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Managing A Product Innovation Portfolio and Timing Market Entry
Monday, April 9, 2012 <>

Topic overview:
In today's class we will look at two important aspects of developing and executing an effective product innovation strategy. The first of these, timing market entry, deals with strategies for maximizing the likelihood that a single new product will be successful. The second, managing a product innovation portfolio, introduces some techniques for evaluating your company's product mix as a portfolio of product initiatives, understanding how well that portfolio supports your company's strategy, and insuring that the portfolio of new product initiatives has a risk/reward ratio that is in alignment with your company's goals and risk management preferences.

By the end of class today, you should:
 * Understand common constraints and drivers that inform decisions on when to enter a new market (timing market entry)
 * Be able to explain the concept of a 'product innovation portfolio' and why thinking of an organization's innovation efforts as a portfolio can be an effective way to coordinate multiple initiatives and to manage the firm's overall risk exposure

Preparation for class:
Prior to class you should read Chapter 13, "Making Portfolio Management More Effective" in [CE09].
 * [CE09] Robert G. Cooper and Scott Edgett, Successful Product Innovation, Product Development Institute, 2009, ISBN: 978-1-4392-4918-5.

For a good overview of market entry timing topics covered in today's class, see chapter 5 (pages 89-104) of [Sch10].
 * [Sch10] Melissa A. Schilling, Strategic Management of Technological Innovation, 3rd Edition, McGraw Hill, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-07-3381565.

Reference materials:
Slides:

We will look at this s-curve technology adoption graphic from the Wall St. Journal in class: