• New Product Development
• Strategic Business & Marketing Planning
• Technology Assessment, Competitive Analysis & Positioning
• Business Development Support

In the 1970’s researchers discovered that new products failed in prohibitive proportions leading them to investigate what distinguished new product successes from failures. Over the last two decades important strides have been made in

understanding the extremely risky process of new product development. Distinguishing success from failure required a greater understanding of user/buyer values during the product development phase and then producing and delivering new products that were unique in user perceived value. Furthermore, successful firms had multi-disciplinary, formal new product development processes that incorporated relevant market intelligence early in the process.

According to new product development expert Dr. Robert Cooper, insufficient or faulty marketing research is acknowledged as the number one cause of new product failure. According to one executive: "…we decided what our marketplace wanted with a new product without really asking the market what its priorities were…we simply just want to believe that we know enough." Often, a new product concept is developed for the sake of technology advancements rather than meeting customer/market needs. Though a product may be "right" in the eyes of the designers or the R&D department frequently this is not the case from a customer’s standpoint.

In medical product development, marketing activities are often relegated to the final phases of a multi-year process, long after a product’s performance capabilities have been set. The nearer to a market launch, the less leeway marketing personnel have to learn about their target audience, make adjustments, and develop winning strategies. Instead, detailed understanding of the customer, their needs, wants, attributes, and behaviors should be considered the logical beginning of the new product development process. The critical shift in thinking is to make marketing and market assessment a crucial component of product development and one that occurs throughout the entire process, from beginning to end.

New products are the focus of much of our marketing research and planning activities. Often this research is early in the development process, guiding our clients toward optimal product designs while choosing which indications to focus on for clinical trials. Sometimes it is later in the process, determining pricing and positioning strategies prior to product launch. Periodically market research supports product improvements of existing products. Often the forecasting aspects of our marketing research projects are utilized in Strategic Planning so there is overlap between these top two areas.

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