STRATEGIES FOR NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

C. MERLE CRAWFORD

A leading toiletries manufacturer has an equally tenacious, though unpublicized,

commitment to only those new, nonfood,

STRATEGIES FOR NEW PRODUCT

packaged goods that do not compete itemto-item with Procter and Gamble.

Richard Rifenburgh, president of Mohawk Data Sciences, manufacturers of peripheral

DEVELOPMENT

computer equipment, was cited recently in Fortune as a man who, at the present time,

would rather be an agile follower than a

creative leader. 1 On the assumption that it

Guidelines for a critical

would be too expensive to develop frontiers, Rifenburgh prefers to wait to see on which

company problem

newly opened trails the volume of activity will fall.

All of these companies have a powerful

managerial tool-what I call a New Product

49

C. Merle Crawford is a faculty m e m b e r at the University o f Michigan.

Development Strategy Statement. They have formed convictions concerning new products

In spite of much evidence of its success, many managers hesitate to establish a policy for new product development. Their indecision

that seem most appropriate for their respective firms. Under vigorous leadership, their policies are being implemented.

often arises from two reasons: they fear that a

Contrast the clarity of these approaches

defined strategy may discourage innovation

with the following charge given to a product

and they are uncertain how to formulate a new product strategy. The author of this article discredits the former notion and, in reply to the latter, proposes the guidelines for developing such a statement. As new products are essential to the continued success of most firms, the strategy must exist and must be

development group :

... to take the lead in meeting the needs of the company's customers for improved and new products, to develop new uses for existing products, and to develop high-profit products for introduction to existing and potential customers.

operant if the firm is to avoid wasted time, effort, and money as well as employee confusion and discouragement.

Research directors who labor under guidance like this are the ones who lament the lack of vision of marketing and top manage-

ment personnel: the top brass can't recognize

For longer than most of us care to remember,

a good product idea when it is shown to

Dan Gerber has been proclaiming that babies them. Research operations which "benefit"

are his business, his only business. With some from the most liberal guidelines also endure

nostalgic regret I read recently that he has

altered his strategy: he now permits limited diversification beyond products for babies.

1. Dan Cordtz, "Bringing the Laboratory Down to Earth," Fortune (January 1971 ), p. 106.

DECEMBER, 1972

C. MERLE CRAWFORD

the most idea rejection, development diffi- WHAT SHOULD THE STATEMENT

culties, and product failure.

INCLUDE?

Specifically, does the statement of that

company limit the search to improving or The basic purpose of new product strategy is

extending the present product line? What to provide unifying direction. It specifically

degree of relationship to the present scope of notes any tempting development areas that

activity is necessary for the idea to be are off limits; it clearly specifies those areas

acceptable? May the search proceed into unrelated areas? Is search limited to the firm's present technological capabilities, distribution system, raw materials, and plant and human resources? Is the door to acquisition open or dosed? Will functional capability be added to

where effort is to proceed; and it adds any other direction appropriate and relevant to the firm, as in the Mohawk strategy.

? A review of representative strategy statements reveals how the following dimensions are in actual use.

match each new idea, or should the ideas

match present functional capabilities?

The idea of putting definitive restrictions Technology/Market Mix

on the new product activity is not novel, but

use of it, especially sophisticated use, is still As long ago as 1957, the Harvard Business

not widespread. Most large firms have some- Review ran an article by Samuel C. Johnson

thing they call new product strategy but it is of S. C. J o h n s o n & Son, Inc. and Conrad

more for directors and stockholders than for Jones of Booz, Allen & Hamilton which

serious internal direction; other firms have became a classic because it spelled out what

sketches of such strategy but they are rarely was rapidly gaining fame as the BA/H method

50

available for personnel down the line from the of organizing the new product function.2 The

president's office. As the president of a article contained a table which should be on

medium-sized firm recently said to me, not page one of every firm's planning document.

entirely in jest: "Sure, we have a new product It diagramed the alternatives available for new

strategy; just ask me!"

product activity as a 3x3 matrix (see

Early in this century General Motors accompanying table).

committed itself to a full line of automobiles,

This table structurally depicts the possible

a strategy that proved superior to Ford's. nine combinations of market and technology.

