Managing New Products: Using the Map System to Accelerate Growth

This is an amazing book for people planning to specialize in marketing and are currently pursuing an MBA degree.

Many people still think that being smart means being obscure or difficult to understand. If you need evidence to prove them wrong, get this book. The author lays out an amazingly simple yet insightful paradigm for thinking about and developing the kinds of dramatic, innovative new products that really matter to a company's present and future growth and success. My only complaint is that the author shortchanges his own system by calling it "New Products." The scheme he describes so well applies to any kind of new service as well as new product. The most "profound" element of his system is that it is flexible enough to be used for any kind of innovation. Its simplicity and broad applicability are beyond comparison.

For any business person this book is a must-buy for several reasons.First, the form and content reflect the substance. Simply put, most second or third editions of books are warmed-over versions of their predecessors. So, given the speed at which hte world changes, an unchanged third edition is old news. This one isn't. It presents a totally new way of looking at new product innovation and putting it to work in the real world. The author has actually followed his own advice. One of his key tenets is that "new and improved" line extensions ar destroying many (e.g., packaged goods) companies. He certainly hasn't just changed the "flavor" of this edition with a drop or two of intellectual rose water, a new cover, and shouts of "new,new, new." I own a copy of the previous edition, and this one has at least 60 percent new information. Second, in addition to the new model the author has developed for this edition, the author has added an entire chapter on Innovation Metrics. There's only one way to know where you are and where you are going--measure it. And he provides several techniques, from the relatively simple to the fairly sophisticated, for "putting a number on" one's new product innovation efforts. This is possibly the most important way to take new product innovation from the realm of unmanageable and idiosyncratic activity that just "happens" to its proper role as a set of specific activities that can be used to manage risk.Third, I love the simplicity and practicality of the MAP system. At its most basic level it gives a business exec a new way of looking at what his or her business already has--but in a new way. I know lots of workaday buseinss people who are sick to death of getting sucked into "new" systems that, in mid-stream, run out of gas or need big financial suport to stay afloat. Virtually any company of any size already has the basic components of the author's system.On the other hand, you can continue to peel back layers of the system and get as much complexity or sophistication as you need. The point is that this system begins at a simple, practical level and can grow as the user's needs dictate. Too many business books are built on sytems or "Just take your customer base of 700,000 names and apply formula XYZ or ABC to it." At just about this time, the average person is from you or anyone else." So many of the business models out there are useless to most people or business circumstances because they (1)either haven't been tested in a real business (2) or will only function on a scale beyond the scope of most companies. Kuczmarski's approach is invaluable because it is eminently useful and usable--right now, today--for any level or size of business.I'm sure it's obvious that I recommend this book highly.