The Sustainability of New Product Development Process. Innovation Affected the Product Case Study
Gain Competitive Advantage Through New Product Development
In today’s competitive world, companies do not compete on price or delivery alone. Introduction of new products or new product features has become a main source of competitive advantage. The best example of this strategy is that of Pepsi Co. For decades, Pepsi Cola & Coca Cola battled for supremacy in the cola market, however in 1990’s Pepsi gained market share, improved profitability and became World No. 1 beverage vendor by introducing slew of new products. See: The Pepsi Machine
Similarly, Apple Inc., has repeatedly outwitted competition by introducing radical new products: iMac, iPod, iPhone, iTunes, OS X etc.
In high tech world, companies can hope to survive only if they introduce new products. Old products will rapidly become obsolete & new products becomes the only source of future revenue.
New product development provides an opportunity to change the competitive landscape. New products can help company gain new customers, retain existing customers and increase profitability. In short, new products is the only source of competitive advantage - if executed correctly. And this puts the spot light on the product manager. Product manager’s role in defining the new product: specifications, features, performance, pricing et al, is vital to gain competitive advantage.
Retain existing customer base
Customer’s needs keeps changing with time. In order to retain current customers, business must constantly adapt to meet the changing requirements. For example, if GM were to keep making the same model of the cars as they did in 2000, then today it would be out of business. Companies need to constantly introduce new products to keep the existing customers exited and happy.
Another example of product stagnation & hence losing market share will be that of Motorola. For a long time Motorola made & sold only analog phones - even when the service providers had moved to digital
In today’s competitive world, companies do not compete on price or delivery alone. Introduction of new products or new product features has become a main source of competitive advantage. The best example of this strategy is that of Pepsi Co. For decades, Pepsi Cola & Coca Cola battled for supremacy in the cola market, however in 1990’s Pepsi gained market share, improved profitability and became World No. 1 beverage vendor by introducing slew of new products. See: The Pepsi Machine
Similarly, Apple Inc., has repeatedly outwitted competition by introducing radical new products: iMac, iPod, iPhone, iTunes, OS X etc.
In high tech world, companies can hope to survive only if they introduce new products. Old products will rapidly become obsolete & new products becomes the only source of future revenue.
New product development provides an opportunity to change the competitive landscape. New products can help company gain new customers, retain existing customers and increase profitability. In short, new products is the only source of competitive advantage - if executed correctly. And this puts the spot light on the product manager. Product manager’s role in defining the new product: specifications, features, performance, pricing et al, is vital to gain competitive advantage.
Retain existing customer base
Customer’s needs keeps changing with time. In order to retain current customers, business must constantly adapt to meet the changing requirements. For example, if GM were to keep making the same model of the cars as they did in 2000, then today it would be out of business. Companies need to constantly introduce new products to keep the existing customers exited and happy.
Another example of product stagnation & hence losing market share will be that of Motorola. For a long time Motorola made & sold only analog phones - even when the service providers had moved to digital