Integrated Product Development

Customer Research, Market & ForecastingJakob A. Bejbro Andersenjaban@mek.dtu.dk

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“Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark”

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Agenda for lecture 58:30 Customer research 9:00 Break9:15 Guest lecture by Tobias Toft

(Interaction designer at IDEO in Palo Alto)

9:45 Break10:00 Value Proposition and Market Description10:45 Break11:00 Forecasting

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Your Objective: • Convince the investor that:

– There is a need for your product.– You are in unique position to address this need.– You know where to start and how to spend the money.– You will start making money soon.– You will return the investment tenfold very soon.

SOLD!

Customer ResearchLinking need and product / service – gaining an advantage

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Who is the customer• Customers can be easily identifiable or elusive.• This tends to relate to the maturity of the market.

Market type Knowledge about customer

Pros Cons

Mature • Consensus reached.• Possibly ”locked in”.• Rarely updated

• Easy to get overview.• References underline differentiation.

• Need for disruptive innovations.• Competition from big, wealthy companies.• 2nd mover advantage

New / Reframed

• Unlikely to be readily available.• Potential for uncovering extensive, unadressed needs

• 1st mover advantage.• Customer knowledge hard to replicate.

• No track record in market.• A lot of work to do.• Complexity.

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Customer types – who needs what?

• A product’s success lies in its ability to provide value to the key stakeholders.

You have to figure out…

• Who uses it? • Who approves it?• Who purchases it?• Who sees the vision? • Who …?

(normal focus)

The happy employees of Company X

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Intermediate level

A ”who’s who” for Company X (B2B)

Worker 1

Worker 2

Worker 3

Operations

manager

External energy advisor

Chief Operatio-nal officer

Operations

manager

Head of procure-

ment

Board/

Chief Executive

Officer

Chief financial officer

Strategic level

Operational level

Managerial level

More ergonomic!

Less noise!

Easier to use

Has to interface

w. other technologies.

Has to be

environmentally

friendly.

Needs to create good

PR for our company

Numbers have to

add up. Only under certain

conditions!

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Exercise 1

In each group map the key stakeholders for your product.

Think about:• Who uses it? • Who approves it?• Who purchases it?• Who sees the vision? • Who …?

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Mapping needs (organisational levels)

• Different of organisations communicate and operate in different ways.

• Sources of knowledge vary between levels.

Approach 4

Approach 3

Approach 2

Approach 1

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Mapping needs (Strategic level)

• Look for reports, press releases, media coverage.

• This level tends to communicate a lot.

From: www.maersk.com

www.ikea.com

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Mapping needs (Managerial/Intermediate level)

• Generally not the most accessible part of organisations

• Look for references: What else are they buying?• Find persons with experience in the area.

– Use networks organisations (Connect DK, Væksthus Hovedstaden)

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Mapping needs (Operational level)

• Interviews, observation.• Photo/Video documentation.• Surveys.• User specific fora – what is being discussed?

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Mapping needs (over time)

• The needs of the customer change over time.

• The role of the product changes between different activities.

• Customer Activity Cycles* (CACs) can be used to map needs over time.

*(Vandermerwe, 2000)

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Mapping needs (the CAC)

Figure courtesy of Krestine Mougaard and Shin Knudsen (master thesis 2009)

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Exercise 2

In each group write down ways of investigating and describing the needs of your stakeholders.

Example 1:

Contact sales

manager and get

his input on the

needs of the end

user

Example 2:Look at the company website to find press releases.

Example 3:

Contact doctor to

hear what patients

tend to need…

and, if possible,

get contacts to

patients.

Example 4:Do a survey among friends who

use facebook to find out why they

are using social networking websites.Example 5:

Use a customer

activity cycle to map

the interactions

between sailors and

the product.

You have big groups:

Everyone should be investigating seperate leads!

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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Q?

2012Original material by Jakob A. Bejbro Andersen for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

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After the 15 minute break (at 9:15 sharp):

Guest lecture on User Centered Design

By Tobias Toft, Interaction designer at IDEO

Live from Palo Alto, California (00:15 AM local time):

www.ideo.com