Winning At New Products: Accelerating The Process From Idea To Launch, Second Edition (Paperback)

by Robert G. Cooper (Author) "Corporations everywhere are engaged in a new products war..." (more)
Key Phrases: systematic new product process, formal new product process, product game plan, Discovery Stage, Portfolio Review, Exxon Chemical (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A fully updated and revised edition of a proven and popular resource. With new success factors and new examples, this edition continues to provide up-to-date, practical, step-by-step guidelines for conceiving, developing, and successfully launching new consumer products.

About the Author
Robert G. Cooper is Professor of Marketing at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University. Creator of the widely employed Stage-Gate(tm) product development process, he is the author of several books on product development and was the 1998 recipient of the Crawford Award from the Product Development and Management Association. He lives in Oakville, Ontario. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 2nd edition (September 20, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201563819
• ISBN-13: 978-0201563818
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #217,102 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thorough Textbook for Serious New Products Dev. Managers, November 14, 2001

By	Bradley A. Swope (State College, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Winning at New Products: Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch, Third Edition (Paperback)

REVIEW: (Rev of 2nd edition) It is now widely accepted that innovation is a core competence that is required by nearly all organizations. As a result, many companies have been very successful at generating new innovations. However, generating innovations is just the first step and an excess of innovations in many companies has created a need for good management processes to deal with them. These are the issues addressed by this book and there may be no other place where these issues are addressed as thoroughly and well as here. The author provides a thorough review and analysis of each step of the development process from idea to commercial launch. While the book can be slow reading at times, I firmly believe the author's method of separating the process into stages and providing screening mechanisms between the stage are excellent advice. Following these methods should lead to: (1) accelerated product development, (2) increased success rate of new products, and (3) a more effective and efficient new products development process. Accordingly, the book should be especially useful to those managers responsible for portfolios of new products. If this is you, this book is highly recommended.

STRENGTHS: The book provides a very thorough review and analysis of the new product development process from innovation through to launch. The author has done a very thorough review of the research in this field and the book does an excellent job of citing other material. The book also contains an appropriate use of graphics for illustrating some points.

WEAKNESSES: While the book doesn't focus on any particular industry, its teachings are probably most applicable to more traditional product companies (e.g. P&G, DuPont). Also, (and this maybe an unfair comment for a book targeted at products) the book probably isn't that helpful for innovations in services which may be even more important in modern companies than product innovation (e.g. GE and IBM are currently pushing services). Another concern, the book is fairly "textbook like" and only those seriously interested in the subject may find it easy/enjoyable to read. Some passages seem to drag on and I often wished the author would have been more concise and not tried to so thoroughly justify every point.

WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: Product development managers, new business managers, and others responsible for bringing innovations to market should read this book. Those responsible for _portfolios_ of new products/innovations may especially find this book useful.

ALSO CONSIDER: Jeffrey A Timmons - New Venture Creation; Guy Kawasaki - Rules for Revolutionaries; Peter F. Drucker - Innovation & Entrepreneurship

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Father of the Stage-Gate Approach Speaks, February 9, 2005

By	J. Groen "Jerry Groen" (GURNEE, ILLINOIS USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Winning at New Products: Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch, Third Edition (Paperback)

Bob Cooper, the author of this book, is the originator of the stage-gate approach to new product development, and is recognized as such by the federal government who registered this phrase under his company. He initially described the approach in a couple of excellent articles written in the late 1970s but this book, first written in the late 1980s and updated twice since, is really the best source for the stage-gate process. Although his writing can be dry and his tone preachy, you can't argue with the base information and the conclusions. He studied 3000 new products in hundreds of companies to identify what separates the winners from the losers in new products, and stage-gates are one of the keys, along with cross-functional teams and a clear understanding of the customer's needs. Today over 96% of companies in a recent survey use stage-gates, and the best at bringing new products to market, the organizations that are the most profitable and growing the fastest, do it well. This book lays out how to do it well. If you want to install a stage-gate process, and you need to, if your company doesn't have one, this is your best source.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, June 3, 2004

By	Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Winning at New Products: Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch, Third Edition (Paperback)

New products accelerate consumerism and a truly innovative launch can re-ignite corporate balance sheets, but new product attrition is high. For every seven new product ideas floated, about four enter development, one and a half are launched and only one succeeds (25% to 45% of new products flop). Yet intrepid corporations innovate and live to recount their tales to happy shareholders. The book presents every conceivable detail of the launch process - evaluation, management, best practices, game plans and even the seemingly impossible, incorporating new ideas into corporate thinking. So, what are the shortcomings? Well, there's not enough service industry info and there is too much redundancy. Processes are listed, sub-processes are listed and sub-sub-processes, until the reader gets lost in lists and stages. Still, if you retain the energy to try, this book provides the theoretical and operational framework for launching new products. All you need is that billion dollar idea. We recommend this book to idea people in marketing, technology, R & D and sales.