Discovering New Product Opportunities with Problem Inventory Analysis
Author(s): Edward M. Tauber
Source: The Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan., 1975), pp. 67-70
Published by: American Marketing Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1250805
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MarketingNotes and Communications
67
of economic scarcity. Such changes can be expected in government policy, consumer behavior,
competition, and in the development of a psychology of scarcity. To survive in this new business
environment, firms must develop new, responsive
marketing strategies. Important among these are
reconsideration of the product mix, modifications
in price policy, changes in promotional and advertising strategy, and developments in channel management. Long-range planning under conditions of
scarcity, however, may require consideration and
implementation of more comprehensive strategies
such as: inventing backwards; demonstrating social awareness in pricing, employment, and com-
Discovering New
Opportunitieswith
Inventory
petitive practices; more aggressive market research
and intelligence work to anticipate future changes;
awareness of the firm's contribution not only to the
economy but to the society as a whole; and the
possibilities for converting shortages into new
product opportunities.
Current indications are that conditions of scarcity will be an integral part of the American business environment for many months and possibly
years to come. To maintain and improve his company's position under these conditions, the effective marketer must be aware of the total environment and develop marketing strategies to respond
to it progressively and productively.
Product
Problem
Edward M. Tauber
Analysis
Howproductsand services improvethe qualityof life-a basis for seeking new products.
DENTIFYINGnew product opportunities is a
major task for most corporations. Forecasting
new opportunities has traditionally taken two different approaches: (1) technology forecasting (the
supply side), and (2) need forecasting (the demand
side). Marketing has emphasized the latter
method, which is directed at the question "What
should we make?" rather than "What can we
make?" The marketing concept advocates that a
business start with a consumer need and work
backwards to develop a product and the means of
manufacturing and distribution to best fit this
need.1
While this is sound in theory, marketers have
long realized the difficulty of measuring consumer
needs. Most consumers are generally unable to
relate what needs they have. Open-end questioning about needs rarely provides useful guidelines
for product development. Instead, the more common procedure is to generate new product ideas
somewhat ad hoc and then test consumer response
to these ideas.
1. Theodore Levitt, "Marketing Myopia," Harvard Business
Review, Vol. 38 (July-August 1960), pp. 55-68.
The traditional approach to new product search,
which begins with creative sessions to generate
ideas, relies on judgment and research to find a
market for the proposed products. Much of the
marketing literature on idea generation has reflected this orientation.2
Early efforts to systematize the search process
dealt mainly with schemes to enhance creativity.
Alex Osborn's technique of brainstorming is a
device to harness group creativity through specified
rules of operation-the desire for free wheeling,
combination and improvement, quantity of ideas,
and deferred judgment.3
A variant of brainstorming, synectics, uses various methods to encourage detachment, specula2. See Tony Lantis, "How to Generate New Product Ideas,"
Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 10 (June 1970), pp. 31-35;
E. Patrick McGuire, Generating New-Product Ideas, report no.
546, The Conference Board, New York, 1972; Edward M.
Tauber, "HIT: Heuristic Ideation Technique-A Systematic
Procedure for New Product Search," JOURNAL
OF MARKETING,
Vol. 36 (January 1972), pp. 58-70; and Dik Warren Twedt,
"How to Plan New Products, Improve Old Ones, and Create
Better Advertising," JOURNAL
OF MARKETING,Vol. 33 (January
1969), pp. 53-57.
3. Alex F. Osborn, Applied Imagination: Principles and Procedures of Creative Thinking (New York: Scribners, 1953).
68
Journal of Marketing,January 1975
tion, and deferred judgment from the participants.
According to its chief proponent, George Prince,
synectics is a "structured approach to problem
solving."4
The critical point is that these pioneering techniques focused on solving problems. As psychologists affirm, "creative activity appears simply to be
a special class of problem solving activity characterized by novelty, unconventionality and persistence."5 But to solve a problem, one must have a
problem! When that problem is something as
general as "the company needs new product
ideas," any creative approach applied to solve it will
resemble a fishing expedition. What is necessary to
increase the odds of success for such efforts is a
well-defined consumer problem.
In contrast to the techniques discussed above,
which have problem solution as their objective,
problem inventory analysis has the objective of
problem discovery, the unearthing of consumer
needs or problems.
though consumers are involved, the sample size of
the typical focus group is too small to permit
generalization of the findings. Therefore, some
researchers attempt to quantify the breadth and
intensity of the problems or needs identified in the
focus group by having larger projectable samples
react to these problems/needs.' This type of research provides an estimate of the size of the
market segments concerned about the various problems. Idea generation is then directed to identify
products that would solve these problems.
