市场营销外文翻译

IEEETRANSACTIONS ON ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT, VOL. EM-34, NO. 3, AUGUST 1987

Defining the New Product Strategy

ROBERT G. COOPER

Abstract—New products are critical to the growth and survival of most corporations. The new product strategy is the master plan that guides the product innovation efforts of the firm, and links new product development to the corporate plan. This article looks first at what a product innovation strategy is, its role in the corporation, and why an innovation strategy is essential to an effective new product program. Next, the article focuses on the development of a new product strategy, beginning with objectives and moving to arena selection. A matrix approach to arena definition and selection is used. Empirical data from research by the author is employed in the model to prioritize new product arenas.

INTRODUCTION

NEW products are central to the growth and prosperity ofthe modern corporation. Increasingly, progressive managementsrecognize that a new product or technology strategyshould be an explicit and central element of the corporatestrategy. This article is about new productstrategy at the corporate level—about the need for a newproduct strategy, and about defining and developing such astrategy.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A NEW PRODUCT STRATEGY

New product development and technology bear an integralrelationship to a company's strategic thinking by helping todefine the range of that company's choices . For manycompanies, new products and technologies have become theleading edge of corporate strategy, opening up new market andnew business opportunities. The rapid growth of countlessfirms in office-of-the-future, bioengineering, microelectronics,and robotics is evidence of the growth potential of awell conceived new product strategy. Similarly, many oftoday's corporate giants, such as Xerox, IBM, Polaroid, andTexas Instruments, were fledgling companies only decadesago, but became great because of new product choices madeby management in earlier years.

The companies that are most likely to succeed in thedevelopment and launch of new products are those firmswhich implement a company specific approach, driven bycorporate objectives and strategies, with a well-defined newproduct strategy at its core. These are some of the conclusionsof a study of business practices by Booz-Allen

and Hamilton. There were other recommendations as well, but a productinnovation strategy ranks high on the list of the keys tosuccess.

Some firms do develop such strategies. For example,product innovation charters were described by Crawford in hisstudy of 125 firms. He notes that firms are now beginningto pull all the multifunctional elements of a new productstrategy together in one document, which specifies the types ofmarkets, products, technologies, and orientation the firm willpursue with its new product program.

PROBLEM

In spite o f the importance of new products, management canfind little help from the traditional literature in the formulationof a new product strategy. Few guidelines have beendeveloped to assist the manager in the choice of areas and thedirection for the new product program. That is, thereexist few conceptual frameworks or proven methodologies forformulating a new product strategy. Moreover, littleempirical research has been undertaken to determine thecomponents and results of firms' new product programs: thatis, how companies directly or indirectly choose new marketsand areas of technology, and organize and focus their R&Defforts in different ways.

Although there are many strategy development models inuse today, most deal with resource allocation and strategydevelopment for the firm's existing business units and existingproduct lines. For example, various portfolio models havebeen developed, essentially variations of the Boston ConsultingGroup model—cash cows, stars, dogs, and wildcats. While these portfolio or resource allocation models maysuggest new areas for product development, these modelswere developed principally to deal with products or businessesthat the company already possesses. Similarly, the PIMSmodel, another popular strategy development aid, looks atalternate strategies and their impact on profitability, but againlargely for existingbusinesses in the company. Inshort, these strategy models deal with what is rather than withwhat might be. What is lacking in these approaches is asystematic procedure for generating and choosing new strategicoptions, including new products and new businesses.

THE PRODUCT INNOVATION CHARTER

In a business context, strategy has been defined as "theschemes whereby a firm's resources and advantages aremanaged (deployed) in order to surprise and surpass competitorsor to exploit opportunities". More specifically,strategic change is defined as a realignment of the firm'sproduct/market environnent". Strategy is closely tied toproduct