the product. Here the post-implementation includes the warranty services that are provided by the company as the pen is breakable and can be used for any additional services. “A product development strategy provides the framework to orient a company’s development projects as well as its development process. There is no one right strategy for a company. The strategy takes into account the company’s capabilities, the competition’s capabilities (strengths, weaknesses, core competencies and strategy), market needs and opportunities, goals, and financial resources. As a starting point to develop a product development strategy, the company must determine its primary strategic orientation” (Crow, 2001, para.1).

Development of a Product

For the purpose of this research, we take into consideration the launch of a new consumer food product, a specific category of noodles called the “HotNodle” which is healthy, tasty, nutritious and can be instantly prepared and consumed by all age groups. Before launching the product, research was conducted as to whether the product will be acceptable in the market. The research was also conducted as to how this new noodle product called the “HotNodle” will be different from the similar noodle products available in the market. “New product development is often described as a risky venture and undue emphasis is placed on a number of failures. There are two distinct types of failure; development projects that do not reach the launch stage and products that are launched but which subsequently fail” (Mallett, 1993, p.142).

Library source was used in order for the best available food sciences information and technologies used in food manufacturing. The ingredients used for the production of the new product were finalized and the formula was developed. The ingredients that need to be included in the product “HotNodle” were wheat, pulses, gram, bread and chicken breasts. The inclusion of the ingredient chicken breast was optional as the noodles can be offered in both vegetarian as well as nonvegetarian flavors. It was also decided to include tomato sauce, ketchup and chilly sauce as additional tastemakers. The sauces as an additional tastemaker have not been implemented previously and therefore this is a new product and offers a variety to the consumers.

Laboratory tests were conducted and the standard measurements of each ingredient in the product were finalized. The savor, color, consistency and appearance of the food product were finalized. Instead of the traditional “S” form that is found in all noodles; it was decided that the appearance of the noodles will be in the “CC” form which will be easy to cook and take less time to boil making the food ready to eat within 2 seconds.

The concept of packing and packaging was finalized. It was decided to launch the product in both foil paper packs as well as plastic jars. The plastic jars would also be “C” shaped. The extra content of sauces “Hotnodles” needs to be kept at cool temperature or refrigerated. The idea of the Noodles was for commercial distribution. Then the volume of the product which will be launched initially was determined. Shelf-life testing of the food product was done. It was tested whether the food product could retain its quality at both high and low temperatures. The storage aspects of Noodles were also taken into consideration before launching the product. A new product label was created on which the net weight, a list of the ingredients, the name of the producer and the nutrition facts in the product like the number of proteins, fats and carbohydrates were considered so that consumers can quickly identify the product. The expiry date of “Hotnodles” was also printed on the jars as well as foil paper packaging. The food labeling was done in such a way that it was not just easily readable but also understandable. That means it was very simply written and very informative. “The nutrition facts label in the US has a main top section that includes information that can vary with each product (serving size, energy content and nutrition information). The lower part contains footnote information with daily values per 2000 and 2500 kcal diets” (Jeukendrup & Gleeson 2010, p.36).

The product was priced reasonably which could be afforded by everyone; was for the total consumer group. The product was launched after advertising and sales promotion.

This was how the new product called “Hotnodles” was launched in the US market.

Brainstorming

Use the brainstorming session to talk about a NEW product that is the noodle “Hotnodle” that wish to start on. Brainstorming is one of the accepted instruments that assists produce inventive solutions to a crisis. Brainstorming merges a comfortable, casual approach to crisis-solving by means of lateral thoughts. It inquires that citizens come up with thoughts and feelings that may appear to be a bit passionate.

Brainstorming can be an extremely effective setting up method; only with the appropriate direction and management. If the product or service is delivered to the marketplace, it is totally new to all the target audiences. Brainstorming can be an effective way to generate lots of ideas on a specific issue and then determine which idea or ideas form the best solution. Brainstorming is mainly effective by means of groups of 8-12 citizens and should be executed in comfortable surroundings. If applicants experience free to rest and yarn approximately, they’ll make bigger minds with an additional and consequently created more innovative thoughts. Brainstorming is a procedure for upward imaginative explanations to troubles. Brainstorming mechanism is the best approach by means of a wide-ranging collection of people. Members should arrive from a variety of sections across the business and have diverse surroundings. There are primarily four necessary rules in brainstorming, intended to reduce public inhibitions enclosed by panel affiliates. It gives confident idea development, and expands innovation:

• “ No criticism : Criticism of ideas is withheld during the brainstorming session as the purpose is on generating varied and unusual ideals and extending or adding to these ideas.
• Welcome unusual ideas : Unusual ideas are welcomed as it is normally easier to “tame down” than to “tame up” as new ways of thinking and looking at the world may provide better solutions.
• Quantity Wanted : The greater the number of ideas generated the greater the chance of producing a radical and effective solution.
• Combine and improve ideas : Not only are a variety of ideals wanted, but also ways to combine ideas in order to make them better” (Brainstorming: What is brainstorming , 2010, para.5).

The objective is to develop relevant ideas and construct a marketing diagram for your manufactured goods or service from the ground up. After the growth stage of the new product development, the next step is to focus on the introduction of manufactured goods or services into the market. “Many brainstorming sessions are not as productive as they could be, typically because they are poorly planned or managed” (McNamara, 2010, para.1).

The new product development is a big process that involves a number of pre-planned and careful steps which need to be incorporated at every stage. The steps in the development of a new product are similar; but not the same. The process is different for consumer products, automobile products and any stationery product. Each product should be launched after a brainstorming session in which the product’s launch and its intention should be carefully researched. Ideas should be generated from all corners to product or service.

Reference List

• Brainstorming: What is brainstorming? . (2010). Big Dogs and Little Dogs Performance Juxtaposition. Web.
• Crow, K. (2001). Product development strategic orientation . DRM Associates. Web.
• Jeukendrup, A. & Gleeson, M. (2010). Sports Nutrition: An introduction to energy production and performance . Human Kinetics, p.36. Web.
• Kyle, B. (2010). Brainstorming techniques . Website Marketing Plan.
• Mallett, C. P. (1993). Frozen food technology . Springer, p.142. Web.
• McNamara, S. L. (2010). Creative brainstorming techniques . Ad Cracker.

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Product Development Essays (Examples)

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Product development report the single.

The applications will be similar to the sales community, which will be able to get contact information from the potential customers and partners they meet during professional trips. Finally, to the medical community, the Smart Contact Chip will be presented as a possibility to store vital information in regard to the future patient's medical history, blood type or donor options. Influences on the purchase The decision to finalize the purchase will be influenced by various factors, including, but not limited to, the following: the product features the benefits it generates for the buyer the existence of substitute products onto the market, and the retail price to the end consumer (including the generic price or the promotional price) Context The Smart Contact Chip would be successful foremost because of the context against which it will be launched. From this particular standpoint, the nanochip will consist of the latest technological innovations that drive the contemporaneous society….

SMART CONTACT CHIP: Product Innovation and Description

Product and New Product Development

Describe eGO's design process. How is it similar to the process detailed in the chapter? The eGO design process is comparable to the concepts in the book in that it strives to create innovative solutions to long-established and well-known problems. The costs of transportation continue to escalate, and eGO concentrates on creating a solution for the challenge of short-range transactions with their products. Visit eGO's website to learn more about products the company offers. What stage of the product life cycle is the eGO vehicle experiencing? What do you learn from eGo's product development experience? A eGO is in the new product introduction phase of not only their product but also an emerging industry of motorized and eco-friendly low-end cycles. The launch of the eGO series of cycles globally is actually a pivotal point in the industry of low-end cycles, with the launch covering several continents. In terms of lessons learned from eGo's….

Product Development and Business

New product development is pivotal and vital for the success of any business and organization. By developing and unveiling new products, a company is able to generate new prospects and reach markets. One particular important aspect that is deemed important in achieving successful product development is attaining innovative feedback and participation from consumers and markets, as they provide a concrete basis (Zemlickiene and Maditinos, 2012). Despite the fact that new product development encompasses a great deal of risk, it is deemed to be one of the most imperative strategies in any market or industry that is filled with competition. Numerous companies have been able to generate competitiveness and attained considerable profits and returns through the process of new product development. The influence that new product development has on consumer espousal and innovative behavior cannot be stressed or underlined enough. The unveiling of new products and services in the marketplace signifies….

ADIELE, K. C. (2012). New product development and consumer innovative behavior: an empirical validation study. European journal of business and social sciences, 1(6), 97-109.

Agrawal, A., & Bhuiyan, N. (2014). Achieving Success in NPD Projects. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering, 8(2), 476-481.

Bhuiyan, N. (2011). A framework for successful new product development.Journal of Industrial Engineering and management, 4(4), 746-770.

Zemlickiene, V., & Maditinos, D. I. (2012). Marketing strategy formulation for innovative product development process. Business: Theory and Practice/Verslas: Teorijairpraktika, 13(4), 365-374.

Product Development Cycle

Product Life Cycle The product category chosen for the purpose of discussion in this paper is the domestic airline industry in the United States, which is in the mature stage of its product life cycle. The fact that the domestic airline industry in the U.S. is in the maturity stage is evident when the category is traced through the various stages of the product life cycle: "...the Product Life Cycle (PLC) is based upon the biological life cycle... A seed is planted (introduction); it begins to sprout (growth); it shoots out leaves and puts down roots as it becomes an adult (maturity); after a long period as an adult the plant begins...to die." (Marketing Teacher) The aviation industry was born in the early twentieth century when aircraft technology was first developed by the right brothers in the United States leading to the use of aircrafts in orld ar I, with European leaders….

Works Cited

AIAA. "History of Flight." American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Web site.

Accessed June 19, 2004: http://www.flight100.org/history/us.html

Airlines Industry Profile." Yahoo! Finance. Accessed June 19, 2004:

 http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/prof/4.html

Creating Competitive Advantages Through New Product Development

Creating Competitive Advantages Through New Product Development Creating Competitive Advantages Through New Product Development The transformation of many diverse forms of customer, supplier, internal development, and research & development (&D) insights into a consistent and productive platform for product development is key to long-term competitive growth. The reliance on advanced frameworks for organizing these diverse sources of innovation into taxonomies that can eventually be used to fuel new products is often called the New Product Development (NPD) process. As every company has a unique, highly differentiated and often highly customized business model, the same holds true for the NPD process. Companies over time define the NPD process to align with their unique technological and market strengths. Comparing the NPD process at Salesforce, the leading provider of SaaS-based CM software vs. Apple makes this point clearly. Salesforce is known for very rapid product releases of the CM applications and exceptionally quick updates. Conversely, Apple….

