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Product Development Strategy Consulting aligns product development with corporate strategy to maximize revenues and profits consistent with the organization’s appetite for risk.
Product development strategy connects to corporate strategy in every possible way including: technology platforms, product roadmaps, distribution channels, and customer segments.
“John has that rare combination of brilliance and pragmatism that truly sets him apart. John is world class.”
— Dan Keller, HP Executive
Product development strategy is a subset of corporate strategy. It sets the direction for new products by establishing goals and through funding decisions. The aim of product development strategy is to gain competitive advantage by placing product offerings in the best possible position to drive business goals such as sales growth, revenue, or profits.
Product development strategy is the means to mitigate risk in developing a product concept, to improve the fit between products and markets, to overhaul a product line, and to increase the sales of existing products by enhancing it. Product development strategy enables product organizations to create a stream of innovative offerings that disrupt the competition and delight customers.
TCGen helps organizations get the greatest return on product development.
“John was able to come in to a complex assignment and teach both the art and science of project leadership. Seek him out.”
— Todd Tomba, Roche R&D Executive
The diagram above describes the one common way of looking at product development strategy through the lens of portfolio management – thus ensuring alignment of the big bets with appetite for risk. However, depending on a client’s product development strategy, we might employ other strategic frameworks:
- Price versus performance
- Time-Based approach
- Market-oriented approach
- Platform-based approach
- Customer-oriented approach (Design Thinking)
TCGen’s does both product development and product management consulting engagements in addition to product strategy work. Product management consultants typically involve a thorough assessment of your organization’s needs (they start bottom up, versus strategy which is top down). We identify a small number of the most effective levers of improvement. We work with teams and management to create custom solutions to address a focused set of strategic objectives. TCGen then works with you to create and deliver a strategy process that optimizes return.
This inch wide, mile deep approach creates results quickly. TCGen then monitors the behavioral change over time to see that it is taking hold. We manage change by measuring behavior.
TCGen’s Product Development Strategy consulting experience
“We’re making better decisions, faster”
— Apple Executive
We have developed methods for de-mystifying the front end of product development. And we have implemented them with blue chip companies such as Apple, BOSE, Cisco, Mozilla and Roche. Our expertise in product portfolio management has helped these firms to converge quickly and reliably on the best opportunities for developing winning products.
Bio-Rad: In a product development consulting engagement with Bio-Rad we worked with the platform team to product design the next generation platform of diagnostic testing systems. With market research we identified a unique customer visitation plan (Design Thinking) and implemented it with not just the product marketing organization but with the entire cross-functional platform team. The results: a platform launch that was Bio-Rad’s most successful ever, an enduring winner for them over many years.
With years of consulting experience, John has developed an expertise in product development strategy, and picking winners. With TCGen, John discovered how to harness selected innovations. TCGen’s approach to Product Strategy helps teams optimize a critical resource: your company’s brightest ideas.
TCGen’s Strategic consulting approach includes…
- Understanding the corporate strategy including the “True North” and product vision – to emphasize alignment. We create product vision statements if none exists.
- Analysis of the existing product portfolio and looking for Blue Ocean opportunities.
- A methodology that aligns the Board, the CEO, Business Development and the rest of the C-Suite down to the product teams.
TCGen’s Product Development Strategy expertise addresses a range of potential solutions…
- Too many companies do not adequately manage their Product Development Strategy. They are missing systems for managing this fragile front-end of new product development.
- Often we also address product portfolio management as part of our engagements to look at the overall strategy. This emphasizes the financial aspects of investment, return and corresponding risks.
- Organizations are often trying to innovate in new ways. We have helped clients with Design Thinking to help assure that the new, transformative products will delight customers at launch. We de-mystify the front end with systems that enable decision-makers to converge quickly and reliably on the best opportunities for creating winning products.
- Other companies want more predictable, reliable results from major, NEW products (new to the company or new to the world). We specialize in helping organizations in new product development. Yet others want greater efficiency, or a better feel for market changes. Wherever your company’s needs, our customized solutions help you to achieve your goals.
