Case Study

1. How do frog’s activities affect its ability to (a) maximize the fit with customer needs, (b) minimize development cycle time, and (c) control development costs? a) As many products fail to produce an economic return because they do not fulfill customer requirements, involving customers in development process affect its ability to maximize the fit with customer needs. It can help a firm ensure that its new products match customer expectations. The customer is often the one most able to identify the maximum performance capabilities and minimum service requirements of a new product. Therefore, including the customer in the actual development team can help firm focus its development efforts on projects that better fit customer needs. b) Moreover, firms can also involve suppliers in the development process, helping to minimize development cycle time and minimize the input cost of a new product design. By involving suppliers, managers can help to ensure that input arrives on time and that necessary changes can be made quickly to minimize development time. c) Finally, design for manufacturing and CAD/CAM are additional tools development team can use to control development cost. The easier products are to manufacture, the fewer assembly step required, the higher labor productivity will be, resulting in lower unit cost.

4. Would frog’s approach be more suitable for some kinds of development projects than others? If so, what kinds would it be appropriate or inappropriate for? Frog's approach would be more suitable for some kinds of development projects such as: electronic product, mobile product, Internet services, the energy, healthcare, software computer, and media, retail. Based on the frog process, it is clearly seen that the main task of Frog is about the stretch from initial conception to the completion of a product. Moreover, the three phases of Frog, which includes Discover, Design and Deliver often focus on the customer‘s suggestions