Bentley, James. (1992). New Product Introduction: Speed, Quality and Cost. Assembly Automation, 12(2), 3.

Lee G. Cooper. (2000). Strategic marketing planning for radically new products. Journal of Marketing, 64(1), 1-16.

Cusumano, M., MacCormack, A., Kemerer, C., & Crandall, W.. (2009). Critical Decisions in Software Development: Updating the State of the Practice. IEEE Software, 26(5), 84-87.

Kettunen, P.. (2009). Adopting key lessons from agile manufacturing to agile software product development -- A comparative study. Technovation, 29(6/7), 408.

Marketing Strategy New Product Development

The Power Frappuccino was however not introduced directly in all markets, but was first of all tested in different representative markets for a reaction from the customers. We can see from this example that the two main sources for new product ideas worked closely together before this product was introduced. Another product that was tested during the late 1990s was the Chai Tea Latte, combining black tea, exotic spices, honey and milk. The move in itself could have been considered quite risky, given the fact that Starbucks is recognized as a coffee seller rather than tea shop, but the move did not affect the Starbucks brand. In fact, it showed the customers that there was a lot coming from Starbucks in terms of new product development and that they can virtually expect the company to come up with new ideas not only in the sector where they are market leaders,….

Bibliography

1. New Product Marketing Strategy Breakthroughs. On the Internet at  http://qdistrategies.com/qprodstrat.htm.Last  retrieved on July 17, 2007

2. Starbucks Gossip. On the Internet at  http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/_/2006/04/starbucks_intro.html/last  retrieved on July 17, 2007

3. Starbucks Corporation. On the Internet at  http://www.mhhe.com/business/management/thompson/11e/case/starbucks-2.html.Last  retrieved on July 17, 2007

New Product Marketing Strategy Breakthroughs. On the Internet at

Branding on Product Development Process

" (Briggs, 2005) The following figure labeled Figure 2 illustrates the "Brand-Crossroads Decision Points" Brand-Crossroads Decision Points Source: Briggs (2005) At this point the questions asked are those of: Does the new product fit under the brand's current umbrella? If yes, how does this product enhance the brand? If not, is it possible to broaden the umbrella? If not, is the opportunity great enough to justify the expense of creating a new brand for this product? (Briggs, 2005) According to the work entitled "Product Development Stages": During the product concept' stage several important questions must be asked in order to identify the value proposition of the product. Those questions are: What extra value does the product bring to the marketplace? How does the product create value for the customer? How is the product different from what is offered in the marketplace now? Will customers be interested in and willing to buy your product? How many customers will buy your product? Will they buy more….

Briggs, Harvey (2005) The Value of Integrating the Brand Experience Into the Product Development Process. Product Development and Management Association. VISIONS Online available at http://www.pdma.org/visions/oct04/npd-practices.html.

Positioning and Branding Research -- Creative Brand Name Development July 7, 2006 Power Decisions Group Market Research Stories  http://www.powerdecisions.com/successbrandpositioning.cfm .

Creative Branding Research -- Marketing Research Applications July 7, 2006 Power Decisions Group Market Research Stories

Innovation in Product Development

A new color, True Blue Clearcoat, is added to the Lightning exterior paint palette. Meanwhile, a detuned version of the SVT-developed supercharged Lightning engine finds its way into a 2002 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson specialty truck and promptly helps it double sales over the previous year's F-150 Harley truck model. SVT reaches the milestone of 100,000 vehicles produced. The SVT Cobra rocks the enthusiast world with the performance of its Eaton supercharged DOHC 4.6-liter "Terminator" V-8. It also features a 6-speed gearbox, redesigned front and rear fascias, new "heat-extraction" hood, special rocker moldings and side scoops, and several new interior appointments. To help celebrate its 10-year Anniversary, SVT offers a 10th Anniversary Special Edition package on the Cobra Coupe or Convertible, with production limited to a total of 2,003 units. Lightning is certified as the "World's Fastest Production Pickup Truck" by Guinness World ecords, Ltd., clocking a top speed of 147….

ADVISORY/New WRI Study Documents Competitive Re-Alignment in Global Auto Industry," Business Wire, 28 October 2003. Available from:  http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-109350435.html3  April 2007].

Brodesser Akner, Claude. "Ford snares star role in return of 'Knight Rider'." Automotive News, 21 January 2008. Available from:  http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-173810687.html3  April 2007].

Ford Motor Company at Merrill Lynch Geneva Global Auto Conference - Final," Fair Disclosure Wire, 4 March 2008. Available from:  http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-150379429.html [3 April 2007].

Ford Motor Company 1991-2004-2008 Available from: http://media.ford.com/newsroom/feature_display.cfm?release=202993 April 2007].

New Product Development Group Gerry Assumes That

New Product Development Group Gerry assumes that because Maria has been successful as a small entrepreneur that her business will easily be integrated into a much larger-scale operation. Although her product has national distribution, this does not necessarily translate into widespread market demand for all demographic groups. Food is very regionalized in terms of eaters' preferences (for example, deep dish pizza is popular in Chicago while 'skinny' pizza is popular on the east coast). Maria's tacos may have an audience, but it does not necessarily coincide with that of Manchester Food's audience. Furthermore, some foods work well as small scale operations but do not as a mass-produced product. For example, on the streets of New York, halal food in like grilled lamb in pitas is very tasty and affordable but this has not translated into generic fast food success for this item. Maria's idea for Sudden Seafood seems more of a….

Collaborative New Product Development in

In the most successful SMB implementations of collaborative new product development tools including PLM and PDM, priority is put first on process definition and process improvement. Once processes have been defined, continually managed to greater efficiency and as optimized as possible, then the use of information systems technologies and platforms to automate them are added (Christensen, Magnusson, Zetherstrom, 2006, 583-585). PLM as a technique or strategy is not automated until the core processes that comprise a given SMBs use of it are made as efficient as possible and optimized through business process re-engineering over time. It is critical then for SMBs looking to build a collaborative new product development strategy to first look to streamline the most critical core processes their collaborative new product development strategies will address. Collaborative New Product Development Process Focus Empirical studies indicate collaborative new product development strategies have a significantly higher level of success when they….

Michael A. Allocca, and Eric H. Kessler. 2006. Innovation Speed in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Creativity and Innovation Management 15, no. 3,

(September 1): 279.

Rajiv D. Banker, Indranil Bardhan, and Ozer Asdemir. 2006. Understanding the Impact of Collaboration Software on Product Design and Development.

Information Systems Research 17, no. 4, (December 1): 352-373,440.

New Product Development Created Equity

Brand equity is becoming a necessity within the modern day business climate, when economic agents compete not only for market shares, but also for the best employees, the best technologies or the best resources. In this setting, brand equity provides competitive advantages and points of differences and is essential. The creation of brand equity varies across industries, across economic agents and it depends on various elements. In other words, there are no secret recipes to creating brand equity, but Yahoo! has to devise its own strategies based on its own specifics. Some of the features which can impact the brand equity strategy would include the size of the company and its resource availability, the marketing expertise it possesses, the features of the market it addresses or the nature of the items it sells. In terms of the items commercialized, it could be argued that brand equity is created differently at the level….

References:

Tonnis, R., International branding -- an internationalization approach on the marketing level, GRIN Verlag

Nworah, U., Nigeria as a brand, Brand Channel,  http://www.brandchannel.com/papers_review.asp?sp_id=604  last accessed on November 11, 2011

Brand and organizational development, Q and A Consulting, http://qandaconsulting.info/brand-organisational-development last accessed on November 11, 2011

Yahoo!: managing an online brand,  http://www.scribd.com/doc/44767083/Yahoo-Managing-an-Online-Brand  last accessed on November 11, 2011

Analyzing Societal Influence on Product Development

HIV AIDS / HIV / AIDS: Societal Influence on Product Development The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) causes AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). This virus interferes with the ability of the body to counter disease causing organisms. Factors that Affected the response to HIV-AIDs 1980s-present day There were several factors that influenced the response by the government and the pharmaceutical industry to the emergence of the AIDs virus. Social Factors This came out largely in the form of the degree of empowerment. Women were in a system that saw them as less than equal. Factors such as the movement of people within and without countries affected how well the disease was tracked. Many countries were not tracking the disease or did not have systems to survey it and even identify the people who had the highest risk of contracting it. Another social factor was that the youth were uninhibited when it came to talking on sensitive subjects.….

Avert. (2015). AIDS Timeline. Retrieved from  http://www.avert.org/aids-timeline.htm  on

12th January, 2016.

Mayo Clinic. (2015). Definition. Retrieved from  http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases  conditions/hiv-aids/basics/definition / on 12th January, 2016.

Nazario, B. (2014). AIDS Retrospective Slideshow: A Pictorial Timeline of the HIV / AIDS

Techniques for Concept Generation in New Product Development

Generation Techniques in New Product Development The process of new product development begins with identification of good product ideas and the use of an appropriate criterion to determine ideas to pursue. This process involves concept generation, which is the most important step since it involves generating and/or obtaining ideas regarding the product. Concept generation in new product development entails developing a set of customer needs, specifying targets, and determining several product alternatives for the design process. Given the significance of concept generation in new product development, there are several concept generation techniques. These techniques can be utilized to create variations of the basic concept in relation to different product form, characteristics, positioning, benefits, and customer target. Overview of Concept Generation According to Nobel (2013), concept generation is the process through which product development team creates or obtains ideas relating to the various aspects of a product such as product form and characteristics,….

"Concept Generation." (2003, March 5). Lecture 13. Retrieved from University of Iowa website: http://user.engineering.uiowa.edu/~bme083/lecture/lecture13_030503.pdf

Linsey et al. (2011, March). An Experimental Study of Group Idea Generation Techniques: Understanding the Roles of Idea Representation and Viewing Methods. Journal of Mechanical Design, 133, 031008-1-031008-15.

Nobel, M. (2013). Product Concept Generation. Retrieved from Tufts University website:  http://sites.tufts.edu/eeseniordesignhandbook/2013/product-concept-generation/

Involvement Consumers in New Product Development

Marketing Innovation Market Innovation New products can either be an entirely new product to the marketplace, or more commonly are an extension of a product line or an iteration of a pre-existing product. One new product released in the past year was the iPhone 6S. This is an extension of the iPhone line in general, or more specifically the iPhone 6 line that was originally launched in 2014. The 6S represents some tweaks to the older products, but nothing so dramatic that an entirely new name for the product was warranted. Thus, this product is an extension of the older line, intended to replace older models of the iPhone, as anything before the 6 series is now discontinued. The biggest challenge that Apple had with this product was to differentiate it sufficiently from its other offerings. The existing iPhone 6 proved popular, and the 6S was viewed by the marketplace favorably as….

