Deck 11: Developing New Products and Services

Question 1

Which of the following is not a fundamental difference between manufacturing and service operations?

A)Perceptions of performance and quality are more important in services.
B)Many services demand high levels of contact between the operations and ultimate customer.
C)Services are associated with higher levels of customer loyalty.
D)The inability to store services can create problems with capacity management.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The service-process matrix provides a useful way of identifying the key management challenges of an operation.The matrix classifies operations in terms of two dimensions.Which of the following is not true?

A)Service shops have high customer interaction and high labour intensity.
B)Service factories have low customer interaction and low labour intensity.
C)Mass services have low customer interaction, but high labour-intensity.
D)Professional services have high customer interaction and high labour intensity.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What of the following elements would you not expect to find in a stage-gate process for new product development?

A)Clear criteria for passing through a gate.
B)A specific number of stages and gates for different project types.
C)Fewer stages and gates for more radical or risky projects.
D)Fewer stages and gates for more incremental or lower risk projects.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following factors generally does not positively influence new product success?

A)Marketing synergy.
B)Early concept definition.
C)Strong project management.
D)Pre-development process.

Question 5

A simplified four-stage model is sufficient to discriminate between the various factors which must be managed at different stages of development.Which of the following is not normally a stage in this process?

A)Concept generation - identifying the opportunities for new products and services.
B)Product development- translating the selected concepts into a physical product.
C)Project assessment and selection - screening and choosing projects which satisfy certain criteria.
D)Production planning - manufacturing design and prototyping.

Question 6

A wide range of methods and techniques are available for identifying potential innovations in the external environment.Some of these are more suited to radical innovations than more routine product development.Which of the following techniques is least effective for identifying radical innovations:

A)Lead user involvement.
B)Market and customer segmentation.
C)Focus groups.
D)Scenario planning.

Question 7

Potential projects can be assessed by a number of criteria.Which of the following is not commonly used?

A)Core competencies.
B)Risk of technical failure.
C)Risk of market failure.
D)Strategic clusters.

Question 8

Concept development can be supported by a number of tools and methods.Which of the following is not normally used to help concept development?

A)Quality Function Deployment (QFD).
B)Customer focus groups.
C)Lead-users.
D)Latent needs analysis.

Question 9

Many factors contribute to the success or failure of a new product.One of the factors found to make a difference is:

A)High expenditure on research and development.
B)Significant customer involvement.
C)Strong project management.
D)Use of external technology.

Question 10

Which of the following techniques is the least popular?

A)Prototyping.
B)Lead-users.
C)Segmentation.
D)Experimentation.

Question 11

Gary Lynn and Richard Reilly have tried to identify in a systematic way the most common factors that contribute to successful product development, focusing on what they call "blockbuster" products.Which of the following is not a predictor of success?

A)Improvisation.
B)First to market.
C)Clear & stable vision.
D)Collaboration under pressure.

Question 12

Which of the following would not normally be included in Quality Function Deployment (QFD)?

A)Choose appropriate units of measurement and determine target values based on customer requirements and competitor benchmarks.
B)Establish the relationship between the customer requirements and technical product characteristics.
C)Market trials and prototyping.
D)Identify customer requirements, primary and secondary, and any major dislikes.

Question 13

Research confirms that the most effective organization of development depends on the novelty of the project.Which of the following is not true?

A)Less novel projects have a greater involvement of lead users.
B)Heavyweight project managers and cross-functional teams are a more effective combination for high novelty projects.
C)Customers are more likely to be involved in the development and commercialisation of novel products and services.
D)More novel projects involve more market experimentation and external experts.

Question 14

Examination of the actual ways of organizing new product and service development suggests different organizational configurations provide several common elements.Which of these is generally not such an organizing factor?

A)Shared knowledge and/or technical information base.
B)Control mechanisms, either impersonal or inter-personal.
C)Resource allocation and performance measurement.
D)External linkages with customers, partners or suppliers.

Question 15

Studies of new product development suggest four main types of team structure which of the following is not a valid description?

A)Functional structure - a traditional hierarchical structure where communication between functional areas is largely handled by function managers and according to standard and codified procedures.
B)Heavyweight product manager structure - essentially a matrix structure led by a product (project) manager with extensive influence over the functional personnel involved but also in strategic directions of the contributing areas critical to the project.By its nature this structure carries considerable organisational authority.
C)Lightweight product manager structure - a project-based structure but where a project manager provides an over-arching functional expertise.
D)Project execution teams - a full-time project team where functional staff leave their areas to work on the project, under project leader direction.