Deck 4: Defining Solutions for Customers

Question 1

What is the key to creating a base-level product, system, or service and then quickly making variations (good, better, best)?

A) A strong, flexible product line architecture
B) A very rigid product line architecture
C) Multiple modules with different functions
D) Ensuring that product parts have single purposes for specific products

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What is one important advantage of modularity?

A) It increases the cost of doing business
B) It reduces the margin on products
C) It can create new streams of revenue
D) It can focus your revenue on one revenue stream only

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What is a product platform?

A) A subsystem, module, or process which is used in more than one product, system or service
B) Common themes found in products over a product line
C) The performance level of a product, such as the base acceleration of a car
D) Tools used for the R&D in developing a new product

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What is a plan for developing and launching specific products, systems or services for specific uses in selected market segments is called?

A) Venture concept
B) Service Strategy
C) Product line strategy
D) Modularity

Question 5

___________ helps create new streams of revenue by easily serving closely related sets of customers

A) Modularity
B) Uniformity
C) Complexity
D) Patents

Question 6

In the United States, a utility patent provides protection from the date of patent filing for:

A) 10 Years
B) 17 Years
C) 20 Years
D) 25 Years

Question 7

What is a product line?

A) Common product architecture
B) Multiple variations of a product which adhere to the same design and are modified to suit different market niches
C) The technology and workflow within a company
D) The organization of the R&D team

Question 8

Platforms are ______________.

A) the same as a product portfolio
B) simply modular products
C) the under the hood recipe for getting specific products out fast and achieving high levels of operating profitability
D) the under the hood recipe for producing products fast but with lower levels of profitability

Question 9

Which of the following could be an example of an approach to platforming?

A) Using the same engine design across different models of cars
B) Using different graphic interfaces for different software programs
C) Using a process for selling property and casualty insurance
D) None of the above

Question 10

A distinctive sign which identifies certain goods or services are those produced or provided by a specific person or enterprise is a/an:

A) Copyright
B) Trademark
C) Patent
D) Tag

Question 11

When it comes to a new product-service strategy, which of the following statements is true?

A) Bring a product line, not a single product, to the market
B) Provide variety and choice to customers through a "good, better, best" strategy
C) If you manufacturing products, also consider what services can be offered in addition to your products
D) All the above are true

Question 12

For a new service venture, what is a good principle to adhere to when it comes to a new service strategy?

A) Figure out how to productize services to gain efficiencies in delivery
B) Make sure you do not modularize your services
C) Avoid offering consumer choice
D) None of the above are good principles

Question 13

The architecture of a product or service

A) refers to product portfolio
B) is what is sold to customers
C) defines its key parts and how those parts are connected
D) refers to product features

Question 14

A beachhead is

A) a venture's long-term new product strategy.
B) where a venture gets started penetrating the market.
C) product architecture.
D) where the team goes offsite to plan its future products and services

Question 15

An entrepreneur can define levels of incremental functionality or additional services to base-level product or service. What is the end result?

A) A smarter planet
B) A platform
C) A good, better, best suite of offerings
D) An adjacency move

Question 16

A prototype is generally seen as:

A) A sketch of how a product or service appears and will be branded for customers.
B) The first actual version or model of a product or service that can be tested with customers
C) A business model - the way a venture makes money
D) The venture's first reference customers

Question 17

A business that is an example of NOT creating a services portfolio is:

A) A pest control company that provides environmentally safe chemicals for ants, mosquitoes, ticks, and deer.
B) A tax preparation company that provides specific services for individual households and small businesses.
C) A home repair business that specializes in residential house painting.
D) A university that provides online education programs for undergraduates, MBAs, alumni, and companies in the form of executive education.

Question 18

For a new venture, platforming can be important for

A) improving operating profits from manufactured products
B) higher utilization of capital invested in plant and equipment
C) tackling new adjacent market segments by allowing a company to develop and test new products quickly at little cost
D) All of the above

Question 19

In the fishing boot example, which is NOT true

A) The product portfolio consists of different types of boots and soles that can be matched for different fishing occasions.
B) The key platforms are the specific boots that the company sells
C) The interface or connection point between the different types of boots and the soles themselves is an essential part of the product line "architecture"
D) The most important product platform in the product line is that interface architecture between different boots and different soles.

Question 20

Successful new ventures tend to offer a product portfolio that

A) limits consumer choice
B) offers customers choices that can be expressed as good, better, best
C) overwhelms the consumer
D) focuses on a single product

Question 21

Why is IP important to consider for any venture? What are the different types of IP for a venture? Even though you are at an early stage of venture planning, is there IP potential in your venture and if so, what do you think it might be?

Question 22

What is a product platform? Why is it important for a business? For your own venture idea, what might be product or service platform that could be leveraged across your various products or services? What would you want that platform to do in terms of delivering performance and value to all the products or services that use it?

Question 23

Why is a "good, better, best" suite of offerings often so important for a new venture? What might this mean for your own term project venture? Give an example of a "good, better, best" as it might apply to your own venture idea.