Fuller, J., Bartl, M., Ernst, H., Muhlbacher, H. (2004). Community-based innovation. Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Science. Retrieved April 16, 2016 from  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hans_Muehlbacher/publication/221180518_Community_Based_Innovation_A_Method_to_Utilize_the_Innovation_Potential_of_Online_Communities/links/0046352b85ba69f305000000.pdf 

George, A. (2016). The 6 most important technologies of summer 2016. Popular Mechanics. Retrieved April 16, 2016 from  http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/g2560/the-6-most-important-technologies-of-summer-2016/ 

Hoyer, W., Chandy, R., Dorotic, M., Krafft, M. & Singh, S. (2010). Consumer co-creation in new product development. Journal of Service Research. Vol. 13 (3) 283-296.

Nambisan, S. (2002). Designing virtual customer environments for new product development: Toward a theory. Academy of Management Review Vol. 27 (3) 392-413.

Strategies for Team Collaboration and Innovative Product Development

Narrative on the Circumstances of the Case StudyDSS Consultings case study revolves around Chris Peterson, a managerial figure, steering her newly assembled squad through a pivotal strategic overhaul. The key goal is to develop an innovative integrated planning and budgeting system. The journey is replete with trials and tribulations.Peterson takes on the responsibility of organizing a unit and introducing a fresh approach at DSS Consulting. This renewed approach is characterized by transitioning from singular projects to collaborative team-based product initiatives. Chriss group, specifically, aims to design a unified budget and strategy system tailored for smaller educational districts. This diverse group of professionals must find synergy in their operations.Adapting to this novel structure, they encounter obstacles like centralizing the team and embracing new responsibilities. But, surprisingly, the team kicks off their collaboration on a positive note, realizing the necessity of a unified plan for smaller districts - a realization that ignites….

My teacher suggested focusing on adidas. Any essay topics that align with this guidance?

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The applications will be similar to the sales community, which will be able to get contact information from the potential customers and partners they meet during professional trips.…

Transportation

Describe eGO's design process. How is it similar to the process detailed in the chapter? The eGO design process is comparable to the concepts in the book in that it…

Research Paper

New product development is pivotal and vital for the success of any business and organization. By developing and unveiling new products, a company is able to generate new prospects…

Product Life Cycle The product category chosen for the purpose of discussion in this paper is the domestic airline industry in the United States, which is in the mature stage…

Creating Competitive Advantages Through New Product Development Creating Competitive Advantages Through New Product Development The transformation of many diverse forms of customer, supplier, internal development, and research & development (&D) insights into…

The Power Frappuccino was however not introduced directly in all markets, but was first of all tested in different representative markets for a reaction from the customers. We…

Business - Advertising

" (Briggs, 2005) The following figure labeled Figure 2 illustrates the "Brand-Crossroads Decision Points" Brand-Crossroads Decision Points Source: Briggs (2005) At this point the questions asked are those of: Does the new product fit…

A new color, True Blue Clearcoat, is added to the Lightning exterior paint palette. Meanwhile, a detuned version of the SVT-developed supercharged Lightning engine finds its way into…

New Product Development Group Gerry assumes that because Maria has been successful as a small entrepreneur that her business will easily be integrated into a much larger-scale operation. Although her…

Literature Review

Engineering

In the most successful SMB implementations of collaborative new product development tools including PLM and PDM, priority is put first on process definition and process improvement. Once processes…

Brand equity is becoming a necessity within the modern day business climate, when economic agents compete not only for market shares, but also for the best employees, the best…

Health - Nursing

HIV AIDS / HIV / AIDS: Societal Influence on Product Development The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) causes AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). This virus interferes with the ability of the body…

Urban Studies

Generation Techniques in New Product Development The process of new product development begins with identification of good product ideas and the use of an appropriate criterion to determine ideas…

Marketing Innovation Market Innovation New products can either be an entirely new product to the marketplace, or more commonly are an extension of a product line or an iteration of a…

Narrative on the Circumstances of the Case StudyDSS Consultings case study revolves around Chris Peterson, a managerial figure, steering her newly assembled squad through a pivotal strategic overhaul. The…

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Essay on product development and design | industries.

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Read this essay to learn about Product Development and Design. After reading this essay you will learn about:- 1. Introduction to Product Development and Design 2. Considerations in New Product Design 3. Production Analysis and Its Aspects 4. Product Development 5. Company Policy 6. Factors to be Considered 7. Role.

• Essay on the Role of Product Development and Design

1. Essay on the Introduction to Product Development and Design:

Product development and design are considered the preliminary stages of production planning. When a new product is projected, the designer has to bear in mind the available resources of the enterprise plant and the possible implications of the unit required to acquire, modify or substitute the existing equipment and machines or subcontract various components (parts to ancillary) units or other suppliers.

Thus it is obvious that product development and design is thecase of the development and growth of the manufacturing limbs i.e. departments. This is why product design is one of the fundamental elements of the management policy.

The idea for new or improved products may be available from many sources such as:

(i) Consumer suggestions and complaints

(ii) Other competitor products in the market

(iii) R & D department of the enterprise.

After the new idea has been conceived the technical and commercial viability of the product is checked and if found fit, it is developed. The next phase is how the product should be made.

Manufacturing of a new or modified product will need the services of the following departments of the enterprise/company:

(i) Marketing distribution and sales.

(ii) R & D.

(iii) Design and development of the product.

(iv) Product manufacture.

(v) Personnel.

(vi) Accounts.

2. Essay on the Considerations in New Product Design :

A product may be defined as the realistic shape of an idea, the idea may originate from various sources such as:

(i) Market research

(ii) Product development project

(iii) Consumer’s demand

(iv) Individual inventors

(v) Competitive influences in the market.

By individual inventors, we mean an individual person hitting upon a plan for a new product. Ideas may be unlimited but all are not worth developing into a product and as a result, right at the initiation stage it is essential to make a rigrous screening of the ideas. Thus for the sake of developing a marketable product it is essential to systematically analyse the various ideas stage wise up to the evolution of a new saleable product.

The various stages can be as follows:

Initiation of an idea.

Collection of essential data for the marketability point of view.

Screening of the ideas by a preliminary product review committee, consisting of experts from the design, production, sales and administration departments.

Determination of the immediate and ultimate marketing objectives of the products for which ideas have been accepted after thorough screening.

Development of product with the combined effort of the product development and design, manufacturing deptts and market research.

Pretesting for marketability and checking the product development results.

Manufacture of the first product i.e. prototype.

Field test of the product ie market ability test.

On the basis of test results and from the point of view economic manufacture, and review of design. This is to be done by product development and design department in collaboration with manufacturing department.

10th stage:

Standardization of product specifications and the method of manufacturing.

Objectives:

Any product of which ever type it may be must have two broad objectives i.e. immediate and ultimate objectives.

Immediate objectives of a product will be to provide a new look, offer new advantages, utilize the existing man power and machines thus stimulate the sales function and satisfy the immediate needs of the consumers. But the ultimate objectives of a product which are of more importance are to monopolise the market, tie the consumer only to branded product, to make its production possible on quantity basis and hence to cut down/reduce the cost of production and hence give its benefit to the consumers.

Objectives of a new product may be as follows:

a) Satisfying consumer requirements.

b) To incorporate changes in shape, form and aestheticism.

c) To utilize tangible resources men, machines, materials and money.

d) Stimulating sales function.

e) To monopolize the market.

f) Achieving low cost of production.

g) To make production on quantity basis.

h) To form a basis of future products.

i) Standardisation of products.

j) Simplification of products.

3. Essay on the Production Analysis and Its Aspects:

The main objective of production analysis is to obtain a qualitative as well as quantitative evaluation of the product criteria, which determine primarily the success of a manufactured product. As an important tool, the industrial engineer utilizes production analysis, which offers a large scope in simplifying and standardising a product so that it is economical to manufacture and efficient in marketing.

Production analysis may be defined as the systematic study of the factor involved in producing/manufacturing and engineering product with a view to determine the optimum conditions in given situation for the attainment of the manufacturing objectives.

In industrial engineering practice, production analysis is carried out by the following question-wise technique:

1. Policy Analysis

2. Design Analysis

(i) Functional design

(ii) Aesthetic design

(iii) Production design

(iv) Design for Packaging

3. Process Analysis

4. Machine Analysis

5. Tooling Analysis

6. Workplace Analysis

7. Environmental Analysis

8. Market Analysis

9. Legal and Patent Analysis

10. Standards Analysis

1. Policy Analysis:

(i) Will the product offer adequate return for the capital to be invested?

(ii) Will the product serve a better and larger market?

(iii) What capital expenditure will he required to organise production of the product?

(iv) What capital and other overheads will be required for research and development of the product?

(v) What rates of obsolescence and depreciation are anticipated on the new equipment if needed?

(vi) Will it be possible to manufacture in line products to achieve convergent production as well as convergent distribution?

(vii) How will the new product affect the sales of the existing product/products being sold?

(viii) In view of the anticipated style change and technological advancement, what is the expected life of the new product?

2. Design Analysis:

Product design may be defined as a visible and tangible expression of an idea. It may be classified as follows:

(a) Functional design.

(b) Aesthetic design.

(c) Production design.

(d) Design for packaging.

The primary objective of the designer of consumer products is the production of quality goods at minimum price. In practice, the functional design is changed to production design to make it easy to produce. In a highly competitive market, aesthetic design plays the major role, since it is characterized by sales appeal.

The product designer must use as for as possible standard parts to minimize the cost of production. Standard components/parts, in most cases, can be purchased from outside firms specializing in their production. The product designer should have a fair idea about the possibility of simplification or diversification of the product. Any change in design should be in corporate in consultation with production department.

Therefore, the assessment of the deign should be in corporates from the point of view of functional performance, aesthetic quality, efficient production, and economic packaging etc.

(a) Functional Design:

(i) Is the specified tolerance more than what is just essential for functional requirement?

(ii) How any alteration in the dimensional tolerance will affect the cost?

(iii) Does it improve operating efficiency?

(iv) Does the product design agree with the performance specifications?

(v) Does it offer easy operating control and maintenance?

(v) Can the range of product utility be improved?

(vii) Does it offer any functional attraction in comparison with the competitor’s products?