Only recently did Coca-Cola abandon its Some, all, or none of these may be encour-

strategy of no line additions. General aged, as the applicability of each of the

Electric's approach, a broad attack upon options will vary from firm to firm. Unless it

markets susceptible to electrical technology, values new and improved products for their

is decades old. Indeed, new product strategies are so old,

own sake, any management will want to study thoroughly the various cost/return relation-

and in so many cases credited with such ships and stipulate those which it wants to

successful outcomes, that one is prompted to stress and those it wishes to avoid.

ask why all firms don't have them. There are

essentially two reasons:

1. Management is not certain what such statements should cover.

2. Management fears that limitations may discourage some useful or successful inno-

Market Width

The bottom row of the matrix, New Market, provides the third dimension into the consid-

vation.

These are the points to which we will now turn our attention.

2. Samuel (2. Johnson, "How to Organize for New Products," Harvard Business Review (May-June 1957), pp. 49-62.

BUSINESS HORIZONS

Strategies for New Product Development

Options in the Market-Technology Mix

No Market Change

Strengthened Market

New Market

No Technological Change

No Activity

Remerchandising

New Use

Improved Technology

Reformulation

Improved Product

Market Extension

New Technology

Replacement Line

Extension

Diversification

SOURCE: Samuel C. Johnson and Conrad Jones, "How to Organize for New Products," Harvard Business Review (May-June, 1957), p. 52.

erations the table does not include. There are the categories of industrial, institutional, and consumer, of domestic and foreign, and of specific product use categories, such as deter-

that a team was developed for each sphere emphasizes the positiveness as well as the restrictiveness of the strategy.

gents, shoes, boats.

If a company has any new product strategy, it usually covers this dimension

Degree of Innovation/I rnitation

fairly well. Most industrial firms feel at home

in institutional markets but avoid consumer

This is the third and last dimension on which

51

products (if not at first, then several expen-

most managements have made commitments,

sive exercises later). Involvement in foreign

not because strategic direction is consciously

markets is usually deliberate and, in most

desired so much as because innovative

situations, so is choosing broad product

research requires different scientific staffs.

categories. When the United Shoe Machinery

Thus the product development staff at

Corporation decided to move into other lines,

Mohawk Data Sciences is clearly directed to

all concerned personnel knew it.

taking someone else's new technology and

But this shouldn't imply for a second that

improving, or at least individualizing, it in

strate~es score well on this dimension. In

some way. In contrast, the Cabot Corporation

fact, you can usually start an argument by

is thoroughly committed to innovation and

asking two executives of the same firm if their

takes in fifty times as much money from

firm is attempting to move into closely allied

licensing processes as it pays out. 4

markets or product types which it is not now

Examples of both approaches can be

in. Is the manufacturer of drugs for human

found in Theodore Levitt's "Innovative

use willing to enter the veterinary market?

Imitation," an article in which the world's

Should the soup company market snacks?

leading opponent of myopic marketing

Two years ago Lyle H. Polsfuss, then vice

vigorously pleads for the option of imitation,

president of marketing for Green Giant

though it too requires thoughtful develop-

Company, stated that his top management

ment as well as faithful executions, s

(including the chairman) had delineated the

If a management wants to assume the

specific spheres of interest within which new

high-risk/pay-off character of innovative

product activity would proceed. 3 The fact

3. In a speech, as reported in Advertising Age, (September 1, 1969), p. 51.

4. Cordtz, "Bringing the Laboratory," p. 108. 5. Theodore Levitt, "Innovative Imitation," Harvard Business Review (September-October, 1966), pp. 63-70.

DECEMBER, 1972

C. MERLE CRAWFORD

development, all persons in positions to

The strategy statement of a large pharma-

influence company activities should know it.

ceutical firm contains the expression: "New

This applies to imitation as well, or to any

products must enhance the company's

blend of the two.

stature." It goes on to clarify this by pointing

Actually it may be more complicated than

out, among other things, the need to restrict

a simple innovation/imitation choice. Igor

the number of products that are modified

Ansoff and John Steward recently spelled out

copies of ones already on the market for

a four-point scale of orientation:

which low price would be a primary or

1. First to market.., based o n strong R & D, technical leadership, and risk taking.

2. Follow the leader.., based on strong development r e s o u r c e s a n d the ability to act quickly as the market starts its growth phase.

3. Applications engineering.., based on product modification to fit the needs of particular c u s t o m e r s in m a t u r e markets.

4. Me-Too... based on superior manufacturing efficiency and cost control. 6

tempting strategy.

Particular Promotional Requirements

The range of options here is limited only b y the diversity of marketing tools, but it is customary for marketing people to orient to

those new products which match current

promotional strategy or marketing resource

Price/Quality Ranges

structure. Just as commonly, R & D people

do not-unless they are told.

