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Services in New Product Development
Strategy 2 Market is an experienced New Product Development consulting
firm whose mission is dedicated to building and enhancing the new product
development performance of your company.
Developing New Product Development Strategy
Client Issue:
“There are so many departments in my company that have an impact on
new product development. How do we get these departments working together
in the same direction and create a coherent message to our new product
development teams?”
Solution:
Strategy
represents the fundamental source of guidance for your departments and
your new product development teams. We help develop and link your organization’s
strategies for innovation, products, markets, platforms and technology
so they are self-reinforcing. We communicate these strategies with corresponding
market, product and technology
roadmaps.
Establishing a Sustainable New Product Development System
Client Issue:
“Our organization has multiple problems in developing new products.
Our products are late to market, our new product development team members
are blaming each other for product delays and problems, and on top of
all this we’re not meeting our target new product revenue goals.”
Solution:
A successful new product development function has several components
working in concert. When problems occur, usually several components
of the system have gone awry and it is time for a realignment. We start
by gaining an accurate and insightful understanding of your current
new product development system, including:
strategy,
portfolio
management,
new product development process,
culture/organizational structure,
employee skills set and
metrics. We identify the problem areas
and the most impactful solutions. We then work with your team to develop
the future state new product development system, and to fully implement
a sustainable system.
Developing a Portfolio Management and Resource Allocation System
Client Issue:
“We have too many projects that are going through the new product development
process. We can’t agree on which projects are most important, so we
just do them all. Consequently, some of our new product development
team members are assigned to as many as 5 different projects; they’re
spread just too thin, they can’t seem to complete any of their tasks
on time, and all our new product development projects are delayed for
months.”
Solution:
Resource allocation among projects in the new product development portfolio is one of the
most difficult responsibilities of the new product development management
team. One of the root causes of this difficulty is the lack of a system
for evaluating, comparing and prioritizing projects, which leaves the
team to make ad hoc prioritization decisions. Another is the lack of
a system for evaluating and prioritizing resources, which usually leads
to over-commitment of resources and project delays. We work with your
team in developing a portfolio management system that provides a portfolio-level
view across all your new product development projects. This helps facilitate
comparisons of projects on key dimensions to ensure balance on key characteristics
such as strategy, risk, size of investment, etc. We then assist your
team with the integration of the portfolio management system and the
resource management process. This will ensure optimization of your resources
so that your employees are being effectively utilized.
Increasing
New Product
Development
Revenue
Client Issue:
“I don’t have enough products in the pipeline to meet my revenue targets.”
Solution:
A lack of strong
new product ideas is a common problem
in many companies today. Reasons often include, but are not limited
to: 1) the absence of a
new product development strategy 2)
the lack of a disciplined
portfolio management system that aligns
with your strategy 3) the lack of a process for feeding the pipeline,
and 4) insufficient resources to support your new product development
goals. We work with your team to create a rigorous and
disciplined system to address these
problems, and to help you construct a robust solution that will support
your new product development goals.
Improving
Time-to-Market
Client
Issue:
“We constantly have delays getting our product to market.”
Solution:
Delay in getting products to market is a common problem with many possible
causes, such as ill-defined activities and deliverables, resources spread
too thin, frequent reprioritization of projects, inadequate checkpoints,
inadequate assessment and management of project risks, and changing
project scope with a lack of product definition.
Our view of new product development as a system enables us to help
reduce cycle time and get your products
to market faster. We have extensive experience in process improvement,
team development, and lean product development methods. We work with
your team to ensure that you get your products to market on time.
Integrating
Mergers
&
Acquisitions
Client
Issue:
“We buy a company or a technology, and it doesn’t get fully integrated
into our new product development system.”
Solution:
Integrating an acquired company into your existing new product development
function can be very difficult and fraught with confusion and stress.
Differences in process are generally identifiable, but differences in
strategy, skills, culture, and roles and responsibilities can be more
elusive and can create stumbling blocks to a successful integration.
We are experienced in evaluating the different organizations and bringing
them together through our focus on all the elements of the new product
development system.
Developing
New
Product
Development
Skills
Client Issue:
“My employees need coaching in many new product development activities;
they need a reference guide that they can refer to on an on-going basis.”
Solution:
Our proprietary customizable New Product Development Knowledge Base
will assist your employees in building important new product development
skills on an on-going basis. New Product Development Knowledge Base content corresponds
with elements of your new product development process, including strategy
approaches, business case development tools and formulas, and essential
guidance for your new product development activities. The solution can
be designed to fit most budgets and most levels of technology sophistication.
Organizing
for
Innovation
Client
Issue:
“Our New Product Development teams are not collaborating.”
Solution:
When team productivity hits rock bottom, there’s a tendency to presume
that the problem lies with the team members, when most often, the culprit
is an organization that does not support a team structure. We help your
company by
developing an organizational structure
that supports your new product development process. We also work with
your team members to help them excel in their roles.
Delivering
New
Product
Development
Seminars
Client
Issue:
“Many of our staff members do not have a good understanding of the new
product development system in its entirety. They only understand their
own individual roles and have trouble communicating across departments.
There is no common language across the departments doing new product
development. Their understanding needs to encompass the entire new product
development process, from discovery to post-mortem.”
Solution:
We can provide a common new product development language and framework
for your team members. We teach corporate and public
workshops, including the comprehensive
New Product Development Professional (NPDP) Certification Preparatory
course that is licensed by
the
Product Development Management Association (PDMA).
This course covers all the nuts and bolts of new product development,
including strategy, portfolio management, process, market research,
tools and teams.
We are also certified to teach a
Lean Product Development workshop,
and our intense 2-day proprietary
Fuzzy Front End workshop.
Understanding External Market
Factors
Client
Issue:
“We just don’t have a very good understanding of our customer. We’re
not quite sure if anyone will buy our product, and if they do, whether
we’ll make enough money to justify launching it. Will we even make a
return? Often our product development is driven by the needs and wants
of our most verbal customers.
Solution:
Sizing the market
and understanding the most
important unmet customer needs
represent significant challenges in new product development. Market
research investigations must be designed to answer the right questions
in order to generate results of meaning and value. We help you identify
the important questions that need to be answered, and work with you
to develop an appropriate research plan and methodology. From the evidence
we uncover, we find answers to the most pressing questions by applying
our expertise in a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques.
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