ABSTRACT
The stage we are at in the design process – preparing the design specification – establishes specific targets for the new product. Factors which are included in the design specification will, hopefully, be delivered to the customer, whereas those which are omitted or overlooked probably will not. It is, therefore, vitally important to get the design specification right in order to make sure that the new product is right. But, what does it mean to say that the product is right? We have seen what it means to get the product right for the company. The company's aims have been explored from its mission statement through to its product development objectives. But we have also seen in Chapter 2 that getting the product right for the company only increases the product's chances of commercial success by a factor of 2.5. Getting the product's market orientation right increases its chances of commercial success by a factor of 5. Market orientation has been considered so far in terms of competing product analysis and preliminary market research to identify the best product opportunity. Now we must focus more closely on market orientation to determine the specific qualities of the product we need to deliver.
