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PRoduCT And sERviCE dEvEloPmEnT As A PRoCEss 285
has to be managed but not to the point where it interferes with originality. Typically,
this view of product and service development sees the activity as a collection of, some-
times interdependent, projects. And although some aspects of project management
may be relevant in guiding the activity, it cannot be regarded as a ‘process’. Processes
are what create products and services on a routine basis, whereas product and service
development is the creation of original one-offs. Furthermore, the raw material of this
knowledge is a substance that is difficult to define and even more difficult to identify.
Product and service development, therefore, must focus on its outcome and not worry
too much about how that outcome is achieved.
The counter-argument contends that, as with everything, output depends on pro-
cess. Great ideas for products and services emerge from a process that makes them
great. Therefore, of course, one should examine the process of product and service
development. While no two development projects are exactly alike, there is sufficient
commonality in all such projects to be able to model the process and work on improv-
ing its overall performance. The normal generic performance objectives that apply to
any operations process – quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost – all have rel-
evance to product and service development. Most companies would willingly adopt an
approach that gave them higher-quality designs for new products and services, deliv-
ered faster and more dependably while maintaining sufficient flexibility to incorporate
new ideas that are produced at lower cost. It makes sense, therefore, to apply similar
approaches to improving product and service development processes as one would
to any other process. Define the steps in the process, examine the characteristics of
how prospective product and service designs flow through the resources that act upon
them, look for bottlenecks and attempt to smooth them out, identify critical points
in the flow and guard against quality failures at these points and so on. This is the
approach we shall take. Product and service development is a process, and needs to be
managed strategically.

Example spangler, Hoover and dyson 10
In 1907 a janitor called Murray Spangler put together a pillowcase, a fan, an old biscuit tin
and a broom handle. It was the world’s first vacuum cleaner. One year later he sold his pat-
ented idea to William Hoover, whose company went on to dominate the vacuum cleaner
market for decades, especially in its US homeland. Yet between 2002 and 2005 Hoover’s mar-
ket share dropped from 36 per cent to 13.5 per cent. Why? Because a futuristic-looking and
comparatively expensive rival product, the Dyson vacuum cleaner, had jumped from nothing
to over 20 per cent of the market. In fact, the Dyson product dates back to 1978, when James
Dyson noticed how the air filter in the spray-finishing room of a company where he had
been working was constantly clogging with power particles (just like a vacuum cleaner bag
clogs with dust). So he designed and built an industrial cyclone tower, which removed the
powder particles by exerting centrifugal forces. The question intriguing him was, ‘Could the
same principle work in a domestic vacuum cleaner?’ Five years and five thousand prototypes later
he had a working design, since praised for its ‘uniqueness and functionality’. However, exist-
ing vacuum cleaner manufacturers were not as impressed – two rejected the design outright.
So Dyson started making his new design himself. Within a few years Dyson cleaners were, in
the UK, outselling the rivals who had once rejected them. The aesthetics and functionality of
the design help to keep sales growing in spite of a higher retail price. To Dyson, good ‘is about

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