Customer Reviews

Product Development For The Service Sector: Lessons From Market Leaders

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4 star:		(3)
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This is a very good book for managers of new service development processes. It offers a framework for designing and implementing a new service development process and there are many good advice and techniques in the book that I believe will prove invaluable to these managers. I expect this is the result of the 1,500 case studies that the authors have conducted.

I especially liked the sections that the authors have entitled "Points for Management to Ponder". These short bits, interspersed throughout the book, forces a reader to link the theories to actual situations in a company. I found such exercises beneficial to the learning process.

However, I found that the authors tend to repeat themselves throughout the book. For example, Chapter 4 and 5 are essentially the same. Chapter 4 walks through the framework fairly quickly with a real case example while Chapter 5 examines the general framework in detail. I believe the 2 chapters could have been combined without much loss to content.

I recommend this book to practitioners, as this is a very practical book. For readers who just want to know more about service development but are currently not involved in any development work, this book is not for you. Like me, you may find some of the framework difficult to understand without a real case to relate to.

This book is "Winning at New Products" for the service sector. The good news is that it can be used independent of any of Cooper's other titles. The bad news is that it can be used independent... In other words, if you are already familiar with the nuts and bolts of the stage-gate process, the amount of revelations is relatively small. In spite of this mild criticism, I have to commend the authors for probably the first of very few - even to this date - books on the subject of service development. So, much like "Winning at New Products", this book can be considered foundational in understanding the process of new service development. If you are new to the stage-gate process, and are in any service industry or product industry with strong service focus, this is mandatory reading.

Well written and full of understandings... Bob, as with all his books, has made many key points. An excellent read for anyone who's business is dependent on new services and believes that luck is not a sustainable advantage. If you believe that the event or experience marketing is the key to most sales, then becoming excellent in launching new services is a must.

Cooper is the guy if you are into development - from idea to delivery of the goods - be it a product (widget), software or services. He is a portfolio management guy that will help you wrap your thinking around making investments into ideas that are yearning to make a debut in reality.