Volume 6, Issue 1- January 5, 2005
GGI RapidNews is published approximately once a month.

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In This Issue

NEWS & NOTES - Happy New Year

2004 METRICS SURVEY SELECTED RESULTS

MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY - Specialized Engineering Databases

2004 METRICS SURVEY - 2004 Survey Results Now Available

BOOK REVIEW - World Out of Balance

FEATURED iSTORE PRODUCT - PPRD Coursebook

NEW iSTORE PRODUCTS - New Quotations and Seminar Coursebooks

NEW WEB CONTENT - New GTKs: Capacitors, Data Storage; Updated Calendar; Redesigned iStore

CONFERENCES OF INTEREST - Marcus Evans' Collaborative Product Development

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINARS - Measuring Product Development

WEBINARS OF INTEREST - Sopheon's Winning Practices for Product Development, IDe's Next Generation Product Development

MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY - APQC R&D Productivity Benchmarking Study

TELEVISION EVENTS - Alexander Haig's World Business Review

Coming Next Month

We will update you on the 2005 R&D Funding forecast from Battelle-R&D Magazine, as we do every year in February.

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NEWS & NOTES

Happy New Year: All of us here at GGI wish you a happy and healthy new year. We send our best wishes for a prosperous and fulfilling 2005 in all of your pursuits.

2004 METRICS SURVEY SELECTED RESULTS

GGI's 2004 Product Development Metrics Survey has just been published. The 2004 Survey focused on the product selection process and tools, the IP management process and tools, and metrics. Each month over five months, GGI will share with RapidNews readers selected results from each section of the survey. This month we present selected results from the second section, "Product Selection Tools."

- The top tool used for product selection was Product Specifications, almost always used by 47% of companies.

- Concept Engineering was one of the top two tools believed to generate innovation and IP.

- All of the 21 tools listed in the questionnaire had at least one company that almost always used them or believed they generate innovation or IP.

Next month, look for results on the third section, "Intellectual Property Management Process."

MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY

Specialized Engineering Databases

In the March 2004 issue of GGI RapidNews (Volume 5, Issue 3), we reported on CRC Press' on-line engineering database, ENGnetBASE, as a valuable resource to engineers, designers and researchers. CRC Press has recently expanded its offerings with several specialized databases tailored to specific technical disciplines. If ENGnetBASE is too much for you, you might consider one of these tailored subscription databases, completely searchable by category, individual handbook, or custom search term. The available databases are

For mechanical engineering information, MechanicalEngineeringnetBASE (44 titles): http://www.mechanicalengineeringnetbase.com/

For chemical information, CHEMnetBASE (4 titles): http://www.chemnetbase.com/

For environmental information, ENVIROnetBASE (150 titles): http://www.environetbase.com/

For information technology information, ITKnowledgeBASE (46 titles): http://www.itknowledgebase.net/

ENGnetBASE now has 148 titles to browse, covering all engineering and technical disciplines: http://www.engnetbase.com/

2004 BIENNIAL METRICS SURVEY

2004 Product Development Metrics Survey - Product Selection, IP Management, and Top Corporate Metrics: The Summary and Highlights Reports for GGI's 2004 Biennial Product Development Metrics Survey have just been published and are now available for purchase by the public through GGI's iStore. The composite results across the entire survey population of this year's survey were first presented to the public by Brad Goldense at Management Roundtable's 9th Annual Metrics Conference on September 30, 2004 in Chicago. These reports are completely based on primary research performed by GGI researchers. The research includes 202 respondent companies. There was a 5% response rate.

Why would these reports be of value to you? The first two sections cover the product selection process and tools used. The companies that add rigor to their process make better decisions, leading ultimately to more successful products. The statistically accurate survey illustrates the current industry practice for selecting products, the degree of usage of 21 different tools, and the believed ability of these tools to generate innovation and/or generate registerable IP. The third and fourth sections of the survey are groundbreaking research in the processes and tools companies use to manage intellectual property. It is believed that the importance of IP in the next 2 decades will go from 10% of a company's valuation to perhaps as much as 90% of a company's valuation on Wall Street. This report, to our knowledge, is the first definitive survey of the processes, tools, and systems used for IP. The final section of the report specifically lists the metrics that are used by the top of R&D organizations in industry to measure the overall performance of R&D in pareto order. If you are trying to find the few metrics that your company should choose to measure overall R&D performance, you cannot be without this last section.

McKinsey & Company, Texas Instruments, Rockwell, Kimberly Clark, and Datacard are representative of companies that purchase market research from GGI.

