6.3.2 Level of innovation and the PD Process

A comparison of the PD Processes for radical and incremental changes is shown in Table 6.1.


Table 6.1 Differences in the PD Process for platform and derivative products

Radical innovations (new platform products) Incremental changes (derivative products) Stage 1: Product strategy development Probing problems with consumers Focused project objectives Developed product concept New product design specifications New market probing studies Consumers setting attributes Clear schedules and time goals General product concept Standard product design specification Market surveys Stage 2: Product design and process development Building product attribute measures Product/process interrelationship studies Pilot plant studies Frequent product testing Refining product attribute measures Product formulation Process improvement Strategic product testing Stage 3: Product commercialisation Design of new production method Design of new quality assurance Commissioning of new plant New marketing strategy Detailed business and market analysis Adaptation of production Adaptation of quality assurance Minor plant changes Improvement of marketing strategy Setting market and financial targets Stage 4: Launching and post-launch evaluation Rolling launch or pre-launch test market Continuous market analysis Continuous financial analysis National launch Assessing if market targets met Assessing if financial targets met Overall management Project milestones to control Long-term commitment of capital Long-term commitment of human resources High importance of speed Short-term commitment of capital Short-term commitment of human resources

Source: From Earle and Earle, Building the Future on New Products, © LFRA Ltd, 2000, by permission of Leatherhead Food RA, Leatherhead, UK.


The sequence of the activities varies, for example in the incremental change there is generally a linear sequence in the PD Process, but in the radical innovation, there is often recycling of activities. The incremental product changes can be developed and marketed according to a standard PD Process with strong involvement of the functional departments such as marketing and production. The radical innovation uses generalised activities because creativity and problems in the project are difficult to predict.

For the radical innovation, there is a need to develop technical and market knowledge in the first two stages of the product development process and to include product/market testing and business analysis in the product commercia- lisation stage. In the initial stages:

     product concepts are developed with the consumers;

     product designers make some models or simple prototypes of
        possible products and ask the consumers to evaluate them;

     further product concepts are developed; and

     evaluated by marketing and processing technologists to see if any
        are possible for commercialisation.

Later in the PD Process, early versions are marketed quickly on a small scale, obtaining the user feedback and making modifications before expanding the market. Usually for the radical innovation, the company's resource commit- ments are made at sequential times in the PD Process, and not at the beginning of the project as for incremental products (Mullins and Sutherland, 1998).

In the incremental product projects, a great deal of the knowledge is already in the company, so there is less need for new research in building the direction of the project (Earle and Earle, 2000). The product concept can be developed by a marketer and a product designer, evaluated by consumers to check that no mistakes have been made, and the product specifications written in the standard form for this type of product. A national launch usually targets the total market.

Between the extremes of radical and incremental changes, major product changes can need different types of PD Processes. If major changes in product, market and production are being made, they can be similar to the PD Process for radical innovations. If the major change is marketing related, for example a positioning change, the PD Process is similar to the incremental PD Process with an emphasis on the marketing change; if production related, such as a new process, it is an incremental PD Process with an emphasis on technical development.