Organization Used to Manage Its New Initiatives

¶ … organization used to manage its new initiatives -- especially new product developments.

In the management of new product developments, the organization has to evaluate and understand various factors in relation to the external development. These factors include laws, regulations, economy, and stage of economic development, substitutes, cultural values, and market needs. The organization adopts and integrates the concept of product life cycle (PLC) focusing on incorporation of various stages from introduction to the end of the product. PLC tool is critical in enhancing the ability of the organization to manage the stages of the product's acceptance and success in the market place. The PLC tool focuses on integration of four critical stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

Discuss how your organization evaluates projects within its overall portfolio. Discuss the tools and methods it uses to evaluate its portfolio, both quantitative and non-quantitative. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.

There are two critical approaches, which an organization utilizes to address the management of overall portfolios. These approaches include gates dominate and portfolio reviews dominate approach (Nippa et al., 2011, p. 52). Portfolio reviews dominate approach has various pros and cons. Some of the cons include easier prioritizing in case of all projects evaluation. This is critical because most managers like the notion of regular prioritizing since no project is sacred within the organization. The main shortcoming of the approach is the tendency of the major requirement for commitment from the senior management thus taking several days in relation to evaluation and management of the portfolio. On the other hand, Gates dominate is essential in offering much more in-depth assessment in evaluation of the project during a single meeting.

Discuss the different categories of risk, which your organization assesses in its risk assessment of new initiative or new product developments. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the approach your organization uses?

There are various categories of risks within an organization thus the need to integrate and implement an effective and efficient approach towards identification and management of the risks. These categories include market risks, supply chain risks, financial risks, office or organizational risks, environmental risks, and production or manufacturing risks. One of the strengths of the approach integrated by the organization is the ability to prioritize the risks hence an opportunity to deal with the most vital risks in the production and delivery processes. One of the major weaknesses of the approach is inability to capture all risk categories towards the achievement of competitive advantage (Szabo, 2012, p. 778).

Discuss and evaluate the principal methods for assessing risk, which you would recommend to your organization for use in its new product development initiatives for the future. What challenges do you see which your organization would face in adopting these methods of risk assessment?