Services in New Product Development

Strategy 2 Market is an experienced New Product Development consulting firm whose mission is dedicated to building and enhancing the new product development performance of your company.

Assessing Your Current New Product Development System

Client Issue:
“New product development is complicated and it involves many departments within my organization. Sometimes relations between departments can get tense and uncomfortable. I just don’t know where to start with improving our new product development system.”

Solution:
In order to improve the future new product development system, an understanding of the current state is necessary. We evaluate your current new product development system against best practices and provide insight and recommendations on what will work best for your organization. We objectively study and assess all aspects of your new product development system (new product development strategies, market understanding, portfolio management, new product development process, metrics and organization/team/culture) to identify where you are doing well and where you can achieve substantial improvement based on best practices without the subjectivity and conflict inherent in an internal review.

Developing New Product Development Strategy

Client Issue:
“There are so many departments in my company that have an impact on new product development. How do we get these departments working together in the same direction and create a coherent message to our new product development teams?”

Solution:
Strategy represents the fundamental source of guidance for your departments and your new product development teams. We help develop and link your organization’s strategies for innovation, products, markets, platforms and technology so they are self-reinforcing. We communicate these strategies with corresponding market, product and technology roadmaps

Establishing a Sustainable New Product Development System

Client Issue:
“Our organization has multiple problems in developing new products. Our products are late to market, our new product development team members are blaming each other for product delays and problems, and on top of all this we’re not meeting our target new product revenue goals.”

Solution:
A successful new product development function has several components working in concert. When problems occur, usually several components of the system have gone awry and it is time for a realignment. We start by gaining an accurate and insightful understanding of your current new product development system, including: strategy, portfolio management, new product development process, culture/organizational structure, employee skills set and metrics. We identify the problem areas and the most impactful solutions. We then work with your team to develop the future state new product development system, and to fully implement a sustainable system.

Developing a Portfolio Management and Resource Allocation System

Client Issue:
“We have too many projects that are going through the new product development process. We can’t agree on which projects are most important, so we just do them all. Consequently, some of our new product development team members are assigned to as many as 5 different projects; they’re spread just too thin, they can’t seem to complete any of their tasks on time, and all our new product development projects are delayed for months.”

Solution:
Resource allocation among projects in the new product development portfolio is one of the most difficult responsibilities of the new product development management team. One of the root causes of this difficulty is the lack of a system for evaluating, comparing and prioritizing projects, which leaves the team to make ad hoc prioritization decisions. Another is the lack of a system for evaluating and prioritizing resources, which usually leads to over-commitment of resources and project delays. We work with your team in developing a portfolio management system that provides a portfolio-level view across all your new product development projects. This helps facilitate comparisons of projects on key dimensions to ensure balance on key characteristics such as strategy, risk, size of investment, etc. We then assist your team with the integration of the portfolio management system and the resource management process. This will ensure optimization of your resources so that your employees are being effectively utilized.

Simplifying the New Product Development Process

Client Issue:
“We have a new product development process, but it is not effective…it just doesn’t seem to be doing the job. We have really talented people, but we commonly have turf battles. Team members just aren’t sure what their roles and responsibilities are within the process. On top of that it doesn’t seem like decisions are being made on projects. The management team is having a hard time identifying good ideas and we end up doing everything. We’re spread too thin and new product development has just become too complicated.”

Solution:
When the new product development process is not well defined and documented, it quickly becomes chaotic and complicated. Vague roles and responsibilities result in turf battles and even talented people can become ineffective.

Strategy 2 Market has considerable experience in helping companies improve their new product development process. Some of our clients do not have an existing new product development process. We work closely with these teams in designing a best-in-class process that aligns with their business and industry. With our clients that do have a process, we commonly find that an important component of the process may be missing, like early-staged customer and market activities.

To keep everyone on the same page, we designed a propriety tool, the s2m NPD Body of Knowledge©. It guides your team through an improved new product development process, with granular details on steps, activities, roles and responsibilities for each phase and gate within the new product development process. Clarity around activities, processes and roles takes the complication out of new product development. It also helps resolve turf issues.

We also coach the executive and management team on their role within the new product development process, providing them with the tools to make good decisions during gate meetings. This ultimately leads to choosing the ‘right projects’, and optimizing valuable new product development resources.

