The concept of strategic arenas — markets, industry sectors, applications, product types, or technologies on which business will focus its new product efforts — is, therefore, at the heart of a new product strategy.
The specification of strategic arenas — what’s “in bounds” and “out of bounds” for product innovation — is fundamental to spelling out the direction of the business’s product development effort, keeping it focused and more efficient.
De Nora defined its STRATEGIC ARENAS (SA) back in 2014 and reevaluate them in 2017. The outcome of this exercise was “STRATEGIC MAP”, where SAs are positioned based on two parameters: BUSINESS STRENGHT and the ARENA ACTRACTIVENESS:
Arena Attractiveness captures characteristics such as size and growth of markets in the arena, intensity of competition and margins earned, and the potential for developing new products (for example, the technological maturity of the area);
Business strength: involves assessing the business’s core competencies and strengths and asking whether these competencies could be leveraged if the business chose to enter the new arena.
Focus area
Focus is the key to an effective product innovation strategy.
