Product development

On the basis of a sample from the top 200 of the Fortune “500” and data from the PIMS (Profit Impact of Market Strategies) project, this author gives some guidelines for established companies on what to expect from new ventures. He points out that it takes an average of 10 to 12 years before the […]

Research shows that when firms reallocate it, they have more success.

When productivity is a problem in manufacturing, managers turn to the R&D department or operations for help. In services, however, especially ones where there is a lot of contact with the customer, such in-house groups cannot by themselves improve productivity. Because services involve the customer in production, are labor intensive, and are time-bound, consumer behavior […]

We need a pandemic czar to fast-track new diagnostics.

Starting with products to manage prescriptions.

Setting up a research hub is easy. Setting it up to succeed is harder.

Some companies consistently develop products that succeed with customers. Other companies often fall short. What differentiates them is integrity. Every product reflects the organization and the development process that created it. Companies that consistently develop successful products—products with integrity—are themselves coherent and integrated. Moreover, this coherence is distinguishable not just at the level of structure […]

For digital companies, it’s an essential part of operations.

A good plot, good friends, and full of expectation; an excellent plot, very good friends. Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I Special Report When trying to assess performance, there is no business function top executives worry about more than marketing. Most of them look at the marketers in their companies as something between vacuum-cleaner salespeople […]

Maybe it’s the ongoing popularity of American Idol. Or perhaps it’s the tale of Paul Potts, who went from mobile-phone salesman to global celebrity with his victory on Britain’s Got Talent. Whatever the reason, more and more people believe that they too possess some “hidden genius” — a flair for design, a knack for writing, […]

Why is it that we can get into a rental car and know what 43 out of the 45 buttons do, but we can’t figure out how to use call forwarding on the 12-button phone that has been sitting on our desk for 10 years? This wonderful question was raised many years ago by Donald […]

Mayo Clinic used it to create a "bloodless blood test."

To save themselves, pharmaceutical companies will have to break up their giant R&D organizations, overhaul core processes, and put passionate scientists back in charge.

What a produce seller learned from the soft drinks industry.

Seven guidelines for people management from the product design world.

Better treatment depends on it.

For many established companies, becoming more effective marketers is a matter of fine tuning—increasing expenditures on promotion and advertising or reorganizing the sales force. For high-technology companies, becoming effective marketers is often a matter of starting from scratch. Such companies typically derive their initial strength from the innovations provided by the research and development function. […]

It's transforming manufacturing.

How does a company that gets two million hack attempts each week think about security?

I’m worried that the discussion about innovation is losing its vitality and that a handful of beliefs are becoming dangerous dogmas. Two that worry me the most are: Innovation and design should be user-centered — i.e., users are the first and foremost source of insights. Innovation processes should, therefore, start from observation of mainstream or […]