Question

Please privde sample paper for reference.

Scenario/Summary

Chocoberry (CB) is a major independent importer and processor of cacao beans from West African countries. They sell to major chocolate manufacturers in Europe and the Americas.

CB roasts and grinds the cacao beans offering chocolate liquor to the major candy makers and block liquor to small candy shops. Chocolate liquor is what most consumers know as baking chocolate—dark and bitter. In later years, CB has pressed some of the liquor to produce cocoa powder and cocoa butter—a high fat, white component that can be added to chocolate to render it smoother. Cocoa powder could be further processed to form the base for beverages and coatings. Q & Q, Neshey, Cadmerry, and Hershel added sugar to the liquor to form dark chocolate, which was not the most popular product. But the blending of sugar, liquor, and cocoa butter produced milk chocolate, one of the most popular food products ever. The candy makers made and distributed their milk chocolate products almost everywhere—and continue to expand their offerings.

Raw material and ingredient supplier CB, meanwhile, has been watching this gradual transformation from fun to health food; pondering the issue of how to take advantage of this revolution. To determine its future strategy in the new universe of chocolate and cocoa, CB must determine the potential for a new family of added-value chocolate or cocoa-based products among consumers in the United States and, later, other countries. To start, the United States would be a target market to determine if one or more product concepts might be feasible.

Your Role/Assignment

You are a consultant who has been engaged by CB to create and evaluate their alternatives.

The following are some areas your report should address.

Idea Generation

What techniques will you propose to CB to generate ideas that can be developed into viable concepts?

Of the many methods for ideation offered in contemporary literature, which represents the best for CB in this situation, and why?

Who might be selected to perform the ideation, and why? Why might you not select certain groups to perform the ideation?

Having screened the ideas to a select few, how are concepts generated from the ideas, and when?

Idea Evaluation Once the ideas are generated, how might they be evaluated to maximize the number that has the greatest potential and to minimize the probability of rejecting excellent ideas?

Enumerate the criteria that might be applied to appropriately assess the ideas and to eventually rank them according to their potential for CB.

Who would conduct the evaluation and why?

Focusing on the select few concepts, what are the evaluative criteria that might be used to isolate the one or two that should be recommended for further development?

Who would conduct the concept evaluation and with what tools?

Answer 1

"What techniques will you propose to CB to generate ideas that can be developed into viable concepts?"

I would recommend the SCAMPER technique for new product idea generation. The SCAMPER technique is a combination of seven techniques namely:

Substitute: finding a healthy substitute or alternatives to existing product lines of chocolate liquor and block liquor that they currently supply to large candy makers and small candy shops respectively. It is a technique of trial and error whereby many alternatives will be explored before a number of viable options in new healthier products are found.

Combine: Presenting a new idea using the current resources. The idea is to utilize existing options in a new manner. Its optimal utilization of existing resources to create a new product.

Adapt: The product line or process can be modified to create a product suitable to the current market situation.

Modify: What you can add to the product to make it more suitable.

Put to another use: Propose a new strategy with existing resources and raw material. Find alternate uses to the existing products.

Eliminate: The current product line or process can be minimized or eliminated to create a fresh option.

Reverse: Changing the way things are done maybe the composition, the process or the strategy.

"Of the many methods for ideation offered in contemporary literature, which represents the best for CB in this situation, and why?"

SCAMPER is the ideal method for CB as they can analyze and explore the various options with the existing ingredients, supplier, customers to create a new product line. There is a need to adapt the product to changing market demands minimally using the same value chain.

SCAMPER can be used in CB as follows:

S: This is the ideal method for CB because it will explore the various options, the ideas will be found to use existing resources to generate a new product line which is a healthier option to chocolate liquor and block liquor.

C: current manufacturing setup and supply chain can be used to find a suitable substitute or product offering.

A:The product will be adapted from existing product line to give an healthier product option.

M:The raw material cacao beans can be used to create an healthier product offering.

Put to another Use: CB can use existing set up to find alternate uses for Cacao beans which are healthier options.

E: CB can use the same raw material by changing the ingredients or their proportion to give a healthier option to existing product line by making a healthier chocolate bar etc.

R: CB can adapt and change the product contents and composition to create a new product which is a healthier and a newer variant in existing range of products.

"Who might be selected to perform the ideation, and why? Why might you not select certain groups to perform the ideation?"

The Ideation can be performed with the companies’ employees, key big customers, a few small customers, and the core management team. This is because they are key stakeholders and are impacted directly and indirectly by the introduction of a new product or a new variant. The large customer's feedback is critical once the new product is developed it has to be test marketed to observe if the taste meets the customer’s requirements and they are ready to absorb the changes. The big customers purchase raw material and will be prime people in idea generation of what they want in the new variant and they have to define how they will use it and in what proportion. The small customers will use the product directly to sell to end users. Their feedback is critical to find a healthy option along with block liquor. The employees will implement the idea hence they should be involved. The core management team define the strategies and allocate the resources for the idea.

The certain groups like some customers who buy from various sources and many small suppliers will be kept away from the process of ideation is to avoid information leaks before the product launch. Also to avoid any substitution threats from existing competitors and new entrants.

"Having screened the ideas to a select few, how are concepts generated from the ideas, and when?"

The concepts are generated from ideas by evaluating the available resources and making a cost-benefit analysis for introducing a new product. The company has to understand if the new product introduction is viable considering the demand and the price the product can command.

The company has to verify the competition, available substitutes, understanding the size of the market for the product, analyzing the product demand.

Further analysis of the long-term benefit of introducing a new product vs the short-term allocation of resources in what quantity is also analyzed to understand what is the best option available and how much a company should focus on the new product line.

This will be done at the Adapt stage of the ideation.

*”as per guidelines can answer up to 4 questions”.