Managing Hospitality Innovation

Abstract

Companies involved in new-product development use some or all of the following 15 steps to generate ideas and services: established objectives and strategies for developing new ideas (mission statement), the company's business structure, actual idea generation and screening, concept development, concept testing, business analysis, project authorization, product or service design and testing, process and system design and testing, marketing-program design and testing, personnel training, product or service testing, test-marketing, launch, and post-launch review. This article's four case studies, however, illustrate that firms do not typically need to follow all 15 steps. That is due to a number of factors, including product diversity resulting from the originality of the product or service; the level of legal protection available; the amount of capital investment available; and the maturity of the marketplace.