The key to the success of this approach is the
discovery of some meaningful problems in the
exploratory focus group phase, because later research only quantifies the degree to which these
exist for the rest of the population. Thus, this
method relies on consumers to tell their needs and
problems in unstructured interviews, an unreliable
technique at best.
ProblemDiscovery:Background
The technique proposed in this article is the
reverse of that discussed above. Rather than presenting the consumer with a product or category
and asking her/him to identify problems, problem
inventory analysis provides the consumer with a
list of problems and asks for each what products
come to mind as having that problem.
This procedure is based on two assumptions:
1. The general ways in which products and
services can improve the quality of life are
rather limited.
2. It is much easier for consumers to relate
known products to suggested problems than
to generate problems for a given product.
If the narrow definition of the marketing concept
as a customer orientation is to be expanded to
encompass the broader commitment of improving
the quality of life as perceived by consumers, then
some dialogue is needed about general ways that
products and services can accomplish this objective. For example, products and services can make
work tasks easier, reduce the time necessary for
completing tasks, provide safety from harm, make
movement more efficient, provide entertainment,
and so on. Considerable work remains, but the
checklist here (Table 1) provides a beginning.
In developing a problem inventory for a particular industry category, the author found that the
number of problems identified was rather limited.
For example, in the food industry an attempt to
develop an exhaustive list of problems resulted in a
total of only 134 (Table 2).
A modification of brainstorming-reverse brainstorming-was developed by the Hotpoint Company.6 Rather than attempt to generate new ideas
or solutions as with brainstorming, reverse brainstorming had the objective of taking a particular
product (e.g., refrigerators) and generating a list of
things that were wrong with it. This list of negatives thus provided direction for product improvement. The limitation of this approach was that the
problems were ones perceived by management or
other employees who participated in the brainstorming sessions. There was no indication of
whether these were the important problems as
perceived by consumers.
Probably the most common approach currently
used for identifying problems or needs is the focus
group, an extension of reverse brainstorming with
some improvement. A group of consumers is
brought together to discuss problems, negatives, or
usage habits of a product category. However, al4. George M. Prince, The Practiceof Creativity(New York:
Harper& Row, 1970), p. 45.
5. Allen Newell, J. C. Shaw, and HerbertA. Simon, "The
Processes of CreativeThinking,"in Contemporary
Approaches
to Creative Thinking,H. Gruber, ed. (New York: Atherton
Press, 1962), p. 66.
6. John W. Haefele, Creativityand Innovation(New York:
Reinhold PublishingCo., 1962), p. 145.
* ABOUT THEAUTHOR.
Edward M. Tauber is assistant professor of marketing
in the School of Business Administration,the University of Southern California.
ProblemInventoryAnalysis
7. For example, "ProblemDetection Studies,"developedby
BBDO, Inc., New York, N.Y.
MarketingNotes and Communications
69
TABLE1
SOMEWAYSTHATPRODUCTS
ANDSERVICES
CAN
IMPROVE
THEQUALITY
OFLIFE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Provideprotectionfrom the elements
Improveliving environment
Make work tasks easier
Provideentertainment
Be relaxingor stimulating
Reduce time necessary for completing tasks
Facilitatesport, competition, or challenge
Make movement more efficient (transport)
Cure illnesses and their symptoms and results
(pain/death)
Providesafety from harm
Improveor extend the senses (sight, hearing, touch,
etc.)
Facilitatecreativityor self-expression
Reduce confusion or complexity
Provideknowledge, information,or insights
Contributeto order or organization
Extendmemory (e.g., recordings)
Providestorage
Satisfy physical needs (hunger, thirst, sleep, exercise, etc.)
Enableor improvecommunication
Afford status/prestige
Once the list of problems is obtained, the research phase is initiated. A list of statements is
prepared, each of which mentions a problem but
not a product; for example, "Preparing
leaves so many pots to clean." In a selfadministered survey, respondents are asked to fill
in the blanks. In effect, this method is a form of
(sentence
completion),
projective technique
whereby consumers are asked to indicate the product that immediately comes to mind given a specified problem.
Illustrationin the Food Industry
To demonstrate the use of problem inventory
analysis, a study conducted in the food industry is
presented here. Twenty-five problem statements
were selected and put in questionnaire form to be
self-administered by a sample of housewives. Professional interviewers contacted 200 women in
intercept fashion in shopping centers throughout
the country (five cities). A number of rotations of
the problem statements were used to minimize any
order effects. Table 3 shows the results of the
tabulated data.
Cautions
Clearly, the results of a problem inventory analysis must be interpreted cautiously. Certain
"stock" or "expected" answers may be given that
do not represent true opportunities. For example,
49% of the respondents in this study mentioned
cereal as a package that does not fit well on the
shelf. General Foods obviously took the bait and
introduced their "compact" cereal box, which
eventually misfired. This "problem" must be of
relatively little importance to consumers.
