Welcome to the Exciting World of Concept and Product Development!

MAR4836: Concept & Product DevelopmentSyllabus

St. Petersburg College

College of Business

Welcome to the exciting world of concept and product development!

Do innovative product ideas electrifyyou? Does the prospect of solving customers’ problems elate you? If so, you’re going to love this course!

In this course, you will develop a real concept, product, or service with an eye towards bringing it to market.

About your Faculty

My connection to entrepreneurship started before I even knew what it was. My grandfather invented the corrugated disk for the plow and lived quite well off the licensing royalties. Just think about how many plows have been manufactured. He made money on every single disk on every single plow. Not bad. He had other ventures, such as mink farming back when mink coats were in high demand… a very inspiring guy. Then, my dad earned his DVM and opened a veterinary hospital. We lived in the back of the hospital building, and I got to help in increasingly more responsible roles through the years, seeing first-hand how he grew the business until he was managing other doctors more than practicing medicine.

I’ve started and owned several businesses: an interior design business where I fabricated custom draperies, a marketing and PR agency where we came up with an innovative service called “Marketing Director on Call,” and a couple side sewing businesses through the years where I designed custom apparel and did alterations. I’m currently developing my skills as a metalsmith and jewelry designer and plan to launch very soon.

In my university/college administrative roles, I’ve managed development teams and developed products myself, including new academic programs, faculty development programs, concept/strategic planning, and more.

Currently, I’m the Academic Department Chair in the College of Business for the Baccalaureate programs, and in addition to Concept and Product Development, I teach MAN3503: Managerial Risk Analysis and Decision Making and GEB3213: Business Communication for Professional Effectiveness. I hold an MBA with a concentration in Marketing from Keller Graduate School of Management, as well as an EdD in Higher Ed Leadership from the University of Central Florida and a Masters in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

I spend time reading inventor and innovation publications, and it’s not a good week unless I come up with at least one solution to a problem. Granted, I eventually reject most of these concepts because they don’t solve a painful enough problem or a market doesn’t exist, etc… but a number of them have made it to market very soon after I thought of them (someone beat me!). The latest example was the wobble board for use with a standing desk to encourage movement. While I was busy figuring out the prototype, a very similar product launched on a crowdfunding site. This product, FluidStance, has been nominated for an Edison Award! It could have been me! Argh! Has something similar ever happened to you?

I believe that past achievements and experience are only as good as they spur your next big idea and actions because the past is quickly outdated. By the time you have an idea, the chances are fairly high that someone, somewhere has either already thought of it or has come up with it at the same time as you. What’s the solution? Be first to file a provisional patent application. First to file currently controls Intellectual Property (IP).

My mission is to help you translate concepts you learn in this course into everyday business scenarios regarding concept generation, customer development, product development, and business model. I invite each of you to integrate yourself into the lessons, text and discussions each week. Product development is a concept that we all interact with on a daily basis, so I challenge you to use the concepts from this course to evaluate products and services you use or encounter. Specifically, think about what they do well, what you could improve, and the problems they solve for you.

Course Description

This course focuses on a crucial part of the marketing management function: concept and product development. Specifically, this course will address the myriad issues, problems, methods and strategies associated with the product development stage, including: Idea Generation, Idea Screening, Concept Development and Testing, Marketing Strategy Development, Business Analysis, Product Development, Test Marketing, Commercialization, Branding and Globalization (Kotler, 2007).

An introduction to micro/macro-econometric modeling, ethnographic and predictive marketing research models are created and used in consumer and business-to-business markets will be included. Also, students will have the rare opportunity to see a problem form into a solution; a solution into a concept; and a concept into a sellable reality. Given the difficulty of the subject matter discussed in this 4000 level course, it is highly recommended that students have already completed all of their marketing courses before taking this class. 47 contact hours.

Major Learning Objectives

Students who successfully complete this course will:

1. Evaluate methods for identifying market needs and assessing demand.

2. Examine the process associated with new product development.

3. Examine how to introduce a product to a market.

4. Examine how to test the success of a new product.

Required Text

THE MCGRAW-HILL 36-HOUR COURSE PRODUCT | By BELZ

EDITION: 1ST

PUBLISHER: MCG

ISBN: 9780071743877

THE MCGRAW-HILL 36-HOUR COURSE PRODUCT

APA Resource

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St. Petersburg College Syllabus Addendum and Helpful Links

Addendum:

Library and Research Liaison: Alex Bawell,mailto:

Student Support Services for 1st generation/low income students:

Career Mentoring:

Student Assistance Counseling Program:

Free Learning Center Tutoring:

Course Schedule

The course schedule is subject to change with fair notice

Click Here for Course Schedule

In the course modules, Click on each weekly Graded Items Due folder to see the items due for each week.

Use the course Calendar Tab to see weekly due dates.

Grades

Graded Assignments: This course will consist of 12 Gradebook Assignments as follows:

All Graded Assignments are due weekly on Sunday at midnight; except for Week 8, which are due Tuesday of Week 8. No late assignments will be accepted. Grading is completed once per week.

If you want to calculate your running average, take the total points you’ve earned that have been graded divided by the total possible points that have been graded up to that point.For reference, here is the grading scale: