TY - GEN
T1 - Assessing functional and shape differentiation within a family of products
AU - Alizon, Fabrice
AU - Fu, Jing
AU - Simpson, Timothy W.
AU - Joshi, Sanjay B.
AU - Shooter, Steven B.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Market differentiation strategies must identify competitive advantages when offering a line of products varying in features, price, quality, and/or aesthetics. Although this concept is well-known, many companies still have difficulties positioning their own products within their own product lines and against competitors. Few approaches combine two or more facets to answer the product differentiation problem. In this study, two novel indices are proposed to audit shape and functional differentiation within a family of products. The shape index appraises the shape similarity between the products upon digitization, while the functional assessment is based on functions characteristics of the product. Customers' perception data is obtained experimentally and compared to these indices to validate the result. Pairs of products are evaluated, and the average scores are considered as the indices for a product family. A case study illustrates the usage of these two indices and performance of these tools as well. This approach can be used during detailed studies as well as early stages of the design process to help validate product family positioning.
AB - Market differentiation strategies must identify competitive advantages when offering a line of products varying in features, price, quality, and/or aesthetics. Although this concept is well-known, many companies still have difficulties positioning their own products within their own product lines and against competitors. Few approaches combine two or more facets to answer the product differentiation problem. In this study, two novel indices are proposed to audit shape and functional differentiation within a family of products. The shape index appraises the shape similarity between the products upon digitization, while the functional assessment is based on functions characteristics of the product. Customers' perception data is obtained experimentally and compared to these indices to validate the result. Pairs of products are evaluated, and the average scores are considered as the indices for a product family. A case study illustrates the usage of these two indices and performance of these tools as well. This approach can be used during detailed studies as well as early stages of the design process to help validate product family positioning.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:70149102031
SN - 9780791843253
T3 - 2008 Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, DETC 2008
SP - 1011
EP - 1017
BT - 2008 Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, DETC 2008
T2 - 2008 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, DETC 2008
Y2 - 3 August 2008 through 6 August 2008
ER -