AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: 3 Hard
Topic: What is a New Product, and What Leads to Success?
35.In an attempt to extend the life of its brand of AquaFresh soap, Agate Inc., a soap manufacturer, makes certain enhancements to the characteristics and quality of its soaps. Agate's products would best fit into the new product category of:
A. line extensions.
B. new-to-the-firm products.
C. new-to-the-world products.
D. product improvements.
Feedback: Refer to figure 1.4. Agate's products would best fit into the new product category of product improvements. Improvements and revisions to existing products are an attempt to make them better.
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Difficulty: 3 Hard
Topic: What is a New Product, and What Leads to Success?
36.Which of the following categories of new products would present higher risks and uncertainties as well as associated costs of development and launch?
A. Line extensions
B. New-to-the-world products
C. Improvised products
D. Repositionings
Feedback: Generally, if a product is new-to-the-world or new-to-the-firm, the risks and uncertainties faced by the firm are higher, as are the associated costs of development and launch.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What is a New Product, and What Leads to Success?
37.Which of the following products define wholly new product categories and are most likely to require consumer learning or incorporate a very new technology?
A. Improvised products
B. New-to-the-world products
C. New-to-the-firm products
D. Repositionings
Feedback: New-to-the-world products revolutionize existing product categories or define wholly new ones. They are the most likely to require consumer learning and/or incorporate a very new technology. Desktop computers with word processing software defined a new product category that virtually obsoleted electric and manual typewriters, and consumer learning was required by those who type for a living.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Topic: What is a New Product, and What Leads to Success?
38.A "me-too" product is most likely a:
A. new-to-the-world product.
B. new-to-the-firm product.
C. repositioned product.
D. reduced cost product.
Feedback: The new product line category raises the issue of the imitation product, a strictly "me-too." If a firm introduces a brand of a product that is new to them but is identical to those already on the market, it is a new-to-the-firm product and requires the new products process. Canon was not the first laser printer manufacturer, Coca-Cola was not the first orange-juice bottler, and P&G was not the first competitor in the coffee business.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: What is a New Product, and What Leads to Success?
39.Which of the following statements is true of new product categories?
A. New product categories do not differ with regard to their associated risks and uncertainties.
B. All new product categories are not necessarily innovations.
C. Additions or revisions to existing product lines do not fall under the domain of new product categories.
D. The least innovative category of new products is product repositionings.
Feedback: Not all new product categories are necessarily innovations. Line extensions, like the Dove soap name, for example, has been extended to almost two dozen box soaps and almost as many liquid body washes, or new flavors of Oreo cookies, may have resulted from a company's desire to increase display space and shelf space.
AACSB: Analytic
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Topic: What is a New Product, and What Leads to Success?
40.Which of the following is true of new product categories?
A. If a product is new-to-the-world, the risks and uncertainties faced by the firm are higher.
B. If a product is new-to-the-firm, the associated costs of development and launch tend to be lower.
C. Generally, all the new product categories are innovations.