On 4th September 10 we had a noteworthy guest lecturer- Mr. Saumitra Prasad, Marketing Manager from CavinKare (CK). The topic for the class was New Product Development. He chose one example and based on that example he explained the whole concept. This was easy for us to relate the concept and it was free from complexity. He chose “Indica hair dye” product of CK as his example. He enlightened us about the stages of NPD (New Product Development).
There are 4 stages in NPD. NPD process initiates with ‘identifying the concept’, where the unmet needs of the customers are ascertained. Based on the unmet needs a product is developed to satisfy those unmet needs. This is the second step in the process- ‘development of product’. Once the product is designed a test launch is conducted in certain parts of the country- for instance, the southern region. This process is known as ‘execution’ which is the most crucial stage. The finale of NPD process is ‘expansion’. If the test launch proves to be a success then the company can proceed with the distribution of the product. The decision of distribution channel must be based on the area in which their test launch was conducted.
Most of the companies skip the ‘execution’ process which proves to be suicidal at times. The reason for such avidity is that if the competitor arrives before, then the company will lose the competitive advantage and will incur colossal loss. As my friend Sathya said it is indeed a ‘rat race’.
It was a valuable session and we couldn’t ascertain the span of the session as it was enthralling. We thank Mr. Prasad for sharing his experiences with us and enlightening our knowledge. We thank CBS for creating such opportunities and training us for “the real world”.
Contributed by K U Mohammad Anwar Sadhath, Marcom Varsity (V Batch 2010-11)
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