The 2004 Survey focused on the following 5 areas of product selection and IP management:

• Product Selection Process
• Product Selection Tools
• IP Management Process
• IP Management Tools
• Top Corporate Metrics Used in Industry RD&E

The 3 versions of the survey results reports that we offer for sale to the public are

1. 2004 SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS: A text-only report (75 pages), including the full text of all the results and analysis of the survey population analyzed as a whole,

2. 2004 SURVEY SUMMARY: A report of composite results, where the survey respondents are analyzed as a whole (149 pages, including a full set of graphics), and

3. 2004 SURVEY RESULTS: The most detailed report, complete with the composite results and "special cuts," where the survey population is segmented and analyzed in the following groups: Public vs. Private, Smaller vs. Larger, Process vs. Repetitive/Discrete vs. Job Shop, Higher Technology vs. Lower Technology, and More vs. Fewer Employees (TBD pages).

Please note that the 3rd report, Survey Results, is expected to be available in early 2005.

For the first time, we are now offering individual sections of the research report, as well as combined product selection sections (process and tools) and combined IP management sections (process and tools). You can now purchase just a section of the whole report to meet your specific needs. A comparison of the product selection process and the IP management process is included only in the full 2004 Survey Summary report.

We have improved the quality and amount of descriptive information we provide for the public. The links below will be quite useful in understanding what was researched and why.

A brochure describing the survey in more detail as well as the reports available can be directly downloaded here: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/04MktBro.pdf

A description of the survey including demographics, report table of contents and selected results can be directly downloaded here: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/biennial/surveydesc/2004SurveyDescription.pdf

A detailed description of each section of the research, including the focus of the research can be found here: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/2004ResearchDescription.pdf

These reports are available in the Market Research section of GGI's iStore (http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/iStore/store.html). We have just restructured the delivery and pricing of all research offerings, including our latest 2004 metrics survey reports. In addition to the currently available hard copy versions, you can now purchase downloadable electronic reports for all of our metrics surveys. We are able to offer a great value by making this research available to your entire corporation and even to your suppliers, based on your choice of licenses. These electronic reports are in full color and are readily sharable within your organization. This new electronic option improves your firm's access to GGI's powerful R&D research, making the reports even more usable and helpful in your R&D process. Check the Product Development Metrics Research section of GGI's Wisdom iStore for more details: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/cgi/catalog.cgi?display_p355

Each survey participant received a complimentary copy of the Summary Report. All participants should have already received an email letter regarding the complimentary copy of the Summary Report. Any survey respondents who did not receive this email letter from us should contact Richard James at rjj@goldensegroupinc.com or 781-444-5400, x202.

BOOK REVIEW

World Out of Balance: Navigating Global Risks to Seize Competitive Advantage, by Paul A. Laudicina. McGraw-Hill. 2004, 1st edition. 256 pages.

Those of us in the service profession have the advantage of seeing things across a wide range thus giving the ability to view trends more clearly than just from within a single company. Through the global perspective of A.T. Kearney's Global Business Policy Council, managing director and author Paul Laudicina has had first hand exposure to the world's changing dynamics. It has become clear to most citizens of the world that all the norms we have expected and relied upon in the past have significantly changed in the last 6 to 7 years. As we begin 2005, we felt it was appropriate to highlight a book that attempts to get a handle on the new global norm and how our decisions affect the changing world. The author defines the five critical drivers that business leaders must confront to manage risk and capitalize on the opportunities: globalization, demographic changes, changes in consumer needs, natural resource trends, and regulation and activism.

Globalization, the rising levels of trade, communication, and travel, brings both risks and opportunities. With risks such as the rapid spread of diseases, increased security threats and computer viruses, and off-shoring of jobs, come opportunities such as improvements to health, education, and economic development, and greater governmental cooperation to overcome many of the risks. Declining fertility rates in industrialized countries at the same time as population explosion in emerging countries characterize the demographic changes that cause much economic stress and instability. But companies can tap into the abundance of talented foreign workers through supporting immigration or outsourcing, which produces economic growth and expands markets. As demographics change, so do consumers and their needs. The growth of the middle class in rapidly developing countries such as India and China opens up a large market different from the increasingly higher-end, customized needs of consumers in advanced markets. Companies that can meet the needs of widely fragmented customers in diverse markets will succeed in the global marketplace.

The final two drivers can put serious limits on development. The intense strain on natural resources - oil, water, and others - and the new energy crisis require proper planning now to manage in the future. Companies with programs to conserve resources or to develop new technologies focused on resource and energy conservation or environmental management will benefit from cost savings and increased market share. This also may reduce the challenges by government regulations and corporate activism. Regulations and activism can especially limit scientific research, as in the case of the European Union prohibiting genetically modified food, or the ethical dilemmas associated with stem cell research. Whatever the risks and challenges posed by any of the above drivers, the key is continuous monitoring and analysis through scenario planning. With a strategic risk management process that evaluates internal and external factors, companies can take advantage of the opportunities to gain competitive advantage.

