Name Each product's name begins with the first letter of the company name.

New Performance Sets each product's performance level.

New Size Sets each product’s size.

Important: Never enter 0 into the R&D spreadsheet. A value of 0 would move the product to a 0 coordinate on the Perceptual Map.

MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) Adjusts the MTBF, which determines reliability (the number of hours the product is expected to run before it fails).

Revision Date The date the project will complete. The revision date varies depending on the number of projects under way and the distance the product is moved from its old coordinates.

Note: If the Revision Date for a product is more than one year away, the new coordinates will not appear in the next Courier.

Age at Revision The age (or perceived age) of a product when the project completes. Age is important because some segments want new products while others want older, proven products. For example, suppose a company introduces a product in January of 2007. A year later (2008) they start a repositioning project with a revision date of August 3, 2008, when the product will be 2.6 years old. When the revised product emerges, the market perceives the age of the redesigned product to be half the former age of 2.6 years (that is, the public perceives the age to be 1.3 years, hence Perceived Age).

R&D Cost R&D projects bill at a rate of $1 million dollars a year. If the dollar amount is less than $1 million, then the project takes less than a year. For projects that cost more than $1 million (therefore taking longer than a year), $1 million will be billed to the current year and the balance to the following year. Projects begin on January 1. If a product is still in R&D on January 1 of the following year, you cannot begin a new revision project for that product. The spreadsheet locks the line so that you can make no further changes. Therefore, companies should usually plan all R&D projects to complete in less than one year.

Material Cost Material costs are driven by the MTBF rating and by the placement on the Perceptual Map. Higher performance and MTBF values, and smaller size values increase material costs.