Techniques of Product Innovation

This research paper provides the critical evaluation of the topic, ‘Product Life Cycle and Product Innovation’ and for that purpose; it has chosen the product, handcrafted ice-cream. The concept, Product Life Cycle (PLC) is defined as the period in which a new product is launched in the market, developed and gradually removed. This report would present the problem statement, aim, and objective, methodology incorporating the data collection and analysis method and summary as well.

Problem Statement

            This research study is based on the product development process of the handicraft ice-creams which has suffered from various problems. From the discussions of Walden et al. (2015), this fact is evident that there is a problem associated with the collection of raw materials for the ice-cream. The ingredients of this ice-cream are mainly the dairy products (like milk, cream or a combination of both), sugar, different flavors as well as colors. Moreover, Margallo et al. (2016) have discussed the fact that there has been difficulty in collecting the allocated budget for the ice-creams. Following Wu et al. (2017), one can argue that sometimes there may be a problem for finding out the appropriate marketplace for the handcrafted ice-creams. Thus, this research paper would address all these issues and try to reduce those problems to a certain extent.

Aim and Objectives

            The primary aim of this research paper is to find out all the stages of PLC which are associated with the handcrafted ice-creams. Besides that, this paper would also evaluate the factors which create difficulty for the process of product development. The researchers of this paper have formulated some research objectives which are described below:

i)                    To examine all the issues which occur during the product development process of the handcrafted ice-creams.

ii)                  To determine the benefits of the handcrafted ice-creams because it is manufactured by the quality ingredients.

iii)                To recommend possible strategies in order to mitigate all the difficulties of the PLC process.

Methodology

            This part of the research paper describes all the methods which have been used in this study in order to gather as well as interpret data. In other words, it can be mentioned that this section has incorporated all the necessary tools which are required for executing the research work. This section would discuss the research approach, research design, research philosophy, data collection as well as the data analysis method. Besides that, this paper would use the deductive research approach in order to apply the existing theories and models in this research. On the other hand, descriptive research design would be used in this paper because it uses conventional techniques for gathering information such as survey or interview.

From the discussions of Saunders et al. (2015), this fact is clear that there are three types of research philosophy method which are positivism, interpretive and realism. In this paper, the positivism philosophy method is applied because it is based on the real as well as logical facts. Besides that, the primary data would be used in this research paper because this data is more reliable and also authentic. These primary data would be gathered by conducting a survey or interview about the product development process. Moreover, this study would apply the mixed approach (both quantitative as well as qualitative) as the data analysis method for this paper.

Summary

The product life cycle is a significant concept and therefore this has been chosen by the researchers of the paper. This research paper would describe this concept using the handcrafted ice-cream as the innovated product. Besides that, one thing should be mentioned in this context that the ice-cream formulas are just the mathematical equations which must be carefully balanced.