Increasing New Product Revenue

Client Issue:
“I don’t have enough products in the pipeline to meet my revenue targets.”

Solution:
A lack of strong new product ideas is a common problem in many companies today. Reasons often include, but are not limited to: 1) the absence of a new product development strategy 2) the lack of a disciplined portfolio management system that aligns with your strategy 3) the lack of a process for feeding the pipeline, and 4) insufficient resources to support your new product development goals. We work with your team to create a rigorous and disciplined system to address these problems, and to help you construct a robust solution that will support your new product development goals.

Improving Time-to-Market

Client Issue:
“We constantly have delays getting our product to market.”

Solution:
Delay in getting products to market is a common problem with many possible causes, such as ill-defined activities and deliverables, resources spread too thin, frequent reprioritization of projects, inadequate checkpoints, inadequate assessment and management of project risks, and changing project scope with a lack of product definition.

Our view of new product development as a system enables us to help reduce cycle time and get your products to market faster. We have extensive experience in process improvement, team development, and lean product development methods. We work with your team to ensure that you get your products to market on time.

Integrating Mergers & Acquisitions

Client Issue:
“We buy a company or a technology, and it doesn’t get fully integrated into our new product development system.”

Solution:
Integrating an acquired company into your existing new product development function can be very difficult and fraught with confusion and stress. Differences in process are generally identifiable, but differences in strategy, skills, culture, and roles and responsibilities can be more elusive and can create stumbling blocks to a successful integration. We are experienced in evaluating the different organizations and bringing them together through our focus on all the elements of the new product development system.

Developing New Product Development Skills

Client Issue:
“My employees need coaching in many new product development activities; they need a reference guide that they can refer to on an on-going basis.”

Solution:
Our proprietary customizable New Product Development Knowledge Base will assist your employees in building important new product development skills on an on-going basis. New Product Development Knowledge Base content corresponds with elements of your new product development process, including strategy approaches, business case development tools and formulas, and essential guidance for your new product development activities. The solution can be designed to fit most budgets and most levels of technology sophistication.

Organizing for Innovation

Client Issue:
“Our New Product Development teams are not collaborating.”

Solution:
When team productivity hits rock bottom, there’s a tendency to presume that the problem lies with the team members, when most often, the culprit is an organization that does not support a team structure. We help your company by developing an organizational structure that supports your new product development process. We also work with your team members to help them excel in their roles.

Delivering New Product Development Seminars

Client Issue:
“Many of our staff members do not have a good understanding of the new product development system in its entirety. They only understand their own individual roles and have trouble communicating across departments. There is no common language across the departments doing new product development. Their understanding needs to encompass the entire new product development process, from discovery to post-mortem.”

Solution:
We can provide a common new product development language and framework for your team members. We teach corporate and public workshops, including the comprehensive New Product Development Professional (NPDP) Certification Preparatory course that is licensed by the Product Development Management Association (PDMA). This course covers all the nuts and bolts of new product development, including strategy, portfolio management, process, market research, tools and teams.

We are also certified to teach a Lean Product Development workshop, and our intense 2-day proprietary Fuzzy Front End workshop.

s2m New Product Development Reference Tool

Client Issue:
"Our new product development process is difficult to control and manage. Things fall through the cracks. Our project team members seem unclear on their roles and responsibilities. Some team members deliver stellar results while others just don’t seem to “get it.” Sometimes there is conflict between team members about decision-making or what needs to be done."

Solution:
You are not alone. Most organizations experience these issues at some point, and it really comes down to a lack of clarity and standardization of activities and roles and responsibilities within the new product development process. This is where our propriet Tool™.

We help you and your team determine the new product development process activities that best align with your organization and industry. At the same time we determine gate criteria, identify roles and responsibilities for each team member, and develop templates that assist team members in executing their responsibilities.

Everything is clearly documented in an easy-to-navigate central repository that guides users through the NPD process. Our proprietary s2m New Product Development Reference Tool™ ensures the appropriate analysis is performed, the appropriate deliverables are created and the appropriate decisions are addressed. Your team receives training and coaching to ensure they understand the process, their role and how to accomplish their responsibilities. The end result is a well-functioning team and a sustainable and repeatable new product development process.