The perfect product launch: Innovation drives growth in the consumer products industry

Consumer products (CP) companies are under increasing pressure to reduce time-to-market and the cost of introducing new products. As product lifecycles continue to decrease, compressing development cycles and accelerating new product introductions are becoming critical. Product complexity is also increasing substantially, making development and product introduction even more challenging.

This report presents the challenges the CP industry is facing, as increased complexities in the competitive environment are forcing shorter product lifecycles and increasing cost pressures. It evaluates the impact that these complexities have on the product development process and focuses on a few recommendations that CP executives should consider to reduce their time-to-market and increase their return on investment for new product introductions.

This report draws on research from the IBM Global CEO Study 2006 and the IBM Institute for Business Value 2006 Value Chain Study and places the research findings into context, based on the challenges and leading management practices associated with bringing new products and services to market successfully and profitably.

To read the full report, download the PDF file at the top of this page.