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1- As stated in this week\'s reading, \"Whether a company grows, survives, and m

ID: 404615 • Letter: 1

Question

1- As stated in this week's reading, "Whether a company grows, survives, and makes a profit could depend upon how their products or services are defined." What does this statement mean to a company or to consumer perception?

2- Selden and McMillan, in "Manage Customer-Centric InnovationSystematically," contend that customer-centric innovation will better sustain a company. Using your own experience and other resources, do you agree? Provide examples and supporting evidence from multiple sources to support your position.

Explanation / Answer

1.

A product or service refers to those utilities that are made to satisfy a customer needs and wants.

Therefore, companies come into existences when they have something to offer that can satisfy customers need and wants. Profitability, growth or survival of a company depend upon how well they carter or satisfy a need of a customer.

For example, a company who is into western apparels wants to market its product in Gulf countries. Therefore, they can face the challenges in selling its products. These challenges can be due to the differences in the culture, perception and life style of customers. Therefore, the company will face downward slope in its sale and demand of its products which can even pose a threat to its survival and growth.

Assume a second condition, where a company is into FMCG products. Company manufactures and modifies its product according to the demands, taste and preferences of its customer’s .Thus; its product poses favorable conditions for its growth, survival and profitability.

Therefore, it can be said that a company growth, survival and profit depends upon how their products or services are defined.

2.

It hardly matters how hard a company tries to innovate their products. Innovation doesn’t guarantee growth, survival or profitability of a company. The success of a company depends on the match between the company’s plan and the market's expectations. Instead of understanding what a customer wants and using this understanding to project innovation, companies invest their money into their R&D. As a result, even after spending a huge amount on R&D, companies fail to survive.

Thus, the innovation should be customer-centric, or CCI. CCI is a customer R&D process that helps companies to understand who their customers are and what they need. This helps companies to improve their customer value proposition. Customer R&D also helps companies to focus on how they should communicate their value propositions and deliver a better product to its customers. Thus, CCI helps companies to manufacture and delivery products according to the needs and preferences of customers.