Product & Service Design - Meeting the Customer's Expectations

Background:

When analyzing and designing processes to transform resources into good and services, these questions must be asked:

1. Is the process designed to achieve competitive advantage in terms of differentiation, response, or low cost?

2. Does the process eliminate steps that do not add value?

3. Does the process maximize customer value as perceived by the customer?

4. Will the process win orders?

Each step of the product and service design process must add value, expecially to the customer.

Questions for Thought:

1. Can you think of processes that have led firms to a competitive advantage based on differentiation? Response? Low cost?

2. Is the customer the only evaluator of value added? How does one define value added? How does value added differ from quality?

3. What is the responsibility of a manager and a firm for designing products and services that gives added value? Do all products and services have to add value?

4. In the video clip of Mosquito Coast, Harrison Ford plays an inventor designing a product for a customer but seemingly forgets the "value" that he is supposed to add. His product is very innovative on a larger scale but adds no value to the customer. Can you think of products or services in the real world where this has happened?