Nama : Viyanka Wida Riwanda

NIM : 09031381419065
MID Semester New Product Management
Question Number 18
Which of the following is one of the reasons why technology-driven scientists, in most
cases, actually put benefit before form and technology in the creation process?
a. It makes finding customer problems easier.
b. They have some idea of need that is leading them in their efforts.
c. An idea developed into a concept using this sequence is always successful.
d. The production cycle using this sequence is much shorter.
e. The new product produced using this sequence is of superior quality.
The correct answer is B (They have some idea of need that is leading them in their
efforts)
Therefore we often put benefit first. Incidentally, even technology-driven scientists
actually put benefit first in most cases because they have some idea of need that is
leading them in their efforts. For example, a pharmaceutical chemist seeking a new
compound for lowering blood pressure knows how widespread that problem is. Given the
benefit, preferences vary. Some people like to visualize what type of finished product
could meet the need, and then design that form. Others like to give technical people the
basic benefit(s) and let them use their available technologies
19Abbie Griffin, Obtaining Customer Needs for Product Development, in The PDMA
Hand- book of New Product Development, M. Rosenau, A. Griffin, G. Castellion, and N.
Anscheutz, eds. (New York: John Wiley, 1996), pp. 153166.

without restraint on form. This book follows the latter. Granting that in practice, all
versions exist, and no one would throw out a good idea just because it came up in the
wrong way, the fact remains that we are speaking about management. If one wants to
design the best way to go about product innovation, then, in general, the best way is to
have first the benefit, then the technology, and then the finished form. Think about toilet
brushes for a moment. Old-fashioned brushes do the job, but one could imagine someone
(a thoughtful customer, perhaps, or a research chemist at a detergent company) having the
idea that a new, improved brush that somehow makes toilet cleaning easier would be a
big seller. Note that we said idea here and not concept as all we have so far is a
need: a new brush that offers conve- nience. What does that mean? Longer handle?
Disposable bristles? Probably not. How about a brush that contains detergent, which is
refillable and easy for the cus- tomer to attach to the brush? Now we have something
resembling a simple product concept, as we have a need (convenient brush) based on use
of a technology (de- tergent suitable for toilet scrubbing).
So from the explanation we can see that they have some idea of need that is leading
them in their efforts.
From Chapter 4
Page 103-105