Product Management, Research, Customer Relations, Manufacturing, Economics, Marketing, Business Development 

Some companies are beating the odds and are winning more often than losing at service development. What separates the winners from the losers? In Product Development for the Service Sector, Cooper and Edgett offer compelling research confirming the specific practices that truly drive performance at both the business unit level and at the project level. They delve into the three cornerstones of new product performance: Strategy, Resource Allocation and Idea-to-Launch Process and offer practices, processes and illustrations to ensure all are in excellent working order. Ask anyone who works in the service industry and she/he will tell you that developing a new service is far more difficult than developing a tangible new product. Why is this? What makes developing a new offering in a service environment more challenging than developing a new product? Over the years, four main characteristics peculiar to services have been identified, and their impact on service development has been studied: Intangibility, Inseparability, Heterogeneity and Perishability. In Product Development for the Service Sector, Cooper and Edgett apply their pioneering approaches to the unique issues, challenges and opportunities facing service companies. They tailor the world's most trusted and widely implemented development process, Stage-Gate®, to the dynamics of the service industry and offer numerous real company illustrations along the way. Understand why new service development is critical to the future viability of service companiesDiscover the critical drivers of successful service developmentLearn how to develop and launch winning new servicesDiscover how to screen and pick the right projectsLearn how to define, design and implement a new service development process. Key Topics: Service Innovation Benchmarking Research Study Results Best Practices in Service DevelopmentThe Tangibility-Intangibility SpectrumHow to conduct an effective Innovation Performance Evaluation A Guide to a World-Class New Service Development ProcessTips and hints for making the development process work and avoiding common pitfallsA step-by-step guide for each stage and gate in the Idea-To-Launch Process Unique issues in the service industry that impact the Idea-To-Launch Process Portfolio management and how it interacts with your Idea-To-Launch Process. - from Amzon