BM050-3-3 Individual Assignment Page 1 of 10 _____________________________________________________________________________________

Learning Outcome The student should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the widely recognised attributes necessary in developing and successfully commercialising a new product. Students are also expected to be able to develop coherent lines for argument and provide solutions to a given innovation management scenarios. Last but not least, students are expected to be able to apply and evaluate innovation management and new product development techniques for launch planning, implementation and management. This in-course individual assignment constitutes 50% of the total course grade and is broken down into TWO (2) questions attributing 50 marks to each of the total assignment assessment grade. Inside Google's New-Product Process The philosophy is, try a bunch of ideas, refine them, and see what survives, says Marissa Mayer, the search giant's product-launch czar

For outsiders looking in, Google's flurry of product releases can appear random and a bit confusing. In the past year, for instance, the search kingpin has unleashed everything from a blog search engine and a finance site to an instant messaging program and online spreadsheets. And on June 28, it uncorked an online payment system that is expected to rival eBay's PayPal.

One thing is clear: Google is toiling to create some blockbuster successes beyond its Internet search engine. But, thus far, its track record outside of search has been tepid. Does Google have a case of product attention-deficit-disorder? Or is there a method behind this apparent madness? Marissa Mayer, Google's 31-year-old product-launch czar , whose official title is vice-president of search products and user experience, recently spoke with BusinessWeek correspondent Ben Elgin about the search giant's efforts to branch into new businesses. Here are some excerpts: Google has been branching out beyond its core Internet search offering for four years now. How do you feel the company has done?

I'll start with a couple of core philosophies. We believe that we should be launching more products than what will ultimately become phenomenally popular. The way you find really successful new innovation is to release five things and hope that one or two of them really take
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Level 3 & 4 Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation 201201

BM050-3-3 Individual Assignment Page 2 of 10 _____________________________________________________________________________________

off. I think by that metric we've been doing really, really well. We should be able to put products out there and, without a lot of promotion, a good product will grow. We like to put products out there early, see what users say about them, what additional features they'd like to see, and then build those out.

We'd rather put something out on [Google's beta site] Labs, have it be a little bit low-profile and grow by word of mouth. That gives the team a little bit more time to scale with the requirements. Also, it gives us some very important indications about whether or not this product fills a core need well, how big the market is, and also how strong our product is relative to others. How do you measure success of a new product?

We rely primarily on our own logs. Also on user feedback. Gmail, I would say, has actually been phenomenally popular. It may not be the size of Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail. We actually have artificially restricted the uptake of Gmail through the invitation model. And I think it's pretty easy to imagine that if we removed the invitation model, we would see ten times as much demand. And if you do that calculation, we would be almost as large as Yahoo! or Hotmail. So, we think that Gmail is actually a very good product. If you take a look at something like Google News, it actually does quite well. We're now offering Google News in more than 40 languages, in 40 countries around the world. On an aggregate page-view number across all of those different demographics and geographic areas, we're really proud of what Google News has been able to achieve. Its growth year over year has been among the strongest of our mature products. We're seeing traffic almost double every year. I think the core underpinnings of what we're doing make a lot of sense. That said, there certainly are some products that we've released that aren't market leaders and may never [be]. We anticipate that we're going to throw out a lot of products. People won't be able to remember them all, but they will remember the ones that really matter and the ones that have a lot of user potential. Often, press and analysts will declare Google's new products, such as Google Checkout, a potential category killer. Do people give too much credit to Google to reinvent markets and take out competitors? People in general, myself included, have a tendency to overestimate the shortterm and underestimate the long term. When you look at those headlines, it's that kind of mentality going on. PayPal is a really excellent, mature product. And our service, if you actually look at what we are doing, doesn't really take aim at what they do and what their core competencies are. So there is just a misunderstanding of where the product is aimed.
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Level 3 & 4 Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation 201201

BM050-3-3 Individual Assignment Page 3 of 10 _____________________________________________________________________________________

When you look at a product that is that mature, such as Microsoft Excel, it's very hard to hold up a nascent product that by definition is being launched very early in its development cycle and expect for it to have these types of killer outcomes. Do we want to be competitive when we enter a space? Certainly. Will it take us some time and possibly years in the case of some of these very mature markets? Quite possibly.