From this point forward in the consider-

Several years ago, researchers in Wallace

ations, the various dimensions are optional in Laboratories were seeking new drug products

52

the sense that any one firm may or may not

which could be sold by advertising, since, in

find them desirable. Position on the list

contrast to every other firm of significance in

(whether here or near the end) carries no

the industry, Wallace had no sales force.

implications.

Procter & Gamble wants products where

The Campbell Soup Company has an

brand manager skills-advertising, packaging,

outstanding reputation, and cares not to lose it. No surprise then that Campbell's product development people are told: "Prepare and

promotions-can be the deciding factor. Until Metrecal forced a change, Mead

Johnson sought only products which could be

market products that represent superior

promoted ethically through the professional

values to consumers and constantly improve those values. Our products are sound values

health team rather than as proprietaries on television.

because they are made from superior quality

A certain mini-conglomerate which holds

ingredients .... " Value can come from either

a major interest in radio stations wants only

quality or price but Campbell people know

those products which can be effectively adver-

which route they are to take. 7

tised on radio. Still other firms want products

In contrast, many firms take the opposite which (1) can be sold through mass merchan-

tack. Small appliances purchased in the chain

disers where the company is strong, (2) can be

drugstores, for instance, seem to come from

sold by mail, (3) can be carried by route

manufacturers whose position is far to the

salesmen in small trucks, or (4) need be (or

right on the quality/price spectrum.

need not be) sold through state-owned retail

outlets.

The list is literally endless, yet within any

6. Igor Ansoff and John Steward, "Strategies for a Technology-Based Business," Harvard Business Review (November-December,1967),pp. 71-83.

7. Speech by John W. Dodd, Jr., Sixth Annual New Products MarketingConference,Detroit,Mich.,March, 1966.

one firm the necessary or desirable promotional restrictions are apparent to one who observes the marketing operation. One manufacturer of small electrical appliances decided

BUSINESS HORIZONS

Strategies for New Product Development

to redefine his business as any product with included in the policy. The omission was

an electric cord at the end of it. But the promptly corrected; although some firm

resulting flow of product ideas and proto- members probably winced, the statement was

types revealed the folly of not stipulating the necessary in order to save a great deal of time

promotional requirements, including trade in fruitless work. Most frequently, this type

channels, that any new electric product would of provision is directed against any market

have to meet.

which has one dominant leader. In contrast,

at least one company deliberately seeks out

such situations, figuring to catch a fat,

Inside vs. Outside Facilities

complacent competitor getting careless. Some markets are said to have deterior-

Preparing a strategy statement provides the

ated and, therefore, are to be avoided.

opportunity to decide whether the firm will

Perhaps technology is simple and entry is

limit R & D facilities and personnel. Few

e a s y - c u t - t h r o a t pricing is likely to have

operating functions are better than research in

ruined the market. Or perhaps competitive

creeping expenses. Each new piece of equip-

enthusiasm got out of hand and tactics exceed

ment requires operators and materials, and

the bounds of propriety.

new operators inevitably require additional

In contrast to these and other exclusion

equipment. Active in-house research and

guides, competitive conditions can also be

development programs legitimately require all used to define outstanding areas of oppor-

of these things, and it is temptingly easy to be

tunity. One drug company made a tally of

penny-wise and pound-foolish.

innovations in each of the industry's product

Management is obligated to define the

extent of the continuing activity; if the need

categories, seeking as deliberate strategy any in which there had been no significant new

53

for major R & D output is to be sustained, the

product activity for five years. A relatively

expansion of in-house facilities is not only

modest innovation in one such market was

justified but mandated. If R & D expansion is

highly profitable.

not possible or desirable, the strategy must

For any company there are good competi-

allow for this condition.

tive situations and there are bad ones.

Depending upon their strategic value, situ-

ations should be so designated.

Competitive Situations To Be Sought or Avoided

Production Requirements

One classification of caveats that is inevitably present in a new product situation, yet just as often goes unstated, consists of competitive circumstances in markets being evaluated. Unless clarified they can be tragically disappointing.

One company dealing in several toiletries lines rejected numerous reasonably good ideas over a two year period before someone realized what the ideas had in common: all would have pushed the firm into direct confrontation with P & G's important areas. This undisclosed criterion was so basic as to be of strategic meaningfulness, yet it was not

In those rare cases when production requirements are omitted from strategy, they soon get incorporated. The company, for example, which expands to new facilities commonly builds beyond its present needs and then promptly undertakes a search for new products to manufacture. Or equipment may be unique in some way--such as continuous liquid processing, or package filling, or delicate hand assemblies--giving greater value to new items which capitalize on them. One firm simply states that it wants products that

DECEMBER, 1972

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