HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
BUSINESS ENGLISH · BUSINESS ISSUES · INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)
INNOVATION
AND PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT I
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1 Warm up
In pairs, discuss the following questions.
1. What are the most recent products or services from your company? What do they do?
2. What is the most interesting new product you have seen recently? What did you like about it?
3. What new products have you used that turned out to be less useful than you thought they would
be? What was the problem?
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HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)
INNOVATION AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT I
2 Scanning for vocabulary
Find words in the article on page three which have the same meaning as the following definitions.
1. the use of imagination and skills to create something new (n, para. A)
2. create or produce something, often in large amounts (v, para. B)
3. the possibility of something going wrong or not as planned (n, para. B)
4. in competition with you for something (adj., para. C)
5. a product or service sold by a company (n, para. D)
6. the act of thinking carefully about a situation or topic (n, para. D)
7. the ability of something to keep going into the future, even if there are
unexpected problems (n, para. D)
8. the most important element of something that everything else is built upon
or grows out of (n, para E)
3 Skimming for gist
Read the following sentences and match them to the gaps a - f in the article on page three. Write
down the correct number in the gap. There are more sentences than gaps.
a. Check in with the sales teams regularly at this stage.
b. Consider to your own existing range of products and how it will fit into that.
c. It must do something better.
d. Why do customers need this?
e. Ask yourself, ‘Who is going to buy this?’; ‘What needs do they have?’.’
f. The process can be divided into six main stages.
g. This is information you can use to improve your product or service or make your marketing of it
clearer.
h. Remember that it’s much better to go back to the beginning during this stage than it will be later
on.
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HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)
INNOVATION AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT I
The Process of Product Development
Is this a good idea?
A. Product development can be an exciting and interesting aspect of a business. Identifying a gap in the market and
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working out how to fill it takes time, patience and creativity. Here, we will look at the first
stage as it is certainly the most important.
B. To begin with, you will need to generate ideas. For this to be effective, you must be very clear on what your target
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market is. . A great idea for a product is no use if nobody will actually buy it. So all of your efforts
must be focused on these people. You will also need to be clear on existing products in that market which you
will be in competition with. A good way to do this is to perform ‘a SWOT analysis’. SWOT stands for Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
C. The strengths of your product are mainly looking at its Unique Selling Point (USP). This is where you decide what
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advantages your product has over the competition. For example, it could be that it works better,
does more tasks, it’s cheaper, or it’s of higher quality. You also have to consider if your USP is something that is
obvious to your customers. It must be clear in their minds as to why they are buying it instead of a rival product.
A careful and honest look at what the weaknesses are is also essential. To do this, you should look at your product
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from the competition’s point of view. What will they find that is negative about it?
D. With the above in mind, you now need to consider what the opportunities are for this product. Can it sell into
markets you don’t already cover? Can it answer a need that no one else is offering? Can you change it to make it
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more attractive for customers? What does this new product add to your offering? There are
also threats to think about. How is the market likely to change in the next few years? Will there be any difficulties
getting a supply of the materials you need for the product? What would happen if there was a war or a disaster
that stopped you from getting a supply of an essential part? Careful consideration of all of the problems you have
or might have in the future will increase the resilience of your product or service and help your team to manage
future difficulties.
E. Spending time at this stage is worthwhile as it’s the foundation of everything you do later. You may find yourself
circling back through the process several times before deciding on a final product or service that you want to
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continue developing. It will also cost much less in terms of time and investment.
Sources: Asana, The Guardian
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INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)
INNOVATION AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT I
4 Reading comprehension
Complete the following sentences with up to four words from the article on page three.
1. In the world of business, one of the most tasks can be product development.
2. of the six stages is the first one: idea generation.
3. Creating is a good way to make sure you are considering all aspects of the product
or service.
4. Your is essentially what the strongest feature of your product should be. This
should be something that no one else is offering to customers.
5. When deciding on the weaknesses, take the of the competition and think what
they would be critical about.
6. The resilience of your product will increase dramatically if you carefully consider the difficulties
you may run .
7. With this stage completed, you will find the cost of will be far lower if you have
planned carefully.
5 Focus on vocabulary
Part A: Match the vocabulary to the definitions.
1. leverage (v) a. make something particularly important or noticeable
2. emphasize (v) b. the number of people who desire a particular product or service
3. tolerate (v) c. a person or company who provides products or services to
another company
4. minor (adj.) d. not very important or serious
5. demand (n) e. the possibility that something can be better in future
6. potential (n) f. deal with something that isn’t ideal or causes problems
7. convenient (adj.) g. use something to get as much advantage as possible from it
8. supplier (n) h. easy to access and get to
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INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)
INNOVATION AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT I
Part B: Now complete the following sentences with a different part of speech from the same word
family as the Part A word in brackets.
1. I’m very excited about our new range and think they could be the biggest sellers
in the company’s history. (potential)
2. I try to make sure I check all of my work carefully as my manager is very of mistakes
that could have been avoided. (tolerate)
3. To open the gate, you will need to pull the on the right hand side downwards.
(leverage)
4. I enjoy my job, although the customers can sometimes be very which makes it a
lot harder. (demand)
5. There’s a lot of stress in the office at the moment as management has put a lot of
on the importance of meeting the deadline. (emphasize)
6. Our office is in the city which means it can be quite noisy, but you can’t beat it for the
of shops, restaurants and bars. (convenient)
7. Some people have their own offices, but they are in the . Most of us work in a
shared area and it works well in my opinion. (minor)
8. A company in Germany has just agreed to us with the packaging we need to ship
our products around the world. (supplier)
6 Listening for gist
Listen to the meeting and decide what the product is that the team is developing.
7 Listening comprehension
Listen again and complete the notes on the SWOT analysis with one or two words or a number from
the meeting.
1 2
1. Strengths → The makes it far easier to , so it’s practical as well
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as being to look at.
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2. Weaknesses → more expensive than the competition. Design requires
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boxes, not flat packs.
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3. Opportunities → High demand in , with some possibilities in Asia and the Middle
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East, particularly during the as an alternative to air conditioning.
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4. Threats → Only one supplier in will need to consider other possibilities for the
future.
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HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)
INNOVATION AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT I
8 Talking point
In pairs, discuss the following questions.
1. What are the USPs of some of the main products that your company sells at the moment?
2. What are the weaknesses of some of your company’s products in your opinion?
3. What opportunities do you think there are for your company to improve its products or expand
its markets in future?
4. What threats do you think there could be for your business in future?
9 Extended activity/Homework
Your teacher will give you a card containing details of a product that already exists. Imagine that this
product is one your company has just created and do a SWOT analysis with your partner.
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