Screening (NPD Stage 2)
Category: Marketing
Only some ideas will justify the expense of development work, so some mechanism is required to sift out the few that deserve further attention there are two essential features in this screening process.
The establishment of a set of evaluative criteria, i.e. a list of the important factors that should be considered when making a choice.
Judgements about the extent to which each product idea meets each of these important factors.
O’Meara has produced one of the most widely used screening techniques, involving seventeen new product criteria. O’Meara’s technique involves giving each criterion a weight to distinguish its relative significance, and then multiplying this «weighting factor» by a «product performance factor» (this reflects the product’s performance rating on each of the seventeen criteria). Comparative scores for each of several new product ideas are thus derived.
Whichever screening procedure is employed the cardinal step is the prior choice of relevant evaluative criteria. There is no universal set of such criteria. They must be specific to each company’s experience and expectations. The clear specification of these criteria is a valuable exercise in its own right, because all of them should be related to the firm’s ultimate goals. If sales or profit criteria could be used then more detailed criteria would be redundant. But since this is at the product concept stage and there is no physical product then sales and profit guesses are likely to be wild.
Some firms have to make literally hundreds of screening decisions every year, others, very few. The consequences of these decisions are also very varied. In some instances they affect the survival of the organisation, and in others they might have only marginal impact. In some cases, of necessity, they become routine; in others each screening decision is unique. Whatever the particular circumstances, a planned and systematic approach to screening new product ideas seems wise. Above all, an agreed set of evaluative criteria is required otherwise different people will arrive at contrary judgements because they evaluate the idea against different criteria. The resulting impasse will be at least embarrassing. Good ideas could wilt because of inattention and bad ideas survive because of ‘political’ pressure.