(b) Aeshetic Design:

(i) Does the design possess optimum aesthetic values?

(ii) Does the design possess sufficient sales appeal?

(iii) Can the sales appeal be further improved without affecting the production cost?

(iv) Have the specific preferences of different markets been satisfied?

(v) When will the next style change be essential?

(c) Production Design:

(i) Is any substitution of material economical?

(ii) What is the proportion of material cost to total production cost?

(iii) What percentage of material utilization is possible?

(iv) Can standard components be in corporates in the final product?

(v) Has the present design got enough flexibility in it so that it can be redesigned from time to time?

(vi) Is the design such as the available men and machines be utilized for manufacturing?

(vii) Does the design satisfy tooling needs?

(viii) Is the design fully standardized with reference to materials, surface finish and tolerances etc.?

(ix) Has the design been done to take benefit of specialization?

(x) Does the design satisfy fully the needs of simplification?

(xi)Does the design satisfy all the requirements of manufacturing economy?

(d) Design for Packaging:

This design is considered for two district functions as follows:

(i) Designing for economic packaging.

(ii) Designing the package for economic transportation and optimum sales appeal.

(i) Designing for economic packaging:

(a) Does the product design adapt to most convenient marketable size of a package?

(b) What is the nature and characteristics of product material?

(c) Is it essential to have some additional finishing operation from the packaging point of view?

(d) If there are chances of design change for making packaging cost less?

(e) Can the assembly and disassembly operations be minimized so that the time and money involved in them are reduced?

(ii) Designing the package for economy and sales appeal:

(a) Does the package provide appropriate protection to the products during shipment and storage?

(b) Does the package design satisfy trade considerations?

(c) Does the package show brand name of the product?

(d) Does the package improve the sales appeal of the product?

(e) Can the package be produced economically?

(f) What is the cost of package material with rest to the cost of the end product?

(g)Can the package be handled easily and rapidly?

3. Process Analysis:

(i) Can two or more operation be combined?

(ii) Can the operation/process be eliminated?

(iii) Is there an better operation/process available?

(iv) Can any particular operation be performed earlier or later with benefit?

(v) Is it possible to change manual operations into automatic or mechanical?

(v) Can the operations/process be simplified?

(vii) Is it possible to improve transportation and handling?

(viii) Is an additional operation justifiable by the savings it may cause in subsequent operations?

4. Machine Analysis:

(i) Does the product machining utilize the existing machines available in the plant?

(ii) Do the machines possess the capability of producing the required quality and quantity?

(iii) What is the hourly machining cost and how it is comparable if done on other machines?

(iv) What is the relation between the machining cost and the total cost of production?

(v) Is it a special purpose machine? If not, is there any scope in that direction?

(vi) Does it need highly skilled manpower to work on such machines?

(vii) If so can the operation be simplified so as to utilize less skilled man power for the job? (viii) Does the equipment possess up to date accessories and required controls?

(ix) Can two or more machines be operated by an operator?

(x) Is the machine provided with necessary safety devices?

(xi) What maintenance routine of machines has been provided and how is this an-arrangement kept under control?

(xii) Has the possibility of adopting preventive maintenance, particularly for key machine been investigated?

5. Tooling Analysis:

(i) Is it time consuming to get the tools?

(ii) Can the jigs and fixtures being utilized be improved to increase production or improve the quality of the product?

(iii) Is it possible to decrease the set up time?

(iv) Has the economic tool life for tools in individual operations and in multi tool setups been established?

(y) Does the design require modification to facilitate production tooling?

(vi) Is the cost of tools justified?

(vii) Is the tool grinding process standaidized?

(viii) Can a new job he set up on the machine while another one is being machined?

6. Workplace Analysis:

(i) Do the environment possess proper ventilation, and lighting?

(ii) Have the motion economy principles been adopted in the design of the workplace?

(iii) Can the motions be combined, simplified and balanced?

(iv) Can mechanical handling system he employed, modified or revised to improve productivity?

(v) Should the layout be reoriented?

(v) Are there any unwanted motions?

(vii) Does the work place possess proper seating for workers?

(viii) Does the workers have enough space around them?

(ix) Are the tools, materials and controls properly located? Are there work bins of suitable design?

(x) Is the worker trained for the motion pattern designed for his work?

7. Market Analysis:

(i) Does the products match the consumer needs, like shape size and colour etc.?

(ii) Is it within the buying power of the consumers?

(iii) Is it able to fight market competition?

(iv) Has it got any extra sales value?

(v) What is the selling price of the product?

(vi) Is there any provision of after sales service? If no such provision, how it affect the sales

(vii) Is maintenance possible by the user without some specific training programme?

(viii) How the skill of the user affect the functional success of the product?

(ix) Do the user require any specific training? If so do adequate facilities exit?

8. Legal and Patent Analysis:

(i) Does the design have some legal restrictions?

(ii) Is the product legally saleable unrestricted in all markets?

(iii) Can the patent for the product be taken?

(iv) Do the company have adequate patent rights to prevent infringement suits?

(v) Does the company have patent protection to prevent competition?

(vi) What public safety precautions are required?

9. Standards Analysis (Standardizing and Analysing Standards from Time to Time):

(i) Have the design procedures been standardised?

(ii) Has the product reached that development stage where standardization should be effected?

(iii) Can minimum variety of materials be utilized by changes in design and production procedures?

(iv) Is the assembly possible with minimum number of components?

(v) Can the components/parts be produced with minimum variety of tools and machines?

(vi) Does the manufacture of the product offer enough scope for standardisation and specialization?

(vii) Do the manufacturing processes have been standardised?

(viii) Which of the parts are to be standardized from the aesthetic design point of view?

(ix) Have the parts been standardized from the production design point of view ‘?

(x) To what extent can the standardisation be affected is company level, national or international?

(xi) Have the tools and materials been standardized?

(xii) Does the review required for existing standards?

4. Essay on the Product Development:

The product to be brought in the market by an organization/company may be original product tor which there is no competition or the enterprise might attempt to compete with other companies in serving the society with existing type of products.

The competition may be for products similar in design or manufacture or for products which are entirely different in design and manufacture but both serve the same purpose. Product development and design are closely connected with production planning system.

In product development two aspects i.e., (i) to modify the existing product for customer’s satisfaction (ii) to project a new product in the market in view of market survey reports, need consideration.

Any new enterprise or industry which wants to compete with the other existing industrial houses by bringing out the pro duct of same design with similar production technique must produce that product of superior quality with low price.

In case the new enterprise fails in bringing the product with the above characteristics the consumer may not like to purchase product, so for remaining ahead of the other contestants the concerned enterprise has to gain good standing in the market.

Thus development is the fabrication of new or modified product and then testing it to find its usefulness. The research and development wings are thus concerned with all aspects of the product design and applications including quality, reliability, efficiency, alternative materials, wastage control etc.

Product is developed keeping in view essential requirements like:

(i) Keeping the costs as low as possible to earn profits.

(ii) To capture market by better sales.

(iii) Changing requirements of consumers regarding product characteristics.

To achieve these objectives the latest inventions/developments in the concerned field and in the products available in the market must be considered.

5. Essay on the Company Policy Regarding Product Development :

What is the effect of proposed product on the other existing products in the market or what is the product policy of an enterprise and how does it affect the design of the new product? This is an important factor to be considered by the management of the company.

All companies have got some sort of product policy but it always varies depending upon the circumstances and market situation. If the product development policy of industries is analysed in general, it can be divided into two parts.

The first part of the policy is formulated on the bases of the assumption that goods produced by the organisation may not have a long life but should be sold out at reasonable rates in large volumes. This will result in considerable profits.

The second part is to develop tactics and methodology to achieve fundamental aims of the organisation thus to be more competitive. Because of this competitive feeling, some special features are incorporated in the produced so that the purchase potential of the customers may be persuaded.

But there are many other factors affecting the competitive situation such as technical conditions of the existing machines and equipment, the maintenance these involves or to change the existing with new machines for obtaining higher productivity and related financial aspects.

Some companies define their aim as highest quality and reliability whatsoever the cost may be. In the case of craft industry, precision instrument industries, computer manufacturers and other sophisticated equipment, this concept is very much relevant since the accuracy and safety are paramount and cost is secondary.

In such cases the number of products/items produced per annum is rather small and inspite of high price of the finished article, the firm cannot expect to yield a very high profit from this line of business alone.

However most companies say that their aim is at striking a satisfactory balance between very high quality and a reasonable price. Other go further and contend to improve this balance in favour of the consumer by improving the quality without increasing the price of the product by way of improving the methods of production and sometimes offering same quality at reduced price.

In inflationary times when decrease in price of the product is not possible, the aim may be towards curbing the rate of increase in the product price to that below the cost of similar products available in the market.

6. Essay on the Factors to be Considered in Product Development and Design:

1. product characteristics:.

Many factors are to be analysed in connection with the product development and design. Product characteristics is one of those factors.

The following four aspects are considered under product characteristics:

1. Functional Aspect

2. Operational Aspect

3. Durability and Dependability Aspects

4. Aesthetic Aspects.

1. Functional Aspect:

When the marketing possibilities of a product have been explored, the functional scope of the product has to be carefully analysed and properly defined. The definition of the objective of a product does speak about the complete functional scope of the product.

A mixer, grinder, for example, has a clearly defined objective to grind and mix or shake the various items. Basically the mixer consists of a motor and a speed control unit but it has to be designed so as to serve with all attachments.

Now the customer has to decide and define the functional aspect of the food mixer unit compatible with his requirements, taste and paying capacity.

Similarly in other products, the functional scope of the product/unit may be in the form of detachable accessories attachments and the usage can be left to the customer decision. So the functional aspect is concerned with the ease and efficiency of the product performance.

2. Operational Aspect:

After knowing the functional aspect of a product, it is relevant to consider the operational aspect. It is not important only that the product should function properly but is should also be easy to understand and simple to operate.

Sometimes the product has to be suitable for various operational conditions and very often it is subjected to varying degrees of expertise of workers or operators. With this trend for increased versatility of products, the products should be designed in such a way that by using basic attachments it should be possible to build a suitable combination for specific purposes.

Thus the versatility of products/machines should also be analysed in the light of above discussion. Especially if some operations are to be carried out with the aid of different accessories or attachments, the designer should always bear in mind the time required for an operator to perform the changeover operation. The tendency should be short get ready and short put away period.

3. Durability and Dependability:

The economic analysis of the cost of product is essential in view of the fact that durability and dependability are closely related with the selection of materials and workmanship. Since quality is the degree of perfection so it is not easy to define this characteristic, but durability and dependability are the factors that often determine quality of a product and thus have to be carefully considered by the designer.

