MAR6833 Final Exam

Master-Apprentice Approach

"Explain by Doing'" (No need to think - talk while demonstrating) Allows the designer to observe, pose questions, elicit responses about unconscious actions, offer solutions, get feedback.

Describe Consumer Idealized Design (CID) and its purpose

"Imagine that _____ the firm makes was destroyed overnight and that you are going to have the opportunity to create something totally new in its place. How would you design it? Please ignore the feasibility of your designs! You should listen carefully, take notes, and ask "why" often. Ignore Feasibility! 1. Uncover unarticulated needs. 2. More creative and unique. Purpose: Look for needs reflected in the design. Ask "why"

List the most common failure scenarios for new products

28% - Unwanted "better" mousetrap 24% - "Me-too", trivial new product 15% - Technical Dog 13% - Competitor Reactions 13% - Price 7% - Other

Describe potential advantages of observation (versus inquiry)

Dont fall prey to leading questions. you get to see a real interaction betweent the consumer and their need.

Chasm View of Product Diffusion

There is a big gap between the early market, and the mainstream market. You must "cross the chasm" in order to enter the mainstream market.

What are the reasons that could potentially negate the pioneer advantage?

1. Technology vitange effects. 2. Protracted development and adoption. (The long nose). The product takes a long time to grow.

How would you tell whether a set of Purchase Intention Scores is good or bad?

A concept should get 80%-90% favorable answers (definitely + probably) to justify further pursuit!

Describe the lean start-up approach.

A methodology for developing businesses and products that aims to shorten product development cycles and rapidly discover if a proposed business model is viable; this is achieved by adopting a combination of business-hypothesis-driven experimentation, iterative product releases, and validated learning.

Ressistance to Technologies

Affective Resistance: More negative effect. Cognitive Resistance: Worse understanding. Motivational Resistance: Greater incompatibility with values.

Describe Voice of the Consumer Table (VoCT), and its purpose

Ask about needs, NOT SOLUTIONS. Flesh out Usage Context Columns: 1. Customer Info 2. Customer Need 3. Who 4. When 5. Where 6. Why 7. Etc.

When we interview consumers, they may describe their needs and offer solutions. How should we treat their needs and solutions?

Ask the next question. Why do you need that? "Its our job to drill down to understand what is the underlying solution."

List and describe the three inventive templates

Attribute Dependency: 1. Identify internal attributes. 2. Identify external attributes. 3. Construct "forecasting matrix." 4. Explore dependencies between pairs of attributes 5. Function follows form (FFF) Replacement (Task Unification): 1. Identify an internal attribute. 2. Identify another attribute (either external or internal) 3. Can one attribute fulfill the function of the other attribute? Displacement (Subtraction): 1. Identify internal attributes. 2. Identify the function of each attribute. 3. Remove an attribute with its associated function. 4. Function follows form (FFF)

Describe the key components of a strategy canvas

Basically a line graph that plots functions/factors against importance for a company or an organisation and then overlays competitors or industry benchmarks. In this way, information can be built to help formulate a competitive strategy.

A direct outcome of using various inductive methodologies is a massive amout of qualitative data. Describe how you would analyze qualitative data.

By using an affinity diagram. An affinity diagram is a tool that gathers large amounts of qualitative data (ideas, opinions, issues) and organizes them into groupings based on their natural relationships. 1. Identify relevant information. 2. Display information. 3. Sort information into groups. 4. Create header cards.

Macro-Level reason for the failure of new products

Carrying Capacity: The maximum number of products that can profitably exist in a market. Competitive Overcrowding: When the number of available products exceeds the carrying capacity of the market.

What is commoditization? What factors contribute to commoditization? What are the typical firms' reactions to commoditization?

Commoditization is the process by which goods that have economic value and are distinguishable in terms of attributes end up becoming simple commodities in the eyes of the market or consumers. The factors that contribute to commoditization are when consumers can buy the same product or service from different small or large businesses. Price is the only distinguishing factor in commoditized products, because there is no significant difference in quality or in how consumers use these products. Typical firms' reactions include: 1. Reduce Cost 2. Reduce consumer knowledge 3. Innovate

Describe three market experimentation strategies

Darwinian Selection Performance/Functions: Same company produces the best products Product Morphing Performance/Functions: Same company morphs one product multiple times. Vicarious Experiments Performance/Functions: Different companies produce different products and learn from their mistakes.

Describe Three Fundamental Principles of User-Centered Design

Discoverability: Make it easy for consumers to discover what actions are possible. Feedback: Provide full and continuous information about the results of actions and the current state of the product or service. Affordance: Provide proper affordances to make the desired actions posisble.

