LEAD USER ANALYSIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS GLEN L URBAN & ERIC VON HIPPEL
This article talks about how market research can provide useful inputs in the Lead User Methodology which can improve the productivity of new product development, especially to those products that are subject to rapid technological changes. Lead users not only provide information concerning their unfilled needs but even provide solutions and can even be developers of successful new products. Lead user are characterized by those who face needs that are general in the market but much before the others experience it and they also arrive at a solution which provides them wit a high level of benefit. The article uses the case study involving Computer Aided Designs (CAD) systems because it was a rapidly growing market. The four steps used in conducting this research were: (1) Specifying lead user indicators by first identifying a market or technological trend and then defining the......
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Approximate Word Count: 278
Approximate Pages: 2 (260 words per double-spaced page) |