4.1 Learning Objectives

Identify and discuss the reasons why innovation is so important in today's marketplace.

Discuss the pros and cons of transformational and incremental innovation strategies.

Identify and discuss the key elements of an effective innovation infrastructure.

Identify and discuss the steps in the new product development process and explain why stage gates are important and how you would use them.

Define sequential and concurrent design and discuss the pros and cons of each approach. Be sure to discuss who should be on a concurrent design team—and why.

Identify and be able to use key tools to evaluate and improve product profitability.