New product development (NPD) strategies have been widely developed in recent years as firms move to increase product innovations and product launches. Of many innovations to have been formulated over the years, only a small number have been a major success in the market place. This is because of the many factors that could complicate product development thereby limiting appeal to the consumer. Some of these factors could be a mismatch between product features and consumer needs, inadequate testing and application to market place dynamics, or even problems of advanced innovation for a market that is not yet ready to receive the new technology (Newman, 2009; Crawford and Bendetto, 2008). In studying the theories of NPD and reviewing the many illustrations of successful product innovations in the global market place, I have come to see there are many issues to consider when attempting to match new innovation and technologies to markets. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on aspects of theory learned in this course and their relationship with product innovation successes as they were discussed in tutorials and lectures. 
On the surface level, it is easy to assume that a new product is simply something new that one would find it on the shop or supermarket shelves that was not there previously. This vastly underestimates the nature and extent of new product innovations that occur in the market place almost every day. A starting point for understanding this is the discussions of theory that relates to new product concepts (Wattanasupachoke, 2009). I learned that a new product concept can be distinguished into ready-made and new product concepts (Crawford and Bendetto, 2008, p. 95).
The ready-made product concepts are those that have some place in the market and are widely used by consumers already. It is a platform that new ideas and innovations can be added in order to create a new or improved product (Trott, 2005, p. 85). One illustration of this is the innovative strategies of Kellogg’s in attempting to grow market share with new innovations by taking existing product categories and modifying them to fit with changing consumer tastes. Another good example is the Toyota Prius, the hybrid car that is based on combustion engine technology that is over a century old and combining it with a switching mechanism to power a car with either combustion fuel or electricity modes.
New product categories are those that introduce something new to the market that was not previously accessible to the wider market. It is very likely in my opinion that this type of new product will see more radical innovations than the former. Take the Nintendo Wii and the I-Phone for example. These products were eagerly anticipated at product launch for their unique features and technology that was not available with comparable products on the market. The wireless controllers of the Wii meant that new types of gaming activities that involved physical participation of groups of people was popular with market segments for which competitors like Playstation and X-box had little or no appeal.
In reflecting upon the different product innovations reviewed in this course, one considers that there must be extensive processes undertaken in the product development strategy. The theory covered in lectures and tutorials touches on the mechanisms commonly used, such as technical R&D, engineering and design, inputs of marketing tools and techniques, gathering input of lead users and assessing the competitors. The strategies used would depend on the type of market niche being targeted and the product category under development (Larsson and Bergfors, 2009). Take the Holden Commodore VE powertrains for example, it demonstrates how innovations in the product were a combination of R&D activities, gathering of user inputs in terms of style, features and optional extras along with industry standard innovations and improvements, such as the safety design enhancements. By gathering inspiration and direction for innovative additions like this, there needs to be a coordinated and effective approach to capitalize various ideas that go into the new product development.
I feel that it must be a highly complex and risky thing to incorporate so many aspects of technological development, consumer taste and market direction. This is especially when companies invest millions in new product development that could be lost if some vital element of the product development strategy fails to achieve its intended outcome. The notion of new product dimensions features ideas of ‘utility lever’ and getting to understand the buyers experience (Trott, 2005). These concepts focus the product development team on the crucial links between new technology or product innovation with the reception and experience of the end user (Li, Wang and Xiong, 2009). Technology that is too advanced, costly or difficult to use would possibly be met with indifference by the market, and so it is highly important to get the balance right of consumer reception and new product innovation.
I am interested to see that in NPD approaches, marketing concepts are vital just as issues of technology and design are important to new product creations. Just as in marketing programs, it is important to gather a set of problems, evaluate responses of consumers and fit the new innovation with customer satisfaction (Crawford and Bendetto, 2008, p. 154). For this reason, I see that marketing theory has an important place in NPD strategies. For example, theoretical models of problem analysis use such inputs as expert opinions, published resources and focus groups. These are important in assessing what consumer perceptions are of existing products and technologies are and how they can be improved or compensated with new product offerings.
In conclusion, this reflective paper reviewed a number of NPD ideas and concepts that appealed to me in this course. The examples of a number of successful product innovations really illustrate to me just how critical it is to get the right balance of technology, innovation, creativity, marketing and production to release a product that is highly appealing to the market and relatively low cost to produce. The examples show that innovation in product development and production is a highly evolved thing, and that the complexity of assessing the inputs and putting them into a production and distribution plan that is profitable is a highly risky thing, and one that needs to be expertly managed to completion.
Reference List
Crawford C. M. and Di Benedetto, A. (2008). New Products Management 9th ed. Irwin: McGraw-Hill.
Larsson, A. & Bergfors, M. (2009). Product and process innovation in process industry: a new perspective on development. Journal of Strategy and Management, 2(3), 261-276.
Li, W., Li, Y., Wang, J., & Xiong, Y. (2009). Functional solving process model toward product innovation design based on a functional solving model with multiple elements and evolutions. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Part B Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 223(B12), 1601-1614.
Newman, J. (2009). BUILDING A CREATIVE HIGH-PERFORMANCE R&D CULTURE. Research Technology Management, 52(5), 21-31.
Trott, P. (2005). Innovation Management and New Product Development. 3rd ed. London: Pearson Education.
Wattanasupachoke, T. (2009). Innovation-Oriented Strategies of Thai Business Enterprises. The Business Review, Cambridge, 13(2), 245-251.
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