Class Discussion (Product Failures)

1313 unread replies.1313 replies.

Review the “Discussion Topic Expectations and Grading Rubric” information in Week 1 and/or the syllabus. Your initial post in this forum (Post 1) should be made between Monday 12:01 AM Thursday 11:59 PM. Your follow-up post in this forum (Post 2) should be made by Sunday 11:59 PM. Please identify your submission as Post 1 or Post 2 in the subject line.

Post 1

Large corporations and businesses introduce new products and services in order to fulfill market need and make profits. The new-product development process is discussed in your text. Using this is a basis, research product failures that have affected companies in the past and have cost them substantial amount of money and may also have adversely affected their market reputation, tarnishing their brands.

Research the web and pick one such product failure for a Fortune 500 company and describe this failure.NOTE: A project or product failure, not a “company” failure such as Blockbuster and not a “discontinued” product because of a failed part, such as the Ford Pinto which was in production and sold for 10 years but was discontinued because of a faulty fuel system and placement of its gas tank. At a minimum, you are expected to provide information about the company, the product, rationale for introduction of this product, the costs associated with the product (development and losses). For example, the Edsel automobile, Beta vx VHS, New Coke, Pepsi Crystal, etc. This is a one to two paragraph exercise – do not go overboard, concise description of the company, product and major reasons you believe it failed.

Synthesize your position on 3 – 5 reasons specific factors you believe most likely contributed to the product failure, using the product development process in the text; offer your analysis.

Suggested Failures Examples For Review (that you may use)

McDonalds Arch Deluxe Burger

New Coke

Pepsi Crystal

Coors Rocky Mountain Sparkling Water

HP Touchpad

Colgate Kitchen Entrees

Sony Betamax

Ford Edsel

ESPN Mobile Phone

Microsoft Zune

Not Considered Failures

Samsung Galaxy Phone (battery failed)

WOW Chips (profited from product)

Heinz Colored Ketchup (profited from product)

Use references and citations, in APA format, to support your position.

Post 2

Review the posts of other students made in Post 1 and select one post to respond to. Respond to one other student’s post and offer your opinion as to whether or not you agree with their analysis of the reason for failure. NOTE: you must summarize the other students selection, his/her response and then provide your opinion – agree – disagree – why?

When responding to your classmate, you may NOT respond to student who has picked the same product as you did. The goal is to research more than just the one product you selected to discuss.

There will be one initial post and at least ONE response posts (Post 2) required this week.

Initial Post – “YOUR LAST NAME – Post 1” new thread

Response – “YOUR LAST NAME – Post 2” on your classmates thread