New Product Success Stories Lessons from Leading Innovators

What are the secrets behind such spectacular new product successes as Slim-Fast, Cellular One, and Phillips CD? How did Snapple, MCI Friends and Family, MTV, and The Body Shop emerge from obscurity to become household names, seemingly overnight? Find out in New Product Success Stories, a book that takes you behind the scenes of 24 of the biggest new product success stories of the past few years. From repeat purchase and durable products such as Lever 2000 and Ford Taurus, to major technologies such as Cellular One, from services like Courtyard by Marriott, to retailers such as The Body Shop International, you're given a unique, firsthand look at how a wide range of innovative companies employed a variety of approaches to successfully developing and marketing their new products. New Product Success Stories was designed to help businesspeople to identify and study the factors that have been shown to play a central role in new product success. Consequently, the book is organized according to such vital issues as: Aligning strategic opportunities Capitalizing on the business environment Pursuing market acceptance Motivating the organization Creating new product ideas Designing new products from concepts Refining the new product Tracking the new product Each success story follows a similar format, offering a brief history of the product idea, a company profile, a blow-by-blow account of the development process, an explanation of the product's success in terms of factors both inside and outside the organization, and future prospects for both product and the company. Offering a unique opportunity to learn the secrets behind 24 sensational new product success stories, New Product Success Stories is an invaluable tool of survival in today's rapidly changing business world. "A refreshing and practical book that adds considerable insight to the processes of new product development. Both practitioners and students of new product development will find considerable value in benchmarking against these success stories." -Thomas S. Robertson Sainsbury Professor of Marketing London Business School "New products are essential for organizations, but they are both risky and costly. The stories in this book record how 24 new products traversed the marketplace minefield successfully. They provide insight and inspiration for those involved in the new product arena." - Gary L. Lilien Director, Institute for the Study of Business Markets Distinguished Research Professor of Management Science, Penn State "Refreshing and illuminating . . . a compelling series of case studies that shows how the success of a new product can be achieved through innovation and risk-taking. A book on new product success that is a new product in its own right." - John S. Hendricks Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Discovery Communications, Inc. "This book makes an important contribution to the literature on new product success. It inspires as it instructs." -William W. Adams Former Chairman and President Armstrong World Industries, Inc. "One of the most readable and insightful collections of new product case studies I have ever read. New Product Success Stories demonstrates that business managers and new product professionals can gain relevant insights from others' successes as well as learning from others' mistakes." - John D. Bowlin President and Chief Operating Officer Miller Brewing CompanyThomas, Robert J. is the author of 'New Product Success Stories Lessons from Leading Innovators' with ISBN 9780471013204 and ISBN 047101320X.