FEATURED GGI iSTORE PRODUCT

Featured Item: Each month, or every other month, GGI's iStore features one item that we discount 40%. The current Featured Item is "Proactive and Predictive R&D Metrics - PPRD Coursebook" (S3)

The Proactive and Predictive R&D Metrics (PPRD) Coursebook is your detailed guide to understanding and creating meaningful, forward-looking metrics for R&D. The coursebook accompanies the intensive seminar of the same name, and is useful on its own. The coursebook (and seminar) covers the following four metrics topic areas:

- Planning metrics

- Proactive metrics

- Predictive metrics

- Reactive metrics

The coursebook will help you move from reactive measures of past activity to planning, proactive, or predictive measures that improve the predictability of R&D and bottom-line results. You will also learn how to differentiate between a corporate and a project metric, as well as to create good project metrics that can be rolled up across business units to result in a good corporate metric. The coursebook contains many examples and case studies of different types of metrics used in different industries.

For the PPRD Coursebook, we have just taken a one-time discount of $100, to a list price of $395. As a Featured Item, we have dropped the list price from $395.00 to $237.00, a deep discount of 40%. GGI's Featured Item changes approximately every other month and is always offered at a 40% discount. For more information or to purchase this valuable report, go to

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/cgi/catalog.cgi?display_promo

While not a featured item, we also want to draw your attention to a newly released and valuable item, the Innovation Seminar Coursebook [S5]. We have been holding back on releasing this to the public for some time. This coursebook is essentially a white paper on all of the innovation tools and techniques available around the globe, as of the early 2000s.

There has been a tremendously increased focus on the development of innovation techniques over the past 15 years as a backlash of the time to market trend of the same period. This works the balance in R&D to leave enough space to innovate while designing within time to market deadlines. In the early 1980s there were only a handful of innovation techniques, primarily Edward DeBono's "Lateral Thinking" and Genrich Altschuller's "TRIZ." This coursebook lists the nearly 100 techniques now available, from the in-depth methodology of TRIZ to the most mundane Outliner from Microsoft Office.

For more details on this new item, go to GGI's iStore storefront:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/iStore/store.html

NEW iSTORE PRODUCTS

New Items: GGI's iStore has now been updated with 1 new Quotation & Citation and 1 new Seminar Coursebook. See details below, or go directly to GGI's iStore storefront:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/iStore/store.html

New Quotations & Citations in Trade Press

Q24 "Zoom sur le non previsible: les mesures de rendement" [5 Pages] - This article features an interview with Bradford L. Goldense on the critical importance of metrics for product development. (text in French)

New Seminar Coursebooks

S5 "Innovation" [75 pages] - see the detailed description directly above.

NEW WEB CONTENT

GTK-Gateways To Knowledge: Your resource for industry and product development related information and contacts offers thousands of links to providers of technologies and services for line management functions. The main entrance to GTK can be found at:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/index.shtml

Calendar of Industry Events MEGA Gateway is one of our top 3 MEGA Gateways. It contains a listing of links to Conferences, Seminars, Distance Learning Centers, Webinars, Colleges & Universities, Executive Education, and Corporate-Sponsored Universities. The calendar has recently been updated with many of the events being held in spring 2005. If you are looking for a conference or other learning opportunity, check out the Calendar first. This free service for our readers is now front and center on GGI's Home Page. Or, go directly to the Calendar of Industry Events MEGA Gateway at:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/calendar2.shtml

Another top MEGA Gateway is the Technology Providers MEGA Gateway, a directory of hundreds of links organized by technical topic (hardware and software). The Technology Providers MEGA Gateway can be found at:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/techproviders.shtml

Capacitors: Find it in the Technology Providers MEGA Gateway. This NEW Gateway provides links to over 60 different companies that manufacture capacitors. The URL is located at:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/tech_capacitors.shtml

Data Storage: Find it in the Technology Providers MEGA Gateway. This NEW Gateway provides links to over 40 different companies that specialize in data and information storage solutions. The URL is located at:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/tech_storage.shtml

Redesigned Wisdom iStore: We have just restructured and renamed our Internet store, The Wisdom iStore. You will now find the iStore easier to use, with a user-friendly main page to help you find what you are looking for. Browse the entire product catalog, choose from product categories or make a purchase directly - it's now easier to navigate and find the right information to fit your needs. To see the new look of The Wisdom iStore, go to http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/iStore/store.html.

CONFERENCES OF INTEREST

Collaborative Product Development - Marcus Evans presents its 2nd Annual Conference on Collaborative Product Development, "Strategies for Collaborative Development for Global Competitive Advantage" on February 17-18, 2005 in Mumbai, India. The conference will examine critical success factors for effective collaboration and increased product innovation through better collaboration with partners, suppliers and customers. The conference is focused specifically for the automotive and automotive supplier industries in India.

Brad Goldense serves as conference chairperson and will present a half-day session on "R&D Productivity" on Friday, February 18.

Because of the tsunami, there have been delays in posting this conference to the Marcus Evans web site, but we expect to be able to forward the links for more information to you next month.

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINARS

Measuring Product Development (MPD): Mastering Metrics for New Product Development for Global Competition: Marcus Evans is producing the Mastering Product Development (MPD) seminar,presented by Brad Goldense, on February 21-22, 2005 in Mumbai, India. The two-day seminar focuses on current best practices for measuring product development effectiveness. The seminar covers the four primary product development measurement areas: overall corporate R&D results, development projects, business functions, and improvement projects. Heavy emphasis is placed on how to set up a baseline for metrics, the metrics currently used in industry with example case studies from several industries.

Because of the tsunami, there have been delays in posting this conference to the Marcus Evans web site, but we expect to be able to forward the links for more information to you next month.

WEBINARS OF INTEREST

Winning Practices for Product Development: This free, online seminar series is sponsored by Sopheon. These one-hour, online events feature experts and leading practitioners who will share process knowledge and practical advice about ways to improve your product development performance and results.

There is currently one webinar scheduled.

20 January, 2005 - (8:30 am Pacific/11:30 am Eastern/16:30 UK) - Product Champions: Crossing the Valley of Death, presented by Stephen K. Markham PhD, Director of the Center for Innovation Management Studies at North Carolina State University

To register for this webinar, for more information on these webinars, or to look at the archive of past webinars, go to http://www.sopheon.com/events_onlineseminars.asp.

Next Generation Product Development: This online seminar series is sponsored by IDe and features Michael McGrath, co-founder of PRTM and chairman of IDe. These 90-minute online events offer an overview of advanced practices of development-productivity-based competition.

There are currently two webinars scheduled.

31 January, 2005 - (12:00 - 1:30 PM EST) - Resource Assignment & Capacity Management

14 February, 2005 - (12:00 - 1:30 PM EST) - Dynamic Portfolio & Pipeline Management

To register for this webinar, or for more information, go to http://www.ide.com/webinars/michaelmcgrathwebinarseries20042005.htm

MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY

APQC R&D Productivity Benchmarking Study

The American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) has just concluded its consortium research and benchmarking study, entitled "Measuring R&D Productivity." Goldense Group, Inc. [GGI] was Subject Matter Expert for this study. This study breaks new ground in understanding the drivers of R&D productivity. Fifteen global sponsors from four continents benchmarked five best practice companies on two continents after a rigorous screening process.

The APQC consortium benchmarking study addressed the following three areas:

1. Identify the areas where improved attention, knowledge, and education would lead to higher R&D productivity. [What are the key areas for best practice?]

2. Use measurement to increase visibility and awareness, which in turn will facilitate enhanced performance in R&D. [What are the measures for these areas?]

3. Determine effective change management activities to support the realization of improved R&D productivity. [How did the best practice companies achieve their practices?]

The kickoff meeting took place on July 20, 2004, and the study was conducted with site visits during October, 2004. The Knowledge Transfer Session occurred on December 9-10, 2004. Results remain confidential for several months and then will be available for purchase in February 2005 through the APQC web site.

For information about this study, go to http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/apqc.shtml. For general information about APQC, go to http://www.apqc.org. For general information about Goldense Group, Inc., go to http://www.goldensegroupinc.com.

TELEVISION EVENTS

Alexander Haig's World Business Review: Brad Goldense has made several appearances on Alexander Haig's World Business Review in the past year. Streaming video is available for all shows, which aired on August 4, September 29 and December 15, 2002 and on May 20, 2003. See below for details.

May 20, 2003 Broadcast of September 29th In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment is available at: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggiontv.shtml#wbr5

December 15, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (7.5 minutes) on CNBC paid programming: Streaming video for this segment is available at: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggiontv.shtml#wbr3

September 29, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment (as well as the entire 30-minute show) is available at: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggiontv.shtml#wbr2

August 4, 2002 On-Location at GGI (3.5 minutes): This On-Location field report is available in streaming video on GGI's website. To see the program, go to: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggiontv.shtml#wbr1

The web page includes links to download a streaming video player, if you do not currently have one installed on your computer.

For more information on any of Brad's appearances on television, go to:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggiontv.shtml

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GGI RapidNews is an e-mail publication from Goldense Group, Inc (GGI). Its subject matter includes survey findings, company news, book and article reviews, key industry conferences and R&D information of interest to clients and associates. Please send communications to rn(at)goldensegroupinc.com. Thank you.