Durability may be defined as length of active life or continuance of the product under given working conditions. Durability may not always be connected with selection of good materials. An additional criterion regarding quality is dependability, which may be defined as the capability of a product to function to satisfaction when called upon to do its job.

Another aspect of durability is that of maintainability which may be defined as the ease with which a product/equipment can be maintained. This is of particular importance in case the machine is supposed to work continuously and also when any repair and maintenance involves a loss of running time.

4. Aesthetic Aspect:

Aesthetic aspect is concerned with the appearance and look of the product. Where the dependability, durability, functional scope and operational aspects of the product have already been defined aesthetic aspect is mainly concerned with final shape of the product. Depending upon the man’s aesthetic taste gradual changes in appearance or the product are taking place.

In some cases, however, moulding of final shape of the product may have financial implications for instance the product may require the addition of some special materials and processes in addition to those basically required from the operational and functional point of view. In such cases careful cost analysis of the aesthetic aspects will be required.

In case of consumer products aesthetics may be the governing factor in design e.g., appearance of automobiles and other household utilities/equipment or fashion goods. When styling is a dominant factor in product design it is utilised for creating demand and sometimes monopolise the market.

The following aspects should be considered by the designer to bring out aesthetic characteristics:

(i) Does the new product design have optimum aesthetic values?

(ii) Has the design got sufficient sales appeal?

(iii) Can the sales appeal be further improved without affecting the economy of the manufacturing system?

(iv) Have the specific preferences of different markets and consumer taste been satisfied?

(v) When will the next style change be necessary?

Thus aesthetics have been fully recognised as an integral part of design and no designer can ignore the implications of this aspect in order to monopolize the market and build the future of the organisation.

2. Standardisation:

The establishment of the standards for the product and the coordination of the various industrial factors to comply with these standards and their maintenance for a certain period during which these standards are effective is called “industrial standardisation.”

By standardisation we mean the voluntary fixation of standard dimensions, equipment, quality and practice, with a view of having a large production of only limited number of varieties.

Standardisation is the process of defining and applying the conditions required to ensure that a given range of needs can normally be met with a minimum variety in a reproducible and economic way on the basis of current technical know-how.

Purpose of Standardisation:

(i) As is evident from the definition of standardisation, it is must for the development of industry. It is very true that no industry can flourish and survive if it does not adopt standardisation.

(ii) Standardisation helps in establishing the interchange-ability of products.

(iii) With decrease in supervision and allied work the total cost of the product is reduced, and

(iv) It brings uniformity in quality and performance of the product.

Procedure of Standardisation:

(1) Identify the market demand with the help of market research and post-sales data.

(2) Define a standard range of products.

(3) From the defined range, the designer may develop the minimum variety of components to match the already defined range of products.

Areas of Standardisation:

(i) Within a defined range, the physical dimensions and tolerances of components.

(ii) The rating of infrastructure facilities like machines and equipment may be in terms of units of energy, temperature or current, voltage or speed etc.

(iii) Physical, chemical characteristics or specifications of materials.

(iv) Methods of testing the properties or performance of machines/equipment.

(v) Methods of installation of equipment keeping in view the minimum precautionary measures and convenience of use.

Advantages of Standardisation:

(1) Standardisation reduces the complexity of the manufacturing system.

(2) It lowers down the direct cost of manufacture/production.

(3) The indirect cost of manufacturing is also reduced due to less supervision and engineering skill required.

(4) Standardisation eases the process of purchase and stock control.

(5) The cost of inspection of incoming materials is reduced due to standardisation.

(6) Standardisation helps in the process of interchange-ability of products.

(7) The production and delivery of standardized goods is easy in comparison with those specially produced.

(8) Since perfection is possible only with practice and repetition, products which are standardised will be more satisfactory and reliable than those specially manufactured.

(9) Manufacturers can gain confidence of the consumer by introducing and maintaining standards.

(10) The repair and maintenance of standardised goods/products is quite easy, simple and less costly.

Limitations of Standardisation:

(1) Standardisation hinders in the process of product development due to uniformity, monotony and non-flexibility etc.

(2) Standardisation reduces the variety of products to be offered to consumer.

(3) Changes in consumer taste may affect sales volumes.

(4) The workers are unable to apply their brain, skill and efforts for improving the productivity and quality of products.

(5) In view of standardisation the products having the same end use may not be conceived or manufactured due to its effect on the brain of manufacturer and consumers.

3. Product Simplification and Diversification:

The product simplification is related with standardisation or it is the process of reducing the variety of products. Product simplification may be defined as the elimination of extraneous or marginal lines of products.

In this case we try to cut down the range of products their sizes and types. So the use of extra basic materials in the manufacturing of the products is eliminated and the complex techniques of manufacturing also simplified.

Product diversification is just reverse of product simplification. It deals with more lines of products, more types and sizes etc. This is done to increase the variety. It involves the addition of basic materials, latest techniques of manufacturing thus resulting in complexities, in production system.

Factors Concerned with Simplification and Diversification:

1. Nature and Utilisation of Products:

When the product is of capital goods nature, fewer variety and sizes are required. But in case of consumer goods the types and sizes required should be more or good variety should be there. For purchase of capital or producer goods the criteria may be performance, economic operation and maintenance etc.

Thus firms manufacturing capital goods where variety offered is minimum should follow simplification and improving sales appeal. Simplification will be followed in case of monopoly of a product in the market.

2. Competition with other Manufacturers:

When there is tough competition in the market, the effort of each firm will be to root out the other enterprises by offering large variety of products at cheaper rates. In such cases each enterprise will try to follow diversification and improving sales appeal. Simplification will be followed in case of monopoly of a product in the market.

3. Sales Price and Sales Volume:

The simplification of product may decrease the sales appeal but it will certainly reduce the manufacturing cost which may result in higher sales volume. Diversification will lead to sales appeal but the manufacturing cost may go up. Thus sales volume will increase leading to the same profits.

Advantages of Simplification:

(1) Simplification reduces inventory stocks, since fewer types and sizes of raw materials are to be purchased so it results in better inventory control.

(2) Simplification may lead to manufacturing cost reduction.

(3) Less complex manufacturing techniques may be required.

(4) It may lead to utilisation of special purpose machines.

(5) Simplification improves product quality due to repetition of production.

(6) It offers more ease in training employees and requires less supervision and less production planning.

(7) Simplification provides quick delivery of products and provides better after sales service.

Advantages of Diversification:

(1) The customer’s desire and requirements will be met by greater variety of products.

(2) Seasonal products may be manufactured by diverting the existing manufacturing facilities and may by distributed through existing sales outlets.

(3) The risk of change in demand is reduced.

(4) The change in demand for one or two products will not affect the total sales due to variety offered to consumer and utilising the existing infrastructural facilities to full extent.

Disadvantages of Diversification:

(1) The manufacturing or production cost is increased.

(2) Diversification leads to large and varied inventories of inputs and finished items.

(3) A larger variety of equipment may be required.

(4) Highly skilled man power may be required.

(5) Difficulties of production planning will increase for achieving requisite production by following diversifications.

(6) Training of man power is a problem.

When to Shift to Diversification:

Before adopting diversification the management of the enterprise should answer the following questions:

(1) Can the existing infrastructural facilities i.e. equipment and machines be utilised?

(2) Can the existing sales and distribution facilities be utilised adopting diversification of product lines?

(3) Can the existing manpower i.e. technical and managerial be utilised?

(4) Will it be beneficial to shift to diversification for the organisation?

4. Specialisation:

Specialisation means confining the production activity within a narrow field to attempt and in many cases it may be proved to be extreme limit of standardisation and simplification.

Specialisation means concentrating efforts on a particular field of action or towards a specific attempt. Thus it is very much related to expert knowledge and skill. The application of specialisation depends on type of products being manufactured, process used, function and type of the market apart from usual parameters. Product specialisation is thus the ultimate objective of variety reduction.

Advantages:

Advantages of specialisation of methods of manufacture are:

(i) Lowers down the cost of finished products.

(ii) The workers specialised in a particular activity take smaller time to complete an activity thus leading to higher productivity.

(iii) Improves product quality and saving in materials purchase.

(iv) Workers achieve a high skill and proficiency.

Disadvantages:

(1) Specialised labour and equipment are not flexible i.e., the switching over from one specialised field to another is not possible.

(2) Specialisation may result in monotony.

7. Essay on the Role of Product Development and Design:

Product development and design are closely allied to production planning system. Obviously till the product is not conceived or design is not selected planning phase cannot be started.

Whenever a new product is projected/introduced in the market, the designer has to bear in mind the available resources of the plant and the possible implications of the plant in order to acquire, modify or substitute equipment and assets or sub-contract various parts/components, sub-assemblies to ancillaries or other suppliers. Proper product planning is essential in order to overcome all these problems.

First of all the selection of a profitable product is essential and for the enterprise to be a good success, the owners, shareholders must Select products which can find good market.

Every industry wants to improve the design of its product more and more in order to capture the market. This is the fundamental of the management policy to achieve the target.

Even after the new product is well conceived, developed and marketed, the development function should not end. Product development and design in real practice should be regarded as a continuous and dynamic function.

Though the progress of product development is slow at the initiation stage, usually the rate of development follows a steep curve after the product development project is approved. Any product of which ever type it may be must have two broad objectives i.e.

(A) Immediate objectives:

(B) Ultimate objectives:

(a) Immediate objectives of a product are:

(i) To stimulate sales function.

(ii) To provide new look and offer new or added advantages.

(iii) To utilize the existing equipment/machines/assets and skilled man power.

(iv) To satisfy the customer needs.

(b) The ultimate objectives of a product are of more importance and permanent value. These are:

(i) To monopolise the market and tie the consumer to only branded products.

(ii) To make possible the production of quality products on quantity basis or to follow the mass production system of manufacturing.

(iii) To cut down the cost of production and to give this benefit to consumers.

Related Articles:

• Top 6 Techniques for Improving Product Design Process
• New Product Design Process: 6 Major Steps Involved

Essay , Industry , Industrial Engineering , Product , Product Development and Design

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Essay On Product Development

Product Development is vital for a business’s survival. Yet it must also be balanced with product selling. Finding the right balance is the prime goal in looking for maximum profit. According to Smith and Reinertsen (1998), time is worth money. Products that are sold earlier would ensure that a business has earlier profits. This means that certain levels of product development could be sacrificed in order to ensure that a product is released fast in order to maximize profit due to longer sales as compared to products that are released later.

