Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 5

Marketing - Essay Example New product development process Idea Generation Idea generates from different sources. It may be by the influence of the competitor or from the customer. Ideas can be either generated from the internal source like through research and development or from the outside sources like competitors or market research agencies. For example with technological development new types of DVD players are in idea generation process which will play high capacity Forward Versatile Disc or FVD of around 6 gigabyte capacity (Grewal, 2008, p. 308). Idea Screening Sometimes too many ideas are generated which needs to be evaluated and then screened which are not very promising one for the company. The Idea screening process of the foremost U.S motorcycle manufacturer, Harley-Davidson is known as â€Å"The Wall of Fire† who screens different ideas to choose the best out of the development opportunities called â€Å"The Swirl† (Karol, Nelson, 2007, p. 118). Concept Development and Testing The i deas which are screened in the idea screening process are forwarded for the concept development and testing of the screened idea. Ideas can be very beneficial for the company in many cases for which proper testing of the concept is required for its feasibility study. In automobile industry Tata Motors conducted a market research in order to find the gap in the market for its fall in the market share of truck during the year 1998 to 2000. It showed that consumers want a to have a car like vehicle but it can perform like a truck which can carry heavy weights for different purposes (Kumar, 2007, p.29). Marketing strategy development After concept testing the marketing strategies like the description of the target market, distribution channels, pricing policy, advertising, marketing mix strategies and profit in long run are evaluated and managed. For example Unisys identified the need of the customers then developed the project management process after analyzing the feasibility, develop ment qualification etc (Lambert, 2008, p. 151). Business Analysis In the business analysis process the proposal for the development of the product is made along with the cost of development, marketing, manpower resources, technical needs, replacement cycle and the estimated sales forecast. Harley-Davidson eliminated the suppliers who only provide them with prototypes and improved their sales with the direct design technique after analyzing the business process (Lambert, 2008, p. 156). Product Development With the acceptance of the business analysis the next stage is the actual product development which translates the idea into real world entity from drawing. Prototypes are often made for different products in order to understand the feasibility through thorough testing process. Like in case of Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s they alpha tests their new flavors range amongst the employees of the firm for their feedback (Grewal, 2008, p. 311). Market Testing With successful testin g process and feedback from the prototype the actual final product are made and research is done from the review of the customers. The disadvantage of market testing is that, the competitors came to know about the new product and they can act accordingly. As for example Coca-cola conducted a market testing by launching small eight ounce cans of soda for Coke, Sprite and various other products in Chicago regions. (Grewal, 2008, p. 313) Commercialization / Product launch Market testing process is very essential to decide whether to move for the product launch or commercialization. If any things need to be altered in the product it is done in this stage to suite the market demand (Boone & Kurtz,