Successful Business Cases: Hands-On
Key Information
Prerequisites:
Familiarity with key marketing principles, particularly use of tools such as PEST, TOWS, segmentation. Also some understanding of marketing mix.
Outline and Objectives:
- To demonstrate and practice a practical approach to developing successful business cases through a 3 step process
- To develop outline business cases for at least 1 new product or service the firm can approve for further development and take forward.
- Hands-on use of marketing practices in a controlled and coached environment
The course creates a framework for building a business cases from initial concept to approval for full development. It ties together the marketing aspects with strategic justification and the importance of stakeholder engagement to identify and optimise the opportunity whilst minimizing the risk.
This course is highly beneficial to growing organisations that have ad hoc development processes seeking to create a formal methodology to ensure best use of company resources, diligent selection of best development opportunities and whole business alignment without creating bureaucracy.
Who Should Attend:
Anyone involved directly in the process of bringing ideas for new products and services to market, such as product marketing, product management, business development, or product strategy. Also suitable for non-marketers who are involved as key stakeholders in the development process
Course Contents:
- Drivers of product & service development: product life cycle, external influences, stakeholders,
- What to develop for where and why? Product life cycles, BCG & Ansoff matrices, competitive strategies
- Why formalise the development process? Impact of uncontrolled development and benefits of a formal process. Sources of innovation & capturing ideas.
- Market analyses: macro, micro, PEST, 5 forces (team exercise)
- Bringing together the external and internal (TOWS, capability assessment, including team exercise)
- Competing for resources; internal stakeholder analysis (optional exercise), importance of the business case, development funnel.
- The business case process: idea to approval, developing a proposal, stakeholder management and engagement, supplementary documents, Product Requirements Document
- Outline Business Case: initial view from market research, competitor analysis (optional exercise), high level segmentation for market opportunity quantification, financial justification, strategic fit, value proposition. (main practical exercise)
- Presentation of Outline Business Cases to Development Board.
- Full Business Case: using segmentation, financial requirements, assumptions, value proposition, identifying touch points (team exercise), development methodology.
