QUESTIONS and ANSWERS

Q1. What is the difference between technology and science?

ANS: Science can be defined as systematic and formulated knowledge. Technology is knowledge applied to products or production processes.

Science provides us with information which was previously unknown by unlike engineers, scientists. But engineers and not scientists who make technology.

Q2. What are the types of innovations?

ANS: These are product innovation , process innovation , organizational innovation , management innovation , production innovation , commercial/marketing , service innovation

Q3. What is the difference between an innovation and an invention?

ANS: Invention include ideas, product prototypes and patents. Innovations must involve the processes of commercial exploitation. That is, marketing, sales and distribution effort. If these activities do not occur then a significant part of the innovation process has not occurred and hence it is not an innovation.

Q4. Not all firms develop innovative new products, but they still seem to survive.Do they thrive?

ANS: We should recognise that while innovation is important it is possible to survive especially in the short term by focusing on traditional concerns such as minimising costs and generating sales. In the longer term, however, few firms will survive for long without the need to change; and that means introducing new ways of working and new products and services.

Q5. What are the models of innovation? Explain briefly.

ANS: Technology push : Simple linear sequential process; emphasis on R&D; the market is a recipient of the fruits of R&D.

Market pull : Simple linear sequential process; emphasis on marketing; the market is the source for directing R&D; R&D has a reactive role.

Coupliing model : Emphasis on integrating R&D and marketing.

Interactive model : Combinations of push and pull.

Network model : Emphasis on knowledge accumulation and external linkages.

*R&D: Research and Development

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q.1) Examine the relationship between new product and prosperity.

A.1) New product development process has positive influnce on the prosperity of company. Research by Cooper and Kleinschmidt (1993) has suggested that, on average, new products (defined here as those less than 5 years old) are increasingly taking a larger slice of company sales. For example; for 3M, new products contributed to 33 per cent of sales in the 1970s.This increased to 40 per cent in 1980s and account for over 50 per cent in the 1990s.

Q.2) Explain the perspectives of production management and marketing for new product development pocess.

A.2) Production management examines the development of new products from a manufacturing perspective, that is, how can we most effectively manufacture the product in question. Marketing, on the other hand, would have a slightly different perspective and would be concerned with trying the understand the needs of customer and how the business could best meet these needs.

Q.3) What is Ansoff’s directional policy matrix?

A.3) Ansoff’s directional policy matrix is a matrix which is used for identifying the variety of growth options for a business. This well known matrix combines two of the key variables that enable a business to grow: an increase in market opportunities and an increase for product opportunities. Each of the four cells considers various combinations of product-market options.

Q.4) Explain the classification of new products.

A.4) There have been many attempts to classify new products into certain categories. The following classification (Booz, Allen and Hamilton, 1982) identifies the commonly accepted categories of new product developments.

New-to-the-world products: These products are the first of their kind and create a new market. They are inventions that usually contain a significant development in technology, such as new discovery, or manipulate existing technology in a different way.

New product lines (new to the firm): Although not new to the market place, these products are new to the particular company. They provide an opportunity for the company to enter an established market for the first time.

Additions to existing lines: This category is a subset of new product lines. The distinction is that while the company already has a line of products in this market, the product is significantly different from the present product offering but not so different that is a new line.

Improvements and revisions to existing products: These new products are replacements of exiting products in a firm’s product line. This classification represents a significant proportion of all new product introductions.

Cost reductions: This category of products may not be viewed as new from a marketing perspective, largely because they offer no new benefits to the consumer other than possibly reduced cost. From the firm’s perspective, however, they may be very significant. The ability to offer similar performance while reducing production costs provides enormous added-value potential.

Repositioning: These new products are essentially the discovery of new applications fro existing products. This has more to do with consumer perception and branding than technical development.

Q.5) Which phases guide the new product development process for small businesses?

A.5) These phases are;

Idea generation Idea screening Concept testing Business analysis Product development Test marketing Commercialization Monitoring and evalution

Q.6 )What stages are the business and financial analysis?

A.6 )These stages are;

Demand projections Cost projections Competition Required investment Profitability

Q.7 )What is commercialization?

A.7) After testing is completed, the firm is ready to introduce the product to its full target market. This is commercialization and corresponds to the introductry stage of the product life cycle. Commercialization involves implementing a total marketing plan and full production.

Q.8)Which models are new product development?

A.8)These models are;

Departmantel stages models Activity-stgae models and concurrent engineering Cross-functional models Decision stage model Response models Network models

Q.9) Why is NPD process said to be difficult and complicated?

A.9) NPD is not the preserve of one single department. And it is because a variety of different functions and departments are involved that the process is said to be complicated and difficult to manage.

Q.10) What is opportunity identification?

A.10) It is the process of collecting possible business opportunities that could realistically be developed by the business into successful products. This definition contains several caveats, which helps to explain the difficulty that faces businesses.

Q.11) What are the inputs for a product idea to become a product concept? Explain briefly.

A.11) Three inputs are required: form, technology and need.

Form: This is the physical thing to be created (or in the case of a service, thesequence of steps by which the service will be created). It may still be vague andnot precisely defined.

Technology: In most cases there is one clear technology that is at the base of the

innovation ( for the 3M Post-It it was the adhesive; for the instamatic camera itwas the chemical formulation which permitted partial development in light).

Need: The benefits gained by the customer give the product value.

Q.12) What is the main purpose of screening ideas?

A.12) The main purpose of screening ideas is to select those that will be successful and drop those that will not. Trying to identify which ideas are going to be successful and which are not is extremely difficult. Many successful organisations have made serious errors at this point.

Q.13) Explain differences between matrix and functional structure.

A.13) Functional structure is set up so that each portion of the organization is grouped according to its purpose. In this type of organization, for example, there may be a marketing department, a sales department and a production department. The functional structure works very well for small businesses in which each department can rely on the talent and knowledge of its workers and support itself. However, one of the drawbacks to a functional structure is that the coordination and communication between departments can be restricted by the organizational boundaries of having the various departments working separately.

The type of organizational structure, called the matrix structure, is a hybrid of divisional and functional structure. Typically used in large multinational companies, the matrix structure allows for the benefits of functional and divisional structures to exist in one organization. This can create power struggles because most areas of the company will have a dual management--a functional manager and a product or divisional manager working at the same level and covering some of the same managerial territory.

Q.14) What is reasons for new product failure?

A.14) The reasons are:

1. Product offers nothing new or no improved performance2. Inadequate budget to develop ideas or market the product3. Poor market research, positioning, misunderstanding consumer needs4. Lack of top management support5. Did not involve customer6. Exceptional factors such as government decision7. Market too small, either forecasting error with sales or insufficient demand8. Poor match with company’s capabilities, company has insufficient experience

of the technology or market9. Inadequate support from channel10.Competitive response was strong and competitors were able to move quickly

to face the challenge of the new product Internal organisational problems, often associated with poor communication

11.Poor return on investment forcing company to abandon project12.Unexpected changes in consumer tastes/fashion

Q.15) Explain briefly project management.

A.15)

The keeper of the NPD Process is the Process Manager. He or she is a process expert with primary responsibility to promote and improve the NPD Processes.

A process manager is commonly found in the manufacturing or information technology industry. He or she is responsible for the design, review, administration and performance of a specific process. The work of a process manager can be divided into three primary sectors: documentation, measurement, and operational improvement. Process management often includes re-engineering or redesigning a project. The process manager typically is responsible for an entire production process or workflow. Employee supervision, equipment management and human resources tasks are often part of the responsibilities of a process manager The process manager is responsible for reviewing the data and implementing any necessary changes. He or she uses the information to design changes to the current procedures and to provide a forecast of the expected outcome.

Q.16) What is corporate venturing?

A.16)

Practice where a large firm takes an equity stake in (or enters into a joint venture arrangement with) a small but innovative or specialist firm, to which it may also provide management and marketing expertise.

Corporate venturing offers interesting options, from investment to partnerships. Ideally, they should be given high-level sponsorship from senior management, but must be able to manage their own relationships with other companies.

Q-1) WHAT IS A VIRTUAL TEAM AND WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS?

The definition of virtual team may be taken as: “small temporary groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed knowledge workers who coordinate their work predominantly with electronic information and communication technologies in order to accomplish one or more organization tasks”.

Characteristics of   virtual team:

Geographically dispersed (over different time zones)

Driven by common purpose

Enabled by communication technologies

Involved in cross-boundary collaboration

It is not a permanent team

Small team size

Team member are knowledge workers

Team members may belong to different companies

Q-2) EXPLAIN “START SMALL “ABOUT MANAGING THE GLOBAL INNOVATION WITH A EXAMPLE

Schneider electric and Toshiba, two global electronics manufacturers, took this approach when they formed a joint venture to develop electrical drives and inverters. Although management was enthusiastic about the new partnership , engineers at the two companies were not to build trust between sites , STI organized a series of small , noncritical joint projects under the close security of senior managers by the end of the first project , the teams had already begun to feel comfortable collaborating with colleagues at other sites .They quickly established consensus on working practices and protocols , reinforcing trust and providing a good foundation for the more complex global initiatives to come.

Q-3) WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR OCCURING VIRTUAL TEAM?

Technology, team spirit, strong communication and collaboration

Q-4) WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF GLOBAL INNOVATION?

1) Concentration on home

2) Resource constraints

3) Lack of know-how

4) Legal infrastructure

5) Fear of knowledge loss

Question 1: Give examples to quantitative and qualitative risk management techniques.

Question 2 : Why MS project is more important other project management softwares ?

Question 3: What is the difference between CPM and PERT?

Question 4: Which one of the following is not techniques of risk management?

Answer 1 :

Qualitative techniques:

Probability/impact matrixes The Top Ten Risk Item Tracking Expert judgment

Quantitative techniques:

Decision tree analysis Simulation Sensitivity analysis

Answer 2 : MS project is working with Windows operating system and Windows operating system is more common operating system all over the world. For this reason MS project is very important for managers.

Answer 3: PERT and CPM are very similar in their approach; however one important distinction is usually made. CPM is only one estimation of duration time( but PERT is estimated three duration of time (best, worst and most probable duration of time)

Answer 4:

A) AvoidanceB) AcceptanceC) TransferD) ReductionE) Divide the risk

Question1. What is TRIZ?

Answer: TRIZ is a problem-solving, analysis and forecasting tool derived from the study of patterns of invention in the global patent literature.

Question2. What is the difference between technical and physical contradictions?

Answer: Technical contradictions are when more of something desirable also brings more of something less desirable, or less of something else also desirable, but in physical contradictions - more of one thing and less of the same thing may both be desired in the same system.

Question3. Name at least three modifications/derivatives of TRIZ?

Answer:

1. SIT (systematic inventive thinking)2. ASIT (advanced systematic inventive thinking)3. USIT (unified structured inventive thinking)4. JUSIT (Japanese version of unified systematic inventive thinking)5. TRIZICS (A methodology for the systematic application of TRIZ)6. TrizIT (Triz modified for information technology)

Question4. If TRIZ is these much powerful tool, why it is not so well-known?

Answer: Because of Soviet Unions closed economy the World has heard about TRIZ recently (after 1991). This is the reason many people are unaware about this powerful tool.

Question5. What are the tools of TRIZ ?

Answer: The TRIZ tools are;

- 40 Principles

- Contradiction Matrix

- ARIZ

- 76 Standards