Blockbusters

by Lynn, Gary S., Ph.D.; Reilly, Richard R.

• ISBN13: 9780060084738
• ISBN10: 0060084731
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-09-12
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

How Do Companies Create Blockbusters? Do They Know Secrets That Others Don't? Great products are the lifeblood of great companies, yet approximately 60 percent of new products fail in the marketplace, after major investments and huge risks. Why? Gary Lynn and Richard Reilly now offer advice that will radically change the way new products are developed and launched: a plan for companies to survive -- and thrive -- in today's competitive and turbulent times. Blockbusters shares the results of a ten-year research study of more than 700 teams illustrated by the inside stories of nearly fifty of the most successful products ever launched -- true "blockbusters," familiar to consumers everywhere. These include Colgate's Total toothpaste (now the market leader after Crest dominated for thirty years!), the Iomega Zip Drive, the Handspring Visor, the PowerShot staple gun, the Polycom SoundStation conference phone, the Apple IIe computer, and many others. Lynn and Reilly reveal and explain in detail the five keys to blockbuster success that companies ignore at their peril: the responsibilities of senior management, a compelling vision of the product, the role of prototyping, the collaboration of people under pressure, and the process of information exchange. In this book, the authors prove that without these crucial elements a blockbuster new product is virtually impossible! Blockbusters uses both winning and losing case studies to explode established myths and to chart a course for implementing the surprising strategies of history-making development teams. A must for senior managers, entrepreneurs, and team leaders alike -- and for any reader curious about how great products are created -- this heavily researched and groundbreaking book promises to become a classic in the fields of product development and organizational renewal.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
How Blockbusters Happen: Our Research--and Why We Did It	p. 1
The Five Critical Practices at Work: Putting the Puzzle Together at Iomega	p. 15
The Buck Starts Here: A Top-Down Initiative for Total Toothpaste	p. 33
Clear and Stable Vision (Part 1): Building Project Pillars at Polycom	p. 57
Clear and Stable Vision (Part 2): Building Your Own Project Pillars	p. 75
Lickety Stick Improvisation: Nailing Process with the PowerShot Staple Gun	p. 99
Information Exchange: Creating a Knowledge Core at Apple	p. 127
Collaboration Under Pressure: The Evolution of the Handspring Visor Team	p. 149
What about Radical Innovation? Seeing the Light--Corning's Fiber Breakthrough	p. 175
The Message to Management: Breaking Through the Bureaucracy at NASA	p. 205
Measuring Team Performance: A Case Study	p. 215
Industries and Companies Who Participated in This Research	p. 223
Test Your Knowledge	p. 225
Notes	p. 229
Index	p. 237
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