Overview
This unit aims to introduce theories and strategies of new product development and product management over its life cycle. In today's competitive global marketplace, the challenge of developing and enhancing new or existing products is significant. Successful new product development and marketing require a considerable investment of budget, time, resources, and collaboration. Throughout this unit, you will explore the social and business challenges associated with new product development and understand the vital role of socially innovative products and services within an organisation. You will also engage in market appraisal and conduct cost-benefit analysis for new product development and implementation. Additionally, you will analyse effective marketing strategies for launching new products. This unit will present a variety of established models and frameworks to evaluate each stage of the new product development process, as well as life cycle strategies and innovative marketing approaches.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-requisite: MRKT11029 Fundamentals of Marketing.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student feedback
Students appreciated interacting with the unit coordinator during scheduled weekly Zoom workshops that focused on weekly learning activities and provided an opportunity to discuss assessments.
Schedule at least one weekly Zoom workshop to cover the learning activities and discuss assessments. All Zoom meetings will be recorded and made available on the unit Moodle website within 24 hours. This will assist students who are unable to attend.
Feedback from Student feedback
Students were open to receiving assessment guidelines, marking rubrics, mark sheets, and exemplars.
Offer students extra assessment support by providing assessment guidelines, marking rubrics, mark sheets, and exemplars accessible on the unit Moodle site.
- Assess the social and business challenges of new product development, and the importance of socially innovative products/services in an organisation
- Evaluate new product development processes, including product portfolio analysis, marketing planning models, cost-benefit analysis, and brand equity concepts
- Critically examine the factors contributing to success and failure of new product development
- Develop a new product development plan and innovative marketing strategies.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Case Study - 20% | ||||
| 2 - Practical Assessment - 40% | ||||
| 3 - Report - 40% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Textbooks
Innovation Management and New Product Development
- Edition: 7th (2021)
- Authors: Trott, P.
- Pearson Education Limited
- London London , United Kingdom , England
- ISBN: 9781292251523
The prescribed textbook is also available in e-Book format.
- Binding: Paperback
The prescribed textbook is also available in e-Book format.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Microsoft Word
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
w.lawson1@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 09 Mar 2026Module/Topic
Innovation management: an introduction
Chapter
1
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 16 Mar 2026Module/Topic
National systems of innovation and entrepreneurship
Chapter
2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 23 Mar 2026Module/Topic
Public sector innovation
Chapter
3
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 30 Mar 2026Module/Topic
Managing innovation within firms
Chapter
4 & 5
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 06 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Managing intellectual property
Chapter
6
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 13 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Managing organisational knowledge
Chapter
7
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 20 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 27 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Strategic alliances and networks
Chapter
8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 8
Begin Date: 04 May 2026Module/Topic
Research and development
Chapter
9
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 11 May 2026Module/Topic
Open Innovation and technology transfer
Chapter
10
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 18 May 2026Module/Topic
Business models and adoption
Chapter
11 & 12
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 11
Begin Date: 25 May 2026Module/Topic
New product development
Chapter
13 & 14
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 01 Jun 2026Module/Topic
Managing the new product development process
Chapter
15
Events and Submissions/Topic
Contact information.
For on-campus students, your campus workshop leader/tutor is the first point of contact regrading initial inquiries about this unit, unit contents, and each of the assessments.
For distance education students (DST), students are to contact the unit coordinator (see my details below), either by email or telephone, about this unit, unit contents, and each of the assessments.
Email: w.lawson1@cqu.edu.au
Telephone: +61 (03) 9616 0518
I am based on the Melbourne Campus and can be found during term in the Business and Law staff room on level 4, 120 Spencer Street.
1 Case Study
“This assessment requires students to adhere to the guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence tools as specified in the Artificial Intelligence Assessment Scale (AIAS). Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding the use of AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity.”
The appropriate AI scale level for this Assessment is AI PLANNING. You may use AI for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
The Assessment 1 task requires you to read the case study from chapter 3 of the prescribed textbook (pp. 96-99) titled 'People's innovation - Parkrun' and then answer in your own words the following four questions:
Q1. Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in the same year as Parkrun started. Did Paul Sinton-Hewitt miss out on a lot of money?
Q2. Is Parkrun an example of bottom-up economics?
Q3. Could bottom-up economics topple other industries?
Q4. What other industries or products and services could be challenged by people's innovations?
