Benchmarking New Product Forecasting

BENCHMARKING NEW PRODUCT FORECASTING By Chaman L. Jain, St. John’s University T T he success of many businesses depends on new products because a large portion of the sales comes from them. Why is this so? It is because during the last 10 years or so the market has become highly competitive, consumers have become less loyal and more demanding, and life cycles of products have become very short. One way to stay ahead in the today’s market is to introduce more and more new products. When Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer, was asked about his recipe for success, his response was: “Take risk and stay one step ahead of competitors.” One way to stay ahead of competition is to introduce new and better products. New product introduction is not an option any more; it is a necessity. For many companies it is the way to survive. DEFINING NEW PRODUCTS There is no standard definition of new products. Generally, a product or service is defined as “new” when it results from product improvement, line extension, market extension, and/or when it is new to the company and to the world. New product improvement may result from changes which may be either technological or psychological. ...