Dear all,

he MSMR Friday Speaker Forum is coming up this week, and our speaker is
Frank McGinn, Senior Vice President of Creative Research Services. He will
be talking about a specific research technique CRS utilizes: the
"Needs-Based Product Development Approach", illustrated with findings from a
recent project they completed for a client. An overview of this follows.

Since the forum begins at 530 pm (Friday Nov 17th), we're hoping that you
will be able to make it after work. It takes place in Room 609 of the
Business Building. The cocktail reception will be in Room 633.

Thanks, and hope to see you there,
Roohi
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Presentation Overview:

Frank McGinn, Senior Vice President of Creative Research Services, will
present findings from a recent study conducted for a CRS client that
utilizes CRS' Needs-Based Product Development Approach.  What follows is an
overview of this approach.
Many corporations want to be customer-focused and to have the "Voice of the
Customer" drive their new product development efforts.  This means
understanding what the customer wants, the relative importance of these
needs, and then developing products that deliver the desired benefits.
Japanese corporations embraced an approach to understanding customer wants
and needs over thirty years ago called Quality Function Deployment (QFD).
This process is a cross-functional conduit for product development and
communication.  It helps to insure that products are developed with the
attributes and features that customers want or need, not just those that
Engineering, Research & Development or Marketing want to give them.  This
type of study is equally appropriate for existing products and for
categories that a company may consider entering.
CRS has adapted and used a QFD approach in its needs-based product
development projects for better than ten years. It has extended the basic
QFD premise to incorporate many leading-edge marketing research analytical
techniques that further the value of QFD.  Frank's presentation will provide
some of the ways in which this technique was utilized to help one of its
clients in its product development efforts.
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