You will present your case study answers in a Word document. This Word document should be 1000 words maximum excluding the title page and reference list.
Instructions
- This is an individual assessment (no groups).
- For each answer, it is expected that you make your own decisions based on the information provided and justify them using additional sources of information.
- The case study is accessible to all students (as a PDF file) inside the Assessment tile in the Assessment 1 section.
- Submit your case study answers online through the Assessment tile on the unit Moodle site.
Your Word document should contain the following:
- A single Word document (no PDF), including a title page, answers to all four questions plus a reference list, using APA referencing style.
- Use in-text of at least five (5) quality sources of information such as from academic journal articles, academic textbooks, trade journals, newspaper articles and industry/business websites.
- Use size 12 font with double line-spacing in this Word document.
Skills
- Case studies demonstrate problem-solving, decision-making, and communication skills.
Week 4 Friday (3 Apr 2026) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 6 Friday (17 Apr 2026)
The return date will apply to submissions made before or on the due date.
- Q1 Answer. 4 marks.
- Q2 Answer. 4 marks.
- Q3 Answer. 4 marks.
- Q4 Answer. 4 marks.
- Spelling, grammar, and written presentation. 2 marks.
- Citations and reference list. 2 marks.
- Total: 20 marks.
- Assess the social and business challenges of new product development, and the importance of socially innovative products/services in an organisation
2 Practical Assessment
“This assessment requires students to adhere to the guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence tools as specified in the Artificial Intelligence Assessment Scale (AIAS). Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding the use of AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity.”
The appropriate AI scale level for this Assessment is AI PLANNING. You may use AI for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
The Assessment 2 task requires you to develop and write a marketing strategy statement proposal for a new product/service idea of your own creation. You will present the marketing strategy statement proposal as a single Word document. This Word document should be 2000 words maximum excluding the title page and reference list.
Your task is to choose ONE (1) of the emerging Australian industries of innovation for 2026 from the options provided below. Then, identify and focus on a specific Australian-based business or organisation within that industry to create and write a marketing strategy statement proposal for a new product or service idea that you have developed, targeting the Australian market.
- Renewable Energy and Sustainability.
- Biotechnology and Health Technology.
- Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics.
- Digital Content and Gaming.
NB: The Australian-based business/organisation option you select and the new product/service idea you come up with will also be used in the Assessment 3 task.
Your marketing strategy statement proposal for a new product/service idea should include and address each of the following:
- Write a marketing strategy statement for the purpose of proposing a new product/service idea for your chosen Australian-based business/organisation.
- Describe how you would conduct a business analysis for your new product/service idea.
- Outline why innovative products/services might be important to your chosen Australian-based business/organisation.
- To narrow down the 'concept' of your new product/service idea, explain what makes your new product/service idea unique and whom it would likely appeal to and why.
- What do you need to consider ensuring your new product/service offering, and likely business model, can be adopted? Can your new product/service remain sustainable? (i.e., the social and business challenges of new product development).
- Outline what other strategies your selected Australian-based business/organisation could use to source new product/service ideas and how this might be incorporated into their new product/service development strategy.
Instructions
- This is an individual assessment (no groups).
- Submit your Word document online through the Assessment tile on the unit Moodle site.
Your Word document should contain the following:
- A single Word document (no PDF), including a title page, that addresses the six key parts above plus a reference list, using APA referencing style.
- Use in-text of at least ten (10) quality sources of information such as from academic journal articles, academic textbooks, trade journals, newspaper articles and industry/business websites.
- Use size 12 font with double line-spacing in this Word document.
Skills
- New products/services are the lifeblood and revenue stream of any business/organisation.
- This is a challenging assignment. It will provide you with the opportunity to undertake a significant piece of work with a practical commercial application.
Week 7 Friday (1 May 2026) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 9 Friday (15 May 2026)
The return date will apply to submissions made before or on the due date.
- Marketing strategy statement proposal for new product/service. 6 marks.
- Business analysis for new product/service idea. 6 marks.
- Importance of innovative new products/services. 6 marks.
- New/product service uniqueness and chosen target market/s. 6 marks.
- New product/service business challenges. 5 marks.
- Sources of new product/service ideas. 4 marks.
- Citations and reference list. 4 marks.
- Spelling, grammar, and written presentation. 3 marks.
- Total: 40 marks.
