Chapter 19

Launch Management
 Launch Management Concept
Showing Remedial Action
Figure 19.1

% aware who As of now Goal

have tried

With action

Plan Without action

Actual

Launch Now 6 months

Time
 The Launch Management
System
• Spot potential problems.
• Select those to control.
– Consider expected impact/damage.
• Develop contingency plans for the management of
problems.
• Design the tracking system.
– Select variables.
– Devise measuring system.
– Select trigger points.

Adage: in driving a car, it is the potholes you don’t

know about (or forget about) that cause you damage.
 Spotting Potential Problems
• Problems section from the situation analysis.
• Role-play what competitors will do.
• Look back over all the data in the new product's
"file."
• Consider hierarchy of effects needed to result in
a satisfied customer (A-T-A-R).
A-T-A-R Hierarchy: Where Does
Figure 19.2

the Problem Lie?

Reused
Tried Not R.
Aware

Not
Tried

Unaware Does the problem lie in awareness,

trial, or repeat?
Decision Model for Building Figure 19.3

Launch Control Plan

 Select the Control Events
Of all potential problems,
• Which have enough impact to warrant investigation?
• Which of these ought to be given special consideration?*
• Which of these should be given contingency planning?
• And which of these need to be tracked?

*Basis: Consider potential damage and likelihood

of occurrence.
Expected Effects Matrix for Figure 19.4

Selection of Control Events

 Develop Contingency Plans
• "Is there anything we can do?"
– E.g.: competitive price cut or product
imitation.
• Base contingency plan on type of problem:
– 1. A company failure (e.g., inadequate
distribution)
– 2. A consumer failure (e.g., low awareness
or trial)
Designing the Tracking System
• Select the tracking variables
– Relevant, measurable, predictable
• Select the trigger points
• Consider the nontrackable problems
Advertising Weight versus Figure 19.5

Awareness Created
 Questions from New Product Figure 19.6

Tracking Study
Category Usage Questions
In the past six months, how many times have you bought (product
category)?
What brands of (product category) have you ever heard of?
Have you ever heard of (brand)? (Ask for 4 to 6 brands)
Have you ever bought (brand)? (Ask for 4 to 6 brands)
About how many times have you bought (brand) in the past six months?
Advertising Awareness Questions
Do you recall seeing any advertising for (brand)? (ask all brands
respondent is aware of)
Describe the advertising for (brand).
Where did you see the advertising for (brand)?
 Questions from New Product Figure 19.6

Tracking Study (continued) (cont’d.)

Purchase Questions
Have you ever bought (brand)?

If "Yes": If "No":

How many times have you bought it?
How likely are you to buy (brand)
again?
What did you like/dislike about
(brand)?
What do you think of the price of
(brand)?
Did you look for (brand) in the
store?
Why didn't you try (brand)?
How likely are you to try
(brand) in the future?
 Metrics for Innovation Figure 19.7

Input Metrics Process Metrics Performance Metrics

R&D spending Number of new products Percent of sales from new
introduced products

Number of employees Average time to market Number of new products

devoted to innovation

Number of new ideas in Number of patents filed Return on investment in

pipeline and commercialized innovation

Number of projects in Budgeted versus actual Breakeven time

development time and cost incurred

Percent of ideas sourced Percent of projects that Improvement in customer

from outside the firm result in a launch satisfaction

Source: Adapted from David Reibstein and Venkatesh Shankar, “Innovation Metrics,” in Jagdish N.
Sheth and Naresh K. Malhotra, Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing, Volume 5, Product
Innovation and Management (West Sussex, UK: John Wiley, 2011), p. 93.
A Sample Launch Management
Plan Figure 19.8

Potential Problem
Salespeople fail to contact general-purpose market at
prescribed rate.
Tracking
Track weekly sales call reports (plan is for at least 10
general-purpose calls per week per rep).
Contingency Plan
If activity falls below this level for three weeks running, a
remedial program of one-day district sales meetings will
be held.
Another Problem Illustrated
Figure 19.8
(cont’d.)

Potential Problem
Potential customers are not making trial purchases of
the product.
Tracking
Begin a series of 10 follow-up calls a week to prospects.
There must be 25% agreement on product's main
feature and trial orders from 30% of those prospects
that agree on the feature.
Contingency Plan
Special follow-up phone sales calls to all prospects by
reps, offering a 50% discount on all first-time purchases.
 After Action Review
• Designed to capture the events leading up
to product launch.
• Identify what went right (so it can be
duplicated) and what went wrong (so it can
be fixed in the future).
• Contains planned versus actual results,
what has been learned, and outline for
next steps.
 A Sample After Action Review Figure 19.9
• Objectives:
– Send customer sample by end December
– Send revised samples by end February
– Reduce test time in half (from 60 to 30 seconds)
• Results:
– Objective 1 missed by one week, other objectives achieved
• Reasons for variances:
– New product did not achieve performance requirements spelled out in the
product spec.
– Too much time (six weeks) lost in redesign and remanufacturing as a result.
– Not enough time allocated for hardware or software changes.
– But, team was able to reduce test time due to newly developed efficient testing.
• Lessons learned:
– Relied too much on off-the-shelf processes.
– Testing procedure turned out to be more complex than expected, which should
have been accounted for in the plan.
Source: Ken Bruss, “Gaining Competitive Advantage by Leveraging Lessons Learned,” in A. Griffin and S. M. Somermeyer, The
PDMA Toolbook 3 For New Product Development, Wiley, 2007.
 A Stepwise Product Deletion Figure 19.10

Process
Recognition of the product to
be deleted

Analysis and revitalization stage

Evaluation and decision formulation stage

Implementation stage
Source: George J. Avlonitis, Susan J. Hart, and Nikolaos X. Tzokas, “An Analysis of Product
Deletion Scenarios,” Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 17, No. 1, January 2000,
pp. 41-56.