A product that is released early, however, could suffer from low quality or marketing and thus have a small customer base. Thus it is also vital that product development could also be prioritized rather than early product selling. A product that is developed more, and thus released later, could spell higher profit due to customer demand for higher quality and a larger customer base.

In the long run, this could spell a larger profit from products which are released earlier but still lack development. A next concept in the maximizing of profit related to product development is the speed of product development. A product that undergoes quick development would take competitors by surprise by dominating the market even before the competitor’s products are released. It could also mean that customers would develop brand loyalty to the product.

Order custom essay Essay On Product Development with free plagiarism report

Furthermore, a switch-over could cost to a competitor’s product, which underwent slower but higher development, could become expensive and thus they remain loyal to the original product Nevertheless, a product that is released later could have more profits due to commanding a higher price than the original product. Whatever strategy a company makes, product development and product market release go hand in hand in the search for profit.

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Product development.

886 words | 3 page(s)

Airports are an integral part of the national and international transportation system, and they play a major role in the nation’s economic stability. Thus, it is extremely important for airlines to develop systems that promote efficiency, promptness and overall consumer satisfaction. But as airlines continue to change rules and regulations, one of the controversial issues involving baggage remains a huge debate among passengers and airline companies. With the rising cost of boarding and baggage fees, many consumers are opting for carry-on luggage versus checking bags in at the airport. Also, the fear of lost luggage, delays and long waiting lines deter many consumers from bringing large amounts of baggage on trips. The perpetual airport baggage debate shows the urgent need for an innovative baggage process system that will minimize delays and secure luggage. Thus, Stocking, DeLong, Braunagel, & Healy (2009) found that research and timely information pertaining to operational issues and passenger complaints can help airlines develop an effective integrated organization system that can help to reduce delays, wait time and other issues that adversely affect the consumer airport experience.

Technology is the chief driver of innovative developments and business initiatives (Baltzan & Phillips, 2011). With evolving industry trends, it is extremely important for organizations to continue to develop new, innovative products to maintain success and offset competition. Swanson (1994) found that Information Systems (IS) is essential to an organization’s success, and it is rapidly growing and changing the scope of operations within a business. Information technology in the airline industry has expanded to include new operation tasks in data administration, network management and other technologically advanced areas. “The meshing of new technology with organization design, process, strategy, and external relationships appears to be one of the most important issues of the next decade” (Swanson, 1994, p. 1069). Ultimately, it is vital for organizations to implement technological advances into product development to ensure efficacy and longevity.

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Moreover, a technology-based approach to product development will allow organizations to develop systems, which “show an objective return in terms of cost, efficiency, effectiveness or, more typically, all three” (Clarke, 2007, p. 7). Thus, technology plays a major role in innovation and creative product development. Also, classification and alignment of information systems within a particular airline is extremely important for airlines to effectively manage information systems (Marks & Rietsema, 2014). Thus, functional aligning systems will provide more strategic organization and allow users to easily management technology systems within a particular airport. O’Brien & Marakas (2010) found that enterprise collaboration with different IT technologies such as the Internet and Intranet can also help enhance product development and boost competitive advantage among companies.

Another key element of product development within airline organizations is airport information systems security. With past terrorist activists, most notably, 9/11, airport security has changed in order to ensure the overall safety of all passengers. New stricter rules and regulations for boarding have been implemented to help make sure that no illegal items, weapons or terroristic activity takes place on the flight. Wilson (2003) found that increased security measures that involve sharing and exchanging information between different airport services will allow access control and authentication to be effective in all airports. Each airline has a different airport environment that requires different security methods, but implementing a universal security measure that can be used interchangeably among airports can help strengthen communications and security in the airline industry as a whole.

Furthermore, cost is an important factor to consider when creating innovative product developments. Watson (2013) found that more frugal and minimal resources can be effective in helping to implement information systems within organizations. This will allow airlines to develop cost-saving systems that will be effective in product development that can possibly lower baggage cost and other fees associated with boarding. Cost-effective techniques are essential to organizations because it allows organizations to lower fees and allocate additional funds towards other critical areas of the airline organization. Thus, this is extremely beneficial for all airlines and especially for consumers who are not pleased with high baggage fees. Ultimately, product development that requires scarce resources will help organizations to maintain profit and increase consumer satisfaction by lowering fees.

Edmondson & Nembhard (2009) found that teamwork is a critical component of product development. “In today’s organizations, the design, development and production of new products is a fast-paced interdisciplinary endeavor—calling for teams rather than highly structured functional organizations to get the job done” (Edmondson & Nembhard, 2009, p. 124). Thus, teamwork allows professionals from different departments within an organization to utilize their diverse skills and expertise to develop the highest quality product in the shortest amount of time. Thus, developing an integrated information system that is inclusive of all department leaders will broaden the product development process. Essentially, an effective teamwork strategy will help to improve information systems within airlines.

Overall, the implementation of focus groups will help organizations research and develop effective product development methods. Thus, focus groups allow professionals to collaborate, and they can be tailored to meet the distinct needs and trends of a particular airline work environment. Langford & McDonagh-Philp (2002) found that focus group research “provides a basic structure to the elicitation of user needs, but also provides an adaptable method that includes a high level of informality” (p. 67). Thus, understanding the needs and requirements of a particular airport service is detrimental to developing an effective product strategy that will help to improve critical areas of the organization.

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The New Product Development Essay Example

• Pages: 5 (1151 words)
• Published: July 14, 2018
• Type: Case Study

The company has a plan to expand its product development into utility or sports products in order to strengthen its position in the market. This strategy aims to tap further into existing markets with fashionable products. Compared to other competitors, the company ranks well and has a market share of 20.2% in fashionable luxury items, highlighting the competitiveness of the industry. The objective is to increase market share in the luxury industry, resulting in higher sales. Competition is a major concern in the luxury fashion industry and although the company competes well, it strives to improve its interior (currently capped at 5) and safety (currently capped at 4) features. Improving these factors will help position the company favorably in this highly competitive industry. To address significant performance operational issues, despite high initial operating costs involved, the company plans to establish two new development centers

: one that focuses on utility vehicles and sports cars, and another that primarily focuses on creating new designs for the company's products.The company's decision to develop timeless and high-performing products aims to deliver customer satisfaction and attract potential customers. The significant upgrade by the D team on their family car showcases their competitiveness and justifies the need for the company's model upgrade. By gaining a competitive advantage, the objective is to increase demand for family cars. Furthermore, increasing marketing efforts will position the company in the market and inform potential customers about product availability and usability. This strategy takes advantage of the drop in industry sales in fashionables, providing an opportunity for increased sales. Additionally, marketing will help penetrate traditional markets held by competitors. Enhancing manufacturing support and technology improvement targets the

low production of utility vehicles, allowing the company to capitalize on returns and leverage competitors' market share. Ultimately, this decision will lead to increased production of products that meet customer demand.Despite facing intense competition, the company has managed to outperform its rivals, especially in the fashionable sector, as demonstrated by environmental analysis. The utility sector aims to enhance its performance by establishing a new development center and adopting new technology. An important issue during this period is the need for technology that supports the newly established development centers. Upgrading the luxury car is a strategic move to position it as a superior and more appealing option compared to the family car, thereby boosting sales. Furthermore, there are plans to develop a high-end sports car to meet demand in the luxury market and establish a strong presence in this segment. The economic environment has presented challenges with significant drops in vehicle prices and a decline in market shares for the company. Despite investing 20% of sales into research and development, overcapacity remains an ongoing concern. Keeping Technology unchanged is crucial since the current products have not been performing poorly. Additionally, implementing new technology would be costly given these challenging economic times but would ultimately result in reduced expenses for the company. More marketing efforts are needed for First-Class and Fantastic models as they performed below expectations compared to other models with only a 17% increase in sales.To enhance sales, it is vital to intensify marketing efforts and promote these products to potential consumers. This will help position the products in their minds and ultimately lead to increased sales. The company's underperformance necessitates Environmental Analysis training. By

undergoing this training, the company can potentially increase returns by approximately $40m. The unsatisfactory returns and decline in production capacity (from 71 to 60 units) within the first-class sector are primarily caused by significant operational issues. To address this, upgrading the first-class models is necessary as it aims to decrease per-unit costs and overall vehicle expenses, resulting in reduced prices of the vehicles. Consequently, this would attract more customers and lead to a higher number of purchases. Upgrading the Free-Spirit (Utility) models is crucial as well since it would enhance their appeal and attractiveness to customers in the 4U category, thereby increasing the company's value. The objective behind attracting more customers in this segment is to achieve higher product prices and improved returns for the company. In terms of environmental analysis, technology upgrade across various sectors is a key factor that needs attention, particularly focusing on free-spirit and luxury sectors. Another major operational concern pertains to using spare money for repurchasing company stock with an aim of reducing excess liquid cash while simultaneously increasing stock price. However, if the cash is spent and the stocks do not respond, it could have catastrophic consequences for the company. The objective of this decision is to enhance marketing of the Flash. The aim is to effectively reach potential customers and increase awareness of the product, as there is currently relatively low awareness. Implementing this strategy will lead to greater awareness and eventual increased purchases.

Another decision aims to adjust numbers accordingly in order to lower overall prices compared to competitor D. This adjustment is intended to boost luxury sales to around 80k + flex, free spirit production to approximately 40k

+ flex, and break sales for the Flash at 70k.

In terms of environmental analysis, advancements have been made in technology within the company's Interior sector, ranking it at 7. Efforts have also been made in product development to make the Free-Spirit more appealing to customers.

There are significant performance operational issues arising from a decline in market share among Achievers. Market share has dropped from 50.9% to 44.5%. Based on previous successful performance, the segment aims to enhance competitiveness of the First Class which has been underperforming. This will be achieved by increasing its inventory from 18k to 70k and upgrading accordingly.In addition, implementing a stock buyback will aid in raising the company's stock shares and stabilizing stock prices. This action will ultimately result in an enhancement of the company's value and an improved market positioning. In terms of environmental analysis, competition poses a significant challenge for the company, particularly from its main competitor, Delta. Historically, this rivalry has had an effect on market prices. Furthermore, the company faces noteworthy operational difficulties within the dealership market as it lags behind its competitor. This imbalance could potentially have adverse effects since customers tend to prefer assertive sellers.

To tackle these challenges and sustain growth, the company has made the decision to intensify marketing efforts and expand their store network. This strategic choice is based on recognizing that after periods of technological advancements and increased production capacity, it becomes crucial for the company to prioritize marketing their products.

