Maintaining Competitive Advantage in the Face of Rapid Commoditization
A top computer peripherals company had achieved significant success as the "value player" in its market. However, its period of protection from low-cost, foreign competition was coming to an end as key patents were due to expire. The company sought help from Analysis Group to rethink its approach to product planning and development so as to prepare for the intensive competitive entrants shortly expected in the market.
We performed a comprehensive diagnostic of all aspects of:
- Industry drivers
- Product planning and development
- Product line architecture
- Organizational structure
- Existing processes
- Senior decision-making and interface with product development
The diagnostic produced a variety of surprising conclusions and insights. For example, many delays (and costs) were rooted in marketing as opposed to development; changes in decisions at senior levels underlay enormous inefficiencies and market delays; and most important, relentless cost-cutting on each product was actually rendering each less cost-efficient in aggregate, particularly as the product line matured and proliferated.
As a result, senior management hired us to help internal teams successfully institute modular technology and product planning, new decision-making processes, and newly empowered development teams.
The company's most recent product line has received awards signifying a superior ability to hit the market with the right product at the right time.