Blockbusters: The Five Keys to Developing GREAT New Products - Hardcover

Lynn, Gary S; Reilly, Richard R

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060084731 ISBN 13: 9780060084738

Publisher: Harper Business, 2002

Synopsis

How Do Companies Create Blockbusters? Do They Know Secrets That Others Don't?

Great products are the lifeblood of great companies, yet approximately 60 percent of new products fail in the marketplace, after major investments and huge risks. Why? Gary Lynn and Richard Reilly now offer advice that will radically change the way new products are developed and launched: a plan for companies to survive -- and thrive -- in today's competitive and turbulent times. Blockbusters shares the results of a ten-year research study of more than 700 teams illustrated by the inside stories of nearly fifty of the most successful products ever launched -- true "blockbusters," familiar to consumers everywhere. These include Colgate's Total toothpaste (now the market leader after Crest dominated for thirty years!), the Iomega Zip Drive, the Handspring Visor, the PowerShot staple gun, the Polycom SoundStation conference phone, the Apple IIe computer, and many others.

Lynn and Reilly reveal and explain in detail the five keys to blockbuster success that companies ignore at their peril: the responsibilities of senior management, a compelling vision of the product, the role of prototyping, the collaboration of people under pressure, and the process of information exchange. In this book, the authors prove that without these crucial elements a blockbuster new product is virtually impossible!

Blockbusters uses both winning and losing case studies to explode established myths and to chart a course for implementing the surprising strategies of history-making development teams. A must for senior managers, entrepreneurs, and team leaders alike -- and for any reader curious about how great products are created -- this heavily researched and groundbreaking book promises to become a classic in the fields of product development and organizational renewal.

About this title

About the Authors

Gary Lynn, Ph.D., is one of the leading scholars on new product development. Formerly a design engineer with high-security clearance at General Electric, he founded the Innovation Research Institute, a company that designed and launched new products in the medical field.

Richard Reilly, Ph.D., a nationally-recognized expert on individual and team assessment, was a research psychologist for Bell Laboratories and AT&T. Lynn and Reilly are professors at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.

From the Back Cover

How Do Companies Create Blockbusters? Do They Know Secrets That Others Don't?

Great products are the lifeblood of great companies, yet approximately 60 percent of new products fail in the marketplace, after major investments and huge risks. Why? Gary Lynn and Richard Reilly now offer advice that will radically change the way new products are developed and launched: a plan for companies to survive -- and thrive -- in today's competitive and turbulent times. Blockbusters shares the results of a ten-year research study of more than 700 teams illustrated by the inside stories of nearly fifty of the most successful products ever launched -- true "blockbusters," familiar to consumers everywhere. These include Colgate's Total toothpaste (now the market leader after Crest dominated for thirty years!), the Iomega Zip Drive, the Handspring Visor, the PowerShot staple gun, the Polycom SoundStation conference phone, the Apple IIe computer, and many others.

Lynn and Reilly reveal and explain in detail the five keys to blockbuster success that companies ignore at their peril: the responsibilities of senior management, a compelling vision of the product, the role of prototyping, the collaboration of people under pressure, and the process of information exchange. In this book, the authors prove that without these crucial elements a blockbuster new product is virtually impossible!

Blockbusters uses both winning and losing case studies to explode established myths and to chart a course for implementing the surprising strategies of history-making development teams. A must for senior managers, entrepreneurs, and team leaders alike -- and for any reader curious about how great products are created -- this heavily researched and groundbreaking book promises to become a classic in the fields of product development and organizational renewal.

Reviews

A product development expert and a former research psychologist, now both professors at the Stevens Institute, combine their knowledge into a slim but useful volume illustrating their innovative approach to New Product Development (NPD). Two-thirds of new products fail in the market, the authors say, but those that go on to become "blockbusters" have five factors working in their favor: active leadership from the highest level of management; "Project Pillars," or clear, established parameters for the product; "Lickety Stick," or the flexibility and tenaciousness to market test until the product "sticks"; goal-oriented teamwork (no psychological tricks); and continuous exchange of information about everything among everybody. The authors demonstrate each of these principles with a case study, including Colgate's Total toothpaste (effective senior management practices) and the Powershot Staple Gun (early and frequent consumer testing). They go on to consider two more complex cases, Corning Glass's decades-long struggle to create the fiber-optic industry and the victory of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory over NASA's entrenched bureaucracy to create the Sojourner Mars lander. The authors recognize the complexity of most of the issues and the serendipity of the regulatory environment (such as the 1986 breakup of AT&T), and they manage to avoid jargon. This volume respects the intelligence of its readers and offers them insights into proven NPD methods. B&w charts and graphs.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper Business
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060084731
• ISBN 13: 9780060084738
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272