Another example: while 16% of the sample
believe "it's difficult to get catsup to pour easily," it
TABLE 2
SOME EXAMPLES OF CONSUMER PROBLEMS RELATING TO FOOD
Physiological
A. Weight
-fattening
-empty calories
B. Hunger
-filling
-still hungry
after eating
C. Thirst
-doesn't quench
thirst
-makes one thirsty
D. Health
-indigestion
-bad for teeth
-keeps one awake
-acidity
Activities
Sensory
A. Taste
-bitter
-bland
-salty
B. Appearance
-color
-unappetizing
-shape
C. Consistency/
Texture
-tough
-dry
-greasy
D. Decomposition
-melts
-spoils
-separatesoven
A. Meal planning
-forget
-get tired of it
B. Storage
-run out
-package won't fit
C. Preparation
-too many pots/pans
-never turns out
D.
Cooking
-sticks
Buyingand Usage
A. Portability
A.
-eat away from
home
-take in a carried
lunch
B. Portioncontrol
B.
-not enough in a
package
-creates leftovers
leftovprepared
C. Availability
-out of season
-not in supermarket C.
D. Spoilage
-gets moldy
E. Cleaning
-makes a mess in
-smells in refrigerator
E. Cost
-expensive
-takes expensive
ingredients
Psychological/Social
Serve to company
-won't serve to
guests
-too much lastminute preparation
Eatingalone
-effort when I
cook for myself
-depressing when
just
one
for
Self-image
by a lazy
-macook
-not served by
served by
-not
a good mother
70
Journal of Marketing,January 1975
TABLE 3
RESULTS OF A PROBLEM INVENTORY STUDY ABOUT FOOD
Questions Asked and % of Respondents Answering
1. The package of
doesn't fit
well on the shelf.
cereal
flour
49%
6%
2. My husband/children refuse to eat
liver
18%
vegetables
spinach
5%
4%
soft drinks
milk
coffee
58%
9%
6%
3.
doesn't quench my thirst.
4. Packaged
fast enough.
jello/gelatin
doesn't dissolve
32%
bouillon cubes
8%
pudding
5%
Conclusion
5. Everyone always wants different
vegetables 23%
cereal
11%
meat
10%
desserts
9%
6.
makes a mess in the oven.
broiling steaks 19%
17%
8%
pie
roast/pork/rib
7. Packaged
instant potatoes
tastes artificial.
12%
macaroni and cheese
4%
8. It's difficult to get
easily.
to pour
16%
13%
catsup
syrup
gallon of milk 11%
9. Packaged
hamburgerhelper 6%
lunch meat
3%
liver
looks unappetizing.
3%
10. I wish my husband/children could take
in a carriedlunch.
hot meal
soup
11%
9%
ice cream
4%
is likely that few would accept a thin, watery
product.
These examples demonstrate that results from a
problem inventory analysis should be used primarily as clues for further investigation. Any product
problem identified should be studied in depth to
determine what percentage of the population has
the problem and with what level of intensity.
Problems surviving this screening may then be
pursued. It is at this stage that idea sessions or
techniques can offer creative problem solutions.
While certain answers to a problem inventory
may not reflect true opportunity, care must be
taken to avoid discarding out-of-hand problems
where past solutions have failed or where the more
obvious solutions probably would. For example,
while product reformulation was not an acceptable
solution to the pourability problem of catsup
(above), the problem may still offer opportunity
(e.g.) with changes in package shape or flexibility.
Marketers have always appreciated the logic of
beginning a new product search with a customer
problem. The difficulty of identifying such problems, however, continues to plague the researcher. An investigation into the ways that products and services can improve the quality of life
represents one method for proceeding. The resulting problem inventory can then be presented to
consumers to determine what products, activities,
and the like, have these problems.
The implicit assumption in problem inventory
analysis is that consumers will recognize problems
or needs they have. Admittedly, major innovations
and the need for them are often beyond the foresight of masses of people.8 Still, even in mature
industries, many consumer problems do exist and
are rather easily recognized. The difficulty is that
solutions are not obvious or necessarily simple. It is
easier to proliferate a minor product-variation than
to solve a consumer problem. The latter often takes
more time, technology, and money. Yet the effort
may be worth it. Since problem-solution communication is relatively straightforward, new products
that result as solutions to identified problems are
more easily advertised and more likely to be successful.
8. Edward M. Tauber, "How Market Research Discourages
Major Innovation," Business Horizons, Vol. 17 (June 1974), p.
25.