Design-oriented new product development: LG Electronics' Chocolate Phone illustrates what it takes to be successful

OVERVIEW: There are two approaches to reflecting a customer's point of view in new product development (NPD). One is a customer-following approach that utilizes expressed consumer needs. The other is a customer-leading approach that focuses on consumers' latent needs. Currently, the number of customer-leading approaches is increasing rapidly through design-oriented NPD. This case study of LG Electronics' Chocolate Phone reveals a market-oriented frame of mind. From a design point of view, it is important to select talented designers and combine them with market insight and communication skills. From a development perspective, strong technological capabilities, optimization of design functions, and strong managerial support are all central to success. From a marketing point of view, key factors include finding outside marketing professionals and gathering ideas from the outside. Finally, .from an organizational perspective, it is important to share the design concept among related departments and to change engineering-oriented thinking to a market-oriented frame of mind. KEY CONCEPTS: design, new product development, key success factors, customer-following, customer-leading.
Attaching high value to outward appearance is pervasive in Korean society. New words such as Ullzzang (good looking faces) and Momzzang (hot bodies) are being coined continuously, and the societal [...]