Additionally: 1) Opening new stores is essential as it allows for efficient distribution of increased products in non-traditional markets, thus generating higher returns. 2) The economic outlook appears promising for the company due to

an 8% surge in car sales – a critical environmental factor that aligns with the company's focus on positioning. 3) Nonetheless, there has been a decline in the company's market share from 4.3% to 3.7%. While not currently a major concern, further decreases would have negative ramifications.

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To Kill A Mockingbird Atticus Character Development

To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, had a lot of character development. But what is the best? As displayed in the book, Atticus carries a lot of strengths and weaknesses but, throughout the story, his “true colors” shine through, and the readers discover the real him. One display of development Atticus has is when he leaves home to go see Tom Robinson (his client) at the jail, but his kids, Scout and Jem and their friend Dill, follow him to make sure he is okay and know where he’s going. Once there, Scout sees a small mob of men approaching Atticus stating how Atticus should “Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.” (Lee 151) Meaning that they want to harm Tom Robinson for all he “did” to Mayella Ewell. When things started getting a little more heated, Scout jumped in front of Atticus and started insulting the men, saying things like “Hey, Mr. Cunningham”. …show more content…

Just saying that to make Mr. Cunningham double think his decisions since Atticus was so kind to help him in court, and now he turned and did the thing all to Atticus. After the men ran off after some time, they all left and went home, just to receive no punishment for sneaking out. Aunt Alexandra called Atticus a bad father for letting his kids just get off the hook and not get in trouble and criticized his parenting skills. This led to later in the novel when Atticus stepped up and showed how well of a parent he is. Atticus also showed development and growth when he heard Tom Robinson passed away. Especially when he went to Tom’s house to tell his family he had passed away, he guided a little child down the steps with his hand, displaying much kindness toward the family. Also, when breaking the news to Helen Robinson she collapses to the floor and Atticus carries her inside, showing a level of respect and kindness towards her filled with sympathy. After that, when Atticus stepped outside to leave, Bob Ewell was standing by Atticus’s car waiting for

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The southern gap

In the american south, an oligarchy of planters enriched itself through slavery. pervasive underdevelopment is their legacy.

by Keri Leigh Merritt   + BIO

In 1938, near the end of the Great Depression, the US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt commissioned a ‘Report on the Economic Conditions of the South’, examining the ‘economic unbalance in the nation’ due to the region’s dire poverty. In a speech following the report , Roosevelt deemed the South ‘the nation’s No 1 economic problem’, declaring that its vast levels of inequality had led to persistent underdevelopment.

Although controversial, Roosevelt’s comments were historically accurate. The president’s well-read and highly educated young southern advisors had convinced him that the South’s political problems were partially a result of ‘economic colonialism’ – namely, that the South was used as an extractive economy for the rest of the nation, leaving the region both impoverished and underdeveloped. Plantation slavery had made the planters rich, but it left the South poor.

Unlike the industrialising North and, eventually, the developing and urbanising West, the high stratification and concentrated wealth of the 19th-century South laid the foundations for its 20th-century problems. The region’s richest white people profited wildly from various forms of unfree labour, from slavery and penal servitude to child indenture and debt peonage; they also invested very little in roads, schools, utilities and other forms of infrastructure and development. The combination of great wealth and extreme maldistribution has left people in the South impoverished, underpaid, underserved and undereducated, with the shortest lifespans in all of the United States. Southerners, both Black and white, are less educated and less healthy than other Americans. They are more violent and more likely to die young.

N ow, 86 years after Roosevelt’s report, the South has returned to historically high levels of economic inequality, lagging behind the rest of the US by every measurable standard. The plight of the South is a direct result of its long history of brutal labour exploitation and its elites’ refusal to invest in their communities. They have kept the South in dire poverty, stifled creativity and innovation, and have all but prevented workers from attaining any kind of real power.

With the rapid industrialisation spurred by the Second World War, the South made great economic strides, but never quite caught up with the prosperity of the rest of the US. While the South’s gross domestic product has remained around 90 per cent of the US rate for dozens of years, deindustrialisation of the 1990s devastated rural areas. Since then, hospitals and medical clinics have closed in record numbers, and deaths of despair (those from alcohol, drugs or suicide) have skyrocketed, as has substance abuse. Southerners in general are isolated and lonely, and wealth and power are heavily concentrated: there are a few thousand incredibly wealthy families – almost all of them the direct descendants of the Confederacy’s wealthiest slaveholders – a smaller-than-average middle class, and masses of poor people, working class or not. The South, with few worker protections, prevents its working classes from earning a living wage. It’s virtually impossible to exist on the meagre income of a single, low-wage, 40-hour-a-week job, especially since the US has no social healthcare benefits.

The American South is typically defined as the states of the former Confederacy, stretching north to the Mason-Dixon line separating Maryland from Pennsylvania, and west to Texas and Oklahoma. Today, one-fifth of the South’s counties are marred with the ‘persistent poverty’ designation , meaning they have had poverty rates above 20 per cent for more than 30 years. Four-fifths of all persistently poor counties in the nation are in the states of the former Confederacy. The data is clear that most Southern states continue to be impoverished and politically backwards. Whether measured in terms of development, health or happiness, the region is bad at everything good, and good at everything bad.

The South was portrayed as anti-capitalist: enslavers had to be dragged into modernity against their wills

The recent popularity in liberal circles of the New History of Capitalism (NHC) to explain the region’s exceptionalism has slowed in recent years. The NHC emerged in the 2000s and 2010s, as one historian wrote , by claiming ‘slavery as integral, rather than oppositional, to capitalism.’ It seems likely that during the post-Cold War triumph of capitalism, a subset of historians began trying to tie much of the past to the term – with the most extreme instance being the insistence that slavery was the key to American capitalism. While the NHC scholars rarely define terms like ‘capitalism’, the problems with their theories are more than academic. Unfortunately, presenting enslavers as cunning, profit-driven businessmen not only obscures important features about the past, it also downplays immense regional differences in economic development.

Thinking back over the NHC trends, it is important to note how other scholars, both past and present, have presented the problems of the region, and discuss issues that may have been obscured by a heavy emphasis on business and ‘slavery’s capitalism’. As the economic historian Gavin Wright has pointed out , the NHC’s central claim, echoed in The New York Times ’ Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘1619 Project’ – that slavery was essential for American economic growth – ignored decades of accepted historiographical work on capitalism and slavery. It also contradicted nearly everything economists have argued regarding slavery’s impact on the South’s (under)development.

Beginning in the 1960s, many historians classified the South, from the days of slavery until the Second World War, as distinctively precapitalist in significant ways. They saw the region as having a type of ‘merchant’ or ‘agrarian’ capitalism, and never considered the states of the Old Confederacy as shrewdly ‘capitalist’ (the term itself without any modifiers). Primarily due to the absence of a free labour society, but also because of the lack of infrastructure and development within the region – a place with few cities, little industrialisation, and few social services – the South was often portrayed as distinctly anti-capitalist: enslavers had to be dragged into modernity against their wills.

After the Second World War industrialisation boom ushered the South into a more fully capitalist society, it essentially became a colonial economy to the North, as it courted investment and corporations from the capital-rich Northeastern US. Existing in a dependency-type of relationship, it was never really the South – or southern labour, no matter how unfree or brutalised – driving the US economy.

Finally, contrary to the position that American slavery represents the key or essence of capitalism, the most recent scholarship regarding economic analysis of slavery argues that the institution was not economically efficient. All these points highlight the need for studies on growth, and more importantly, on underdevelopment. Slavery made the planters very rich, but it made the South very poor. In the 19th century, capitalism, even industrial capitalism, did not bring the South to the developmental standards of the rest of the nation. The question remains: why is that so?

I f we turn from looking at planters to studying labour, we see that elite capture of the state is bad for democracy and worse for development. It also helps us distinguish between growth and development, highlighting the unevenness of both in different areas of the US. The US is a large country and awareness of the difference between growth and development can help us see that perhaps it makes more sense to compare the American South with places in the Global South rather than the American North or West.

To begin with, southern militias proved an effective imperial military tool during the brutal process of Indian Removal, which lasted into the 20th century. The white colonialist push westward robbed Native Americans of the greatest wealth the region has: land. That land eventually became the richest white people’s main source of power, owned by the few and guarded like a religion. Elite white southerners were obsessed with intermarriage and have kept their fortunes intact for generations. While they hoarded riches and resources for themselves, they neglected to invest in the communities in which they lived. With few improvements in technology and development, the South’s dependence on slavery enriched enslavers and their descendants, but it left the rest of the region, both people and resources, deeply and cyclically impoverished.

Americans think of the US as having been at a crossroads in 1860, between slavery and freedom, but that impasse was more than just political and ideological: it was also economic. While the North had made fantastic gains over the previous decades by investing in its people, from education to infrastructure, the South lagged far behind. The wealthy enslavers refused to invest in the poor and middling-class whites surrounding them, finding no compelling reason to put money into communities they would move away from as soon as the western spread of slavery beckoned. In terms of development, whether infrastructure, education, healthcare or wealth distribution, the South remained woefully underdeveloped in comparison with the rest of the country.

The Deep South instead functioned more like an oligarchy or aristocracy

With one-third of the nation’s population in 1860, the South was responsible for only 10 per cent of US manufacturing output, and possessed only 10 per cent of the nation’s manufacturing labour force and 11 per cent of its manufacturing capital. Its transportation system, best described as like a ‘conveyor-belt’, transported goods effectively but did little for people. The northern and even western US had been investing in building schools and providing free public education, but the cotton South left its people to fend for themselves: education was reserved for the rich. The North built hospitals, asylums and places for the invalid and indigent; the South built jails and prisons.

Far from a democratic region, the Deep South instead functioned more like an oligarchy or aristocracy. As W E B Du Bois wrote in 1935: ‘Even among the 2 million slaveholders, an oligarchy of 8,000 really ruled the South.’ The wealthiest slaveholders wielded immense and pervasive power as lawmakers, law-enforcers, judges and even jury members. They dominated the region’s politics and devised multiple ways to disenfranchise their poorer fellow countrymen. The oligarchic structure of the 19th-century South meant that the men who controlled government also controlled everything else in society, from rental properties and bank loans to arrest warrants and vigilante violence.

In fact, the enormous cost of the South’s implementation of its various forms of unfree labour still haven’t been adequately calculated. The ubiquitous, police-state-like criminal justice system, complete with slave patrols and night riders, the overseers and slave-drivers and catchers and other middlemen who had to be hired to keep people working – none of that has truly been accounted for yet. Recently, the economists Richard Hornbeck and Trevon Logan challenged decades of accepted scholarship concerning the cost-effectiveness of slavery, arguing that slavery was inefficient when ‘including costs incurred by enslaved people themselves’. Under this view, emancipation produced major economic gains.