Google's home page is uncluttered, which is one of its draws. Has Google's thinking changed at all on how to expose products without losing its design edge? It has changed a little bit. We're still not ready to make really fundamental changes and blast all of our products on our home page. [But] there are a few key concepts I've been thinking about in terms of how we can change navigation on our site. One is what I would call the San Angeles or Los Diego strategy. You take large product and merge them together into the biggest possible nucleus. So if you took San Diego and Los Angeles together and merged them into one mega-city, that's even bigger and more memorable than the two cities independently.

When I look at Google News, where I know we have a user base that is very concerned with current events and likes to see multiple viewpoints, that feels like a really good place to integrate in something like Blog Search and/or Finance. So, we're looking at how we can integrate some of those pieces of functionality. It is hard for people to remember more than 5 or 10 products from a particular company. If we can take each of the products we have and make them even larger and more meaningful to people, I think there's a lot of benefit that could be had by both the users, because they don't have to remember quite as much; and also by us, because we see increased traffic.

Will Google advertise some of its niche products? There's been some really interesting things like the Da Vinci Code quest. It happened in April. There we collaborated with Sony Pictures. We developed something that was I think as good as building hype for their movie as it was for building an understanding of Google products.

For people who played the quest, there was a different Google product showcased every single day. We had several million people who logged in and played at least one puzzle. And I think more than 100,000 actually finished all the puzzles. Including [Google co-founder] Sergey [Brin], who though he was disqualified because he was a Google employee, actually clocked in at I think 10,072. He just missed the cutoff.

Is there enough discipline in Google's engineering organization to churn out steady upgrades of so many existing products?
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Level 3 & 4 Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation 201201

BM050-3-3 Individual Assignment Page 4 of 10 _____________________________________________________________________________________

[CEO] Eric [Schmidt] and [co-founder] Larry [Page] acknowledged that we really do need to apply a little bit more organization to some of what's happening here at Google. But, I think it's also important to understand the psychology of what happens with engineers. There certainly are some engineers who tire of working on one particular task and want to move on to a new task. But there are a lot of people who get really deeply ingrained in the space they're working on and they want to build a best-of-breed product.

The lead on our news team, Mike Dixon, was an engineer with very little news background. But now he's incredibly well-versed on news sources from all over the world, viewpoints, every current event. He's definitely become an expert news reader. And it's really important to him that the news product be really high quality and best of breed.

You see the same thing when you talk to our maps engineers. They literally study print maps from all over the world. [They study] the coloration, the contrasts between colors. The names of the streets are actually printed inside the physical roads on the maps, as opposed to be printed across them.

Do product managers need to have more power inside Google?

No, I don't think so. We bring together a team of people who are really passionate about [a] subject. I think it's interesting: We still don't do very high-definition product specs. If you write a 70-page document that says this is the product you're supposed to build, you actually push the creativity out with process. The engineer who says, you know what, there's a feature here that you forgot that I would really like to add. You don't want to push that creativity out of the product. The consensus-driven approach where the team works together to build a vision around what they're building and still leaves enough room for each member of the team to participate creatively, is really inspiring and yields us some of the best outcomes we've had.

(Online Source: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2006/tc20060629_411177.htm, Accessed 15th August, 2010)

_____________________________________________________________________________________ Level 3 & 4 Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation 201201

BM050-3-3 Individual Assignment Page 5 of 10 _____________________________________________________________________________________

Questions 1. Discuss and suggest some feasible application considerations when developing a new product development strategy for Google. [50 Marks] 2. In this highly competitive online environment, illustrate how Google better manage innovation within the organization to stay ahead of its competitor in the internet industry? [50 Marks]

_____________________________________________________________________________________ Level 3 & 4 Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation 201201

BM050-3-3 Individual Assignment Page 6 of 10 _____________________________________________________________________________________

