New Product Profile Chart

Abstract

If you have an effective research and development organization it should, and normally does, have more projects than it can handle with its available money and manpower. This is a healthy situation as it allows you to select the best projects-providing you have an effective and reliable method of evaluating the candidates. The stumbling block lies in the phase reasonably reliable method of evaluating, when there are so many factors to consider and so little data to go by in the early stages. Let's define first just what, when, and whom we are talking about in the evaluation and selection of products and projects. After stressing the need for additions to a company's product coverage, Joel Dean, in his Managerial Economics, puts development of new products into three stages: • Scouting-out potential product additions. • Appraising these proposals and making the product selection. • Launching each new product venture ...