The first years of Reconstruction brought immense changes to the South: a free labour economy threatened to change the entire social order as Black politicians courted poor white voters for a cross-racial, class-based coalition. For the first time, the region experienced democratic elections, open to all men, Black and white. The new state legislators established a system of public education. They began funding public works and infrastructure. They started developing the region.

Despite these transformations, former slaveholding families remained rich – and powerful – because they held a near-monopoly of the only real capital left in the war-torn South: land. The leaders of the Confederate insurrection were never held accountable for treason, and the same few wealthy white families who ruled the slave South remained entrenched in power even after the war. Their enduring place at the top of Southern society helped give rise to the ‘continuity thesis’, in which some scholars argue that, despite the Civil War and Reconstruction, little changed in the US South. In many rural areas, even today, their heirs still lord over their little locales. The South’s ruling elite eventually regained complete control of the region, disenfranchising the masses, terrorising the leaders and the intellectuals and the brave, and undergirding this shadow world of unfreedoms with the ever-present threat of violence.

T he Southern elite may have, eventually, emerged from Reconstruction back on top of the South, but the region no longer dominated US politics. The US South remained overwhelmingly agricultural well into the 20th century and long after the rest of the country had become more urban. From the vital perspective of social and labour relations, the South’s transition to capitalism must be considered as late by US standards. In the 1940s and ’50s, historians began arguing that the type of capitalism in the South throughout the early 20th century was merchant capitalism (also known as mercantile, or agrarian capitalism), not industrial capitalism. Merchant capitalism is considered the earliest phase in the transition to capitalism; it is more about moving goods to market, and is characterised by the lack of industrialisation, wage labour and commercial finance. A modified version of the merchant capitalism model would be championed several decades later by Eugene Genovese whose southern ‘in but not of’ capitalism theory, replete with semi-feudalistic social relations, appeared in the 1960s and generated great interest and debate, and eventually, in the early 2000s, came under sustained attack by some US historians who emerged following the end of the Cold War.

These scholars, who eventually came to be grouped under the designation ‘the New History of Capitalism’, never truly engaged with the consequences of the fact that the slave South, in a strict sense, cannot be considered capitalist because the enslaved are unfree, forced labourers who cannot sell their labour power. Even if we sidestep the slavery-as-labour issue, vital to Marxist assessments of capitalist society, we must acknowledge that impoverished southern whites also had little to no control over their respective labour power. The power of enslaved labour consistently reduced the demand for workers, lowered their wages, and rendered their bargaining power weak to worthless. Labourers in the South, regardless of race, worked within a world ruled by degrees of freedom. Never a stark dichotomy, freedom emerged from a give-and-take process of political contestation and negotiation with the planter aristocracy. Slavery was simply one form – albeit the harshest – of a range of unfreedom, lasting well into the 20th century.

But these merchant capitalist labour market features were not simply rooted in the racism of southern white culture. Instead, elite white southerners ensured a calculated and well-codified social order, complete with exploitative labour practices, debt peonage, and continuing forms of unfree labour made possible by the burgeoning criminal justice system. To maintain power and thus control of the region, at times the elite chose to forgo higher profits in the short term so that they could keep their labour force under tighter control in the long term. This was certainly the case with industrialisation during slavery, when enslavers could have turned a much higher profit by industrialising but chose not to; they did not want to disturb the fragile hierarchy.

South Carolina – the birthplace of the Confederacy – has the lowest union membership, at 2 per cent

Compared with the rest of the US, with only a brief interruption during early Reconstruction, the South’s lack of labour power, infrastructure and internal development extended well into the 20th century. Between the violence the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists, and the lack of opportunities for poor and working-class southerners, by the mid-1870s former slaveholders and their descendants were back in complete control of the South. Due to the absence of land reform, reparations and the failure to punish Confederate leaders or confiscate Confederate property, the labour lords of the antebellum period merely became the landlords of the postbellum period. Their primary source of wealth changed, but they remained in power, controlling everything in the South and reverting to their old ways of undertaxing, underfunding and underdeveloping.

Given these facts, before the popularity of ‘the New History of Capitalism’ 20 years ago, many historians viewed the transition from slavery to capitalism as a long process because, even after emancipation, unfree labour continued to dominate a significant portion of the labour market. Some argued that forms of unfree labour persisted in the South as late as the 1920s and ’30s, and others claimed they lasted until the Second World War. Even when technically free, African American workers generally lacked the labour power necessary to be deemed a proletariat, able to effectively negotiate on a labour market. Due to predatory sharecropping contracts and debt peonage, an extremely punitive criminal justice system, and the added layer of domestic terrorism from white supremacists, the poorest people in the South, both Black and white, still worked in a society in which labour was not entirely free, that is, able to be brought to a labour market.

The South’s shadowland of unfree labour rested entirely on an undemocratic government, also meant to control labour. In the 1880s and ’90s, when Farmers’ Alliances and Populism began mounting a serious political challenge to planter domination, every southern state passed laws limiting the vote. While primarily aimed at disenfranchising Black people, the laws also disenfranchised poor white people, further concentrating each state’s political power in the hands of white elites in plantation districts. It was an effective strategy: in 1880 there were 160,000 union members in the US, and fewer than 6 per cent of them lived in the South. Today, while a record low of just 10 per cent of Americans are union members, the South’s numbers are roughly half of that, with states like South Carolina – the birthplace of the Confederacy – having the lowest union membership in the nation, just over a measly 2 per cent.

During the last third of the 19th century, the value of output rose and capital investment in the US increased tenfold. Meanwhile, most of the Deep South (outside of a few large cities like Atlanta and New Orleans) remained ‘capital starved’ and ‘technologically laggard’, as the region’s elite continued to baulk at infrastructure or other kinds of developmental investment. To secure funding, the states of the former Confederacy needed to court investment from outside the region – first the North and West, later Europe and Asia. Originally, southern politicians chased northern capital by offering them generous tax breaks and other financial incentives. Without a strong tax base or an effective bureaucracy, the region suffered further because most profits were routed out of the South back to northern owners and investors. Taken together, these things meant that, well into the 20th century, the South remained overwhelmingly rural, without a strong system of infrastructure and no good plan for development. In 1900, the country was 40 per cent urban versus the South’s 18 per cent, and 25 per cent of the US labour force was involved in manufacturing versus the South’s 10 per cent. Something had to drastically change.

F ollowing the Great Depression, which hit the rural, already-impoverished South harder than it did the rest of the nation, the New Deal influx of money, federal programmes, jobs and infrastructure helped bring the region fully into the 20th century. Perhaps most importantly, in the 1930s Roosevelt’s New Deal finally broke up the power stranglehold by the big land (plantation) owners. The South was finally able to evolve from an agricultural labour market that had pre-capitalist characteristics, shifting to a much larger industrial workforce during the Second World War. Some $4 billion in federal spending poured into the region, funding military facilities and forever ending the isolated labour market. Since 1940, the South has outperformed the rest of the US in income, job and construction growth, finally reaching about 90 per cent of national per-capita income norms. It has also remained critically behind in multiple important infrastructural and development measurements, from education and transit to poverty levels and healthcare.

Without question, the Second World War changed the South for the better. War industry jobs pulled workers from rural areas, forcing southern farms to finally mechanise. This mechanisation meant the destruction of sharecropping and tenant farming, as well as debt peonage. Workers in the South would finally be paid in wages – in cold, hard cash. And that fact was incredibly freeing.

Outside of extractive industries, the type of industry that came to dominate the South was reliant on intensive, low-wage labour, a striking difference with the rest of the US. ‘A low-wage region in a high-wage country,’ the South industrialised in a way that preserved and reinforced the class and racial status quo, even when corporations were owned by men from outside the region. Instead of being an agent of radical change, southern industrialisation preserved the region’s legacies of low taxes for the wealthy, heavy-handed labour control, and little in the way of governmental oversight or regulation.

Development is, quite simply, an essential part of restorative justice

Even as the South experienced a period of relative prosperity from the Second World War to the 1990s, with development at its peak, it never quite caught up to the rest of the nation. While there were myriad reasons for this remaining gap, historians have attempted to explain them with a type of regional dependency theory. Referring to the old Confederacy as a ‘colonial economy’, they argued that northern-owned corporations controlled southern money and power, extracting resources and exploiting cheap labour, siphoning both profits and tax dollars away from the impoverished region – all while maintaining racist practices. Adding insult to injury was that the southern economy became the domain of men from outside the South, men with no stake in the local communities their decisions ultimately affected (indeed, often devastated).

Whether or not the South was truly a colonial economy, framing it as such highlighted that the region remained impoverished, infrastructurally stunted, and underdeveloped. Even the golden era of the sunbelt South came to a bitter end by the close of the 20th century. Rural developmental problems began as far back as the 1980s, as local banks began shuttering and hospitals closed. Things worsened in the 1990s, as the economic growth the South enjoyed for decades came crashing to a halt when federal trade deals eviscerated manufacturing. The racial tolerance and progress made possible by labour unions and working-class solidarity began to erode; deindustrialisation profoundly changed the region. Never having invested much in public services, state governments continued to slash budgets through the 2000s. This not only stalled new development, it also let much of the states’ infrastructure, education and healthcare plans fall deeply into trouble, perhaps disrepair.

To address the continuing developmental gap in the poorest areas of the US, the country’s staggering levels of inequality must be addressed. Using policy to redistribute property, the South – and the nation – may finally be brought up to the standards of the rest of the developed world. From universal healthcare and a thriving public education sector to functional public transportation and reliable infrastructure, development is, quite simply, an essential part of restorative justice. With deeply progressive taxation coupled with democratic reforms, the right to organise and collectively bargain may be preserved; the right to retire fully funded; the historically racist criminal justice system switched to a Nordic model. Even the poorest rural Americans could lead lives with dignity due to governmental programmes such as a universal basic income (which would immediately lift more than 43 million people out of poverty) and a federal jobs guarantee – a concept derivative of the best aspects of the New Deal.

Today, more than a lifetime after Roosevelt’s declaration of the South as the ‘the nation’s No 1 economic problem’, nothing has changed. The South remains poor, underdeveloped, and lags behind the rest of the country by every measurable standard. It is a moral blight on the nation’s conscience, and far past time to truly lift the region out of poverty, and into the 21st century.

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