THE REQUIREMENTS A written essay of approximately 3,000 words that evaluates business issues from the topic in the next page. The assignment must adhere to standard academic documentation standards: Please use appropriate citation and reference according to the Harvard Name Referencing System in order to avoid plagiarism. Font type should be Times New Roman. Font size should be 12 pts. Vertical/line spacing should be 1.5 line spacing. You must use enough of your own words to convince that you understand what you are writing and are not just cutting and pasting. Normally your own words should be no less than 80% of the total word count. You should on no account make reference to www.wikipedia.com, www.about.com, www.alibaba.com or the likes as sources for your work. These websites can be useful to provide you with the definitions and the general ideas about the concepts within module but it is not acceptable to be inserted into your academic writing. You may include diagrams, figures, tables etc without word penalty. You are required to use at least 4 references with 50% of them are from relevant textbooks, magazines and academic journals. A sliding scale of penalties for excess length will be imposed according to the amount by which the limit has been exceeded. Your word count must be indicated on your cover page. For limit excess(excluding executive summary and references): 11 20% 21 30% 31% + 10% reduction in the mark 25% reduction in the mark the work will be capped at a pass i.e. 50%

Point to note: maximum penalty for exceeding the word limit will be a reduction to a pass grade.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ Level 3 & 4 Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation 201201

BM050-3-3 Individual Assignment Page 7 of 10 _____________________________________________________________________________________

Marking Scheme

Question 1 1 Background of the case should be clearly discussed. 2 Feasible application should be discussed in depth Identify the multi-dimensional concept of google product 3 development. Use of proper language, grammar, referencing, and 4 acknowledgement of external sources Total Question 2 1 2 3

Percentage 15% 15% 10% 10% 50%

Explain the dilemma, recognize the difficulties of managing 20% uncertainty. Answers should be justified and must be logical and critical. Use of proper language, grammar, acknowledgement of external sources Total referencing, and 20% 10% 50%

_____________________________________________________________________________________ Level 3 & 4 Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation 201201

BM050-3-3 Individual Assignment Page 8 of 10 _____________________________________________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENT STRUCTURE FOR INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT When completing the assignment it should have the following general structure: Title page Executive summary, abstract or synopsis Contents page(s) Question I Question II Conclusions Reference Appendix

Please pay particular attention to the following: The executive summary should be no more than one paragraph, but it should excite interest for a reader, other than the assessor, to read the whole. Ensure that the contents page precisely reflects the whole content of the reporting including the executive summary and appendices. Page numbering: Ensure that the contents page accurately reflects the position of the contents. Page numbers prior to the introduction should be roman numerals. From the introduction onwards page numbering should be Arabic. Bibliography should be listed according to the Harvard convention with authors listed in alphabetical order.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ Level 3 & 4 Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation 201201

BM050-3-3 Individual Assignment Page 9 of 10 _____________________________________________________________________________________

Marking Criteria Marks are awarded based on the following guidelines: Grade Assessment Guidelines Pass answers are expected to be legible, tidy, well organized and written in General clear, understandable English. Students who grossly exceed the word limit will be penalized. Superficial analysis, concepts ad language of the subject is absent or scant. 0-39% Irrelevant regurgitation of text book. Ideas are poorly expressed. Many key issues are ignored. Concepts and language of the subject are used but are often confused in application and or explanation. 40-49% Some understanding of the relevant models and concepts. Some elements of an appropriate structure are present. Restricted analysis of some issues. Evidence of reading and research. Understanding of the application of 50-59% appropriate models and concepts is demonstrated. Key issues are identified and analyzed, although this may be restricted at times. Some source s are acknowledged. Evidence of wider reading. The assignment effectively interprets the information and exhibits the integration of ideas across the subject area. 60-69% The assignment has credible recommendations. A systematic approach to development and evaluation is used. Most sources are acknowledged and referenced using Harvard system. 70% Arguments are clear and convincing. Confident integration of theory and and practices is demonstrated. Consistent referencing to sources using the above Harvard system.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ Level 3 & 4 Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation 201201

BM050-3-3 Individual Assignment Page 10 of 10 _____________________________________________________________________________________

Submission and Administrative Information Individual should include the Coursework Submission and Feedback Form with their submission. The lecturer will give the CSFF before the submission dates. Plagiarism is NOT acceptable. Representation of another person's work as your own, without acknowledgement of the source, for the purpose of satisfying formal assessment requirements is considered plagiarism. The possible consequences of plagiarism include: Reduced grade for this module Referral for this module Failure of this module Expulsion from the Institution

You can avoid plagiarism by using correct referencing, attribution. You may not copy another groups work in any way.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ Level 3 & 4 Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation 201201