The Product Development Process in the Consumer Goods Industry - Research Paper Example

Capital goods would incorporate a research into the industrial sector and latest technologies, whereas for consumer goods the research would be carried out in markets, via questionnaires and consumer preferences and tastes. The second step is the screening of ideas; all ideas are evaluated critically by an organization and then lined up in their order of scoring on the relevant success points to the organization. Consumer goods and capital goods ideas have to pass through the screening process indiscriminately.

After some ideas have been selected, they are developed upon and testing takes place, at this point both product types differ significantly, while mass-market testing could be done for consumer goods, it is not applicable to capital goods, because this might lead to a loss in intellectual property, and if competitors copy a cap mass-market before it is formally launched, then it would result in drastic financial losses for an organization. The next step is business analysis, wherein the major research pertaining to the costs, marketing and viability of the product are carried out.

The detailed business analysis is done for both product types. In step 5, i.e. the product and marketing mix development, companies gear their R&D teams to develop prototypes of the actual products, simultaneously the marketing department develops a marketing plan (American Academy, 2001), and then the final customers get to experience the product itself. The ideas which extend to step 6 that is market testing undergo a complete marketed product launch, however, this is done on a smaller level before full launch and is usually on a regional or city basis.

Capital goods manufacturers usually skip this step whereas consumer goods essentially undergo this step.