Exam 11: New Products

Working with lead users offers a number of advantages in new product development. Which of the following is NOT one of the advantages?

The Simms Corporation has greatly improved the safety of its electric hedge trimmers. This action would be an example of the strategy of feature improvement.

Virgin Galactic plans to become the world's first commercial spaceline by offering space flights to tourists before the end of the decade. Virgin has been taking reservations for its space flights since 2005 and has currently received deposits from around 600 potential passengers. However, before the company can take paying passengers, it must satisfy the Civil Aviation Authorities that the flights are safe. To that end, the company must make at least 30 crewed flights into space successfully. These crewed flights also enable the company to fine tune the flight experience. The first of these crewed flights occurred in 2010 and since then, the company has made 16 of the required 30 test flights. Virgin Galactic is in which stage of the new product development process?

The term new product includes original products, product improvements, and repositioned products.

Taking the strategies of introduction, growth, maturity and decline found in the product life cycle (PLC), briefly discuss the strategies that might be used in product, price, distribution and advertising to guide the product through the life cycle.

The stage of the product life cycle where inefficient competitors are most likely to exit the market is known as:

Concept testing requires the creation of a prototype for testing with customers.

When a product reaches the decline phase of its life cycle, it should be automatically dropped.

Within the secondary school yard, there are often people belonging to different subcultures such as Homies, Geeks, Goths and others. Each subculture is recognisable by its distinctive manner of dressing. For example, Homies wear saggy pants, baggy T- shirts, long shorts, shoes without laces and may even sport braided hairstyles in a type of "uniform" intended to identify individuals as members of Homie group. This manner of dressing is BEST described as:

________is the stage of the new product development process that allows marketers to gain experience with marketing the product, iron out potential problems, and uncover any additional information required before committing to the expense of full introduction.

A strong innovation management system should reveal several favourable outcomes. Which of the following is NOT one of the expected outcomes on innovation management?

Which of the following product characteristics influences the rate at which consumers adopt new products?

Platform high heel shoes made their first appearance as a "must- have" fashion accessory in the early 1970s, but the fad was short- lived and by the mid 70s was dead. In the late 1990s, platform shoes made their second appearance and industry insiders did not expect the fad to be long- lived. Yet, more than a decade later, platform shoes continue to gain market acceptance and generate strong sales. Tony Bianco, a major Australian designer of platform shoes is mystified by this phenomenon, commenting, "It's a lifespan much longer than most fashion fads, but we gave up trying to fathom why. ''We've even tried to kill it off a couple of times, but it's never died,'' he says cheerfully. ''Sometimes we thought it had slowed down a bit, but then it would just take off again.'' How can you account for the persistence of this fad?

Five- year- old Jessica Rosbrook of Kent in England has a dream job. A host of new toy products are delivered to her door by European toy manufacturer, TOMY. Jessica knows how lucky she is because she gets to play with these new toys before they hit the market and well before any of her friends has seen them. Jessica plays with the hottest games and toys for several weeks in her own home environment, after which she provides TOMY with a rating and review of each new product. Not only does Jessica get to keep all the toys, she has also built up an enviable toy collection and is paid a small fee for her "work." Jessica is engaged in which part of the new product development stage?

According to a report by consulting company, McKinsey, as discussed in your text, the main reason why service innovations fail is which of the following?

New product development in service contexts is more likely to involve incremental changes, a less formal approach and a focus on process improvements.

If a product passes functional and consumer tests, the next step is:

List and briefly discuss the sources of new product ideas.

A market roll- out is part of the stage of the new product development process known as:

The adopter category that is more likely to be seen as opinion leaders and is thus more important to the successful diffusion of new product ideas is: