Research Project: Conception to Launch of a Successful Product

Task:

This is an individual project. The Final Project is worth 25% of your grade and the accompanying Final Presentation is worth 15%. Between the two, that’s 40% of your grade which should help your overall grade, but if you’re not careful and don’t turn in your deliverables on time, it can work against you and lower your grade. So please, don’t wait until the end to start working on your final presentation.

For your project, please consider the following:

New products have always been of interest to corporations, academicians as well as to the general public, and sometimes products become legends on their own. Surely, there is a product that brings back fond memories to you. Perhaps it was a car; perhaps it was the iPad or your first computer.

For this project, you are to select a product and do a research on it so that you can describe the different stages from conception to launch.

In your paper, you will describe the company responsible for the introduction of the product, and the reason the product was conceived, manufactured, and sold. You will want to position the company and the product against the competition, understand which segment of the market it attacked (or if it created a new market segment); product pricing, distribution channel as well as the communications campaign used to launch the product.

Please focus on a product that has been successful in the market, and that it is easily researchable. The key for a passing grade is RESEARCH! A solid list of references is a REQUIREMENT.

Research your case and write your paper following APA 7 guidelines.

• Double-space, 10 pages long (excluding cover and reference pages).
• Include in-text citations in the content
• Add a page with references used
• Include a title page and table of contents page (see below)
• Add graphs, newspaper clippings, or anything that makes it more interesting.
• Use scholarly resources (conduct research in SIU LIRN databases)
• Use any product (or even service), domestic or international. However, I must approve the product / project you choose.

Structure of Paper

The paper should be structured as follows (while you can make up your own titles, you need to answer all 12 items below in your paper; additional information is accepted, as well as a different organization):

1. Executive Summary (a couple of paragraphs)
2. Company background – general information including financials
3. Description of product
4. Why the product was invented (competition, market share)?
5. Timeline from conception to launch
6. Describe the product launch
7. Communications campaign utilized
8. Pricing
9. Competition
10. Distribution channels
11. Summary or conclusion
12. Bibliography

 

The second milestone of your final presentation includes the name of the product you will discuss, an outline of your project plus your bibliography. You may want to write the Executive Summary so that I may provide you feedback.  

This milestone is worth 5 points of your final Research Project grade. If you choose not to complete this milestone, the highest grade you can get in the Final Project will be 95%. Not completing milestones I and II will have an impact of 10 points in your final grade. 

If you have any questions, please go to the Syllabus section of Canvas and preview the document.