Product and Service Development: From Concept to Market

Product Creation, Development, and Design

Design is a broader concept than style. While style only describes a product's appearance, design also contributes to its look while adding value.

Ways to Expand Product Offerings

1. Innovations
2. New Product Lines
3. New Versions
4. Improved Products
5. Product Repositioning

Approaches to Product Creation

• Market Momentum
• Technology Boosting
• Interfunctional Approach

Steps in New Product Development

Idea Generation and Opportunity Identification

These methods are grouped into two sections:

Intuitive Methods

• Attribute Listing: Identifying key attributes a new product should possess.
• Delphi Method: Experts provide feedback to reach a consensus.

Search Process

• Qualitative Research: Utilizing projective techniques.

Idea Evaluation and Product Selection

To narrow down ideas, a series of product feasibility analyses are performed:

1. Commercial Viability
2. Economic Viability
3. Technical Feasibility
4. Competitive Assessment
5. Alignment with Organizational Objectives and Strategy

Preliminary Product Design

Prototype Construction and Testing

Prototype Testing

These tests verify the technical and commercial performance of the new product, including:

• Consumer Testing
• Market Testing

Final Product Design

Marketing and Launch Strategy

Service Concept, Characteristics, and Design

A service is a set of activities designed to respond to customer needs, involving at least one interaction between the supplier and the customer.

Services are intangible and perishable; they are events or processes created and consumed simultaneously or nearly simultaneously.

Key Characteristics of Services

Services possess distinct features that differentiate them from physical assets:

1. Intangibility: Services cannot be physically touched or held.
2. Variability: Service quality can vary depending on who provides them, when, and where.
3. Inseparability: Services are often produced and consumed simultaneously.
4. Perishability: Services cannot be stored for future use.
5. Lack of Ownership: Customers do not gain ownership of a service.

Service Design

Service design involves analyzing both the organization providing the service and the customers who will receive it. Design is defined as the activity of planning and organizing the people, infrastructure, communication, and material components of a service.

Objectives of Service Design

• Improve service quality.
• Enhance the relationship between the provider and client.
• Optimize the customer experience.

Steps in Service Design

• Select target market segments for the service. Characterize customers by classifying them into groups based on their characteristics, desires, and potential.
• Study the demand for customer service.
• Define the service's goals and guaranteed service level.
• Design the organizational structure for customer service delivery.
• Define the critical parameters of the logistical system, including the project content and magnitude of these parameters.
• Design the supply and promotion strategies for customer service.