Product vs. Behavior Change

Easy Sells: Limited product and behavior changes. Sure Failures: Limited product changes, significant behavior changes. Smash Hits: Significant product changes, limited behavior changes. Long Hauls: Significant product changes and behavior changes.

Describe the Causes of Enduring Market Leadership

Envisioning the Market: At an early stage, it takes a visionary to see the mass market and find the way to open that market. Managerial Persistence: Management must maintain a commitment to the brand over a long period of slow progress. Financial Commitment: Firms need to commit finances to last through this struggle, especially wehn revenues do not cover costs. Relentless Innovation: Long-term leadership requires continuous innovation. Asset Leverage: Late entrants are often able to become leaders in some categories if they hold dominant positions in a related category.

What are the major barriers to User-Centered Design?

Everything requires tradeoffs: Better design may be more costly. Users are not buyers: Buyers rely on price and other considerations rather than function and experience. Time Pressure: Some product categories are highly dynamic. Creeping Featurism: There is a tendency to add features but not reduce usage complexity accordingly.

Problem Detection Analysis. What are its pros and cons? How could we avoid its limitations?

Focusing on problems instead of benefits. Consumers interact with the product and verbalize their problems/thoughts in real time.

Should we aim for quality or quantity?

Go for quantity. More ideas = more good ideas. Quality promotes self-censorship. Need to generate lots of good ideas to find good ones.

Why concept tests are needed

Incorrect understanding of consumer needs. The needs are not properly reflected in the concept. Needs/Preferences have shifted. Consumers react negatively to product features in the context of the larger product.

Starting out with a survey might not be the best idea. Why?

Inquiry may not be effective to understand unarticulated needs.

Describe Laddering, Reverse laddering, and their purposes.

Laddering: Please interview a consumer and identify a product feature (s)he likes or dislikes. Ask the consumer "why" (s)he likes it or dislikes it. Then, keep asking "why", no matter how weird it feels. Do not stop. Relies on Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Reverse laddering implies that there are other aspects of needs that lead you back to the central request.

Describe the potential limitations of group-based brainstorming. How could we avoid these limiations?

Product blocking: Attention paid to one idea blocks others. Evaluation Apprehension: Natural Sel-censorship Undercurrents of politics: Wanting to be a hero, kissing up to boss's ideas, etc.. Free Riding. Group > Alone when the task is moderately complex and involves multiple organizational functions. Group < Alone when the task is highly complex.

What is Project Premortem?

Prospective Hindsight (imagining that an event has already occurred) improves the ability to identify reasons for future outcomes by 30%. Instead of asking what might go wrong, assume that the project failed and ask what did go wrong. makes it safe and legitimate to speak about weaknesses.

List the potential benefits of good desings.

Raise utility (Via ergonomics) Get Noticed (Via visual differentiation) Create Product Identity (Via Styling) Communicate Information About Consumers Create positive affect (via aesthetics and usage)

Why do consumers have unarticulated needs?

Reason 1: Accustomed to current conditions. Reason 2: Developed workarounds Reason 3: Self-Blame Reason 4: Cannot imagine what is technologically possible.

In creating new value curves, firms should ask themselves four questions. Describe these questions.

Reduce: Which factors should be reduced well below the industry's standard. Create: Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered? Raise: Which factors shoud be raised well above the industry's standard? Eliminate: Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?

Describe the Qualitative Determinants of Diffusion

Relative Advantage: Better than the product it replaces? Compatibility: Consistent with existing standards, values and experiences. Complexity: Difficult to understand and use? Trialability: Can consumers experiment with the product? Observability: Are products benefits tangible and visible?

Reasons for the Chasm

The different objectives affect how much each segment will look for in the product. The only effective reference for a pragmatist is another pragmatist, but no pragmatist will buy until other pragmatitsts will endorse the product.

Test Market

The ultimate test of a new product. Realistic. Conducted in cities resemble the national market. Pros: 1. Finding out how the entire market will react. 2. Learning about implementation problems. 3. Lower in cost than a full roll-out. 4. Maybe the only method you can trust. Cons: 1. Time and money requirements. 2. Forewarns the competition. 3. Sabotage.

Trend Extrapolation

This technique simply takes a historical trend over time and extrapolates where the trend line will be if extended into the future. The general assumption is that whatever happened in the past will continue in the future.

Describe the supplemental measures often used in concept testing.

Uniqueness: whether the concept is uniquely attractive. Purchase Frequency: Be careful in the interpretation. Other Diagnostics: Target consumer, price.

Describe Lead-User Analysis

Users whose needs are well ahead of the bulk of the marketplace. Lead users create a solution when there is no commercial solution available. Track down lead-users and learn from them. 1. Visiting existing specialized sites or events. 2. Creating specialized sites or events.

The Curse of Knowledge

When the makers of the product are too familiar with the concept and so they create it without the end user in mind.