- Assess the social and business challenges of new product development, and the importance of socially innovative products/services in an organisation
- Evaluate new product development processes, including product portfolio analysis, marketing planning models, cost-benefit analysis, and brand equity concepts
- Critically examine the factors contributing to success and failure of new product development
- Develop a new product development plan and innovative marketing strategies.
3 Report
“This assessment requires students to adhere to the guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence tools as specified in the Artificial Intelligence Assessment Scale (AIAS). Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding the use of AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity.”
The appropriate AI scale level for this Assessment is AI PLANNING. You may use AI for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
The Assessment 3 task requires you to prepare a new product/service development plan for your new product/service idea from the Assessment 2 task. Assume this new product/service development plan will be for the senior management of your chosen Australian-based business/organisation. Your new product/service development plan will be written as a formal business report. This report should be 2000 words maximum excluding the title page and reference list.
Your new product/service development plan should include and address each of the following:
1. Title page
- The title page will include the name of your Australian-based business/organisation and the proposed name of your new product/service, your name, student ID number and lecturer/tutor name and campus (for on-campus students) and course name and code.
2. Executive summary
- The executive summary should not read like an introduction to an essay. You need to highlight only those critical aspects from your new product/service development plan.
- Outline only the main findings and recommendations from the report.
- Use of subheadings, dot, or bullet points is recommended to better present the required information.
3. Table of contents
- The table of contents will present each section of the new product/service development plan, including subheadings, with their appropriate page number(s). Sections should be numbered (e.g. 1.0 Introduction). The introduction begins on page 1. Pages before the introduction use lower case Roman numerals such as i, ii, iii, iv, etc.
4. Introduction
- The introduction should present a brief outline of the chosen Australian-based business/organisation and your proposed new product/service that is the major focus of this new product development plan. In addition, the aims and structure of the report should be presented.
5. Business analysis
- Define or describe your idea. What exactly is the product/service you want to develop?
- Identify your market. What will set this new product/service apart from your competition? What is the benefit of your proposed new product/service? What are your target customers’ frustrations with similar products/services on the market?
6. Prototype testing
- Provide some ideas for making/building and testing your new product/service.
7. Marketing strategy and plan
- Provide a strategy for marketing your new product/service to your targeted customers. What is the USP? What will be the branding strategy adopted?
8. Product/service launch
- When, how, and where will you launch the new product/service?
9. Reviewing the product/service
- How are you going to keep your share of the market after your new product/service is launched? How do you innovate to keep yourself ahead of other products/services and businesses?
10. Intellectual property (IP) protection
- How will you stop competitors from copying your new product/service?
11. Conclusion
- In your opinion, why do you think your new product/service is likely to succeed? What might hinder the success of your new product/service?
12. Reference list
- Using APA referencing style, the new product/service development plan should include at least ten (10) quality sources of information such as from academic journal articles, academic textbooks, trade journals, newspaper articles and industry/business websites.
Instructions
- This is an individual assessment (no groups).
- Submit your formal business report online through the Assessment tile on the unit Moodle site.
Your formal business report should contain the following:
- A single Word document (no PDF) that includes and addresses all twelve key parts above.
- Use in-text of at least ten (10) quality sources of information such as from academic journal articles, academic textbooks, trade journals, newspaper articles and industry/business websites.
- Use size 12 font with double line-spacing in this Word document.
Skills
- A new product/service development plan is widely used by businesses/organisations to identify the process and timeline to design, create and build their products/services.
- This is a challenging assignment. It will provide you with the opportunity to undertake a significant piece of work with a practical commercial application.
Week 12 Friday (5 June 2026) 11:45 pm AEST
Marked assessments will be returned following certification of grades (Wednesday, 8 July 2026).
- Executive Summary. 2 marks.
- Introduction. 2 marks.
- Business analysis. 4 marks.
- Prototype testing. 5 marks.
- Marketing strategy and plan. 4 marks.
- Product/service launch. 4 marks.
- Reviewing the product/service. 5 marks.
- Intellectual property (IP) protection. 5 marks.
- Conclusion. 2 marks.
- Spelling, grammar, and written presentation. 3 marks.
- Citations and reference list. 4 marks.
- Total: 40 marks.
- Assess the social and business challenges of new product development, and the importance of socially innovative products/services in an organisation
- Evaluate new product development processes, including product portfolio analysis, marketing planning models, cost-benefit analysis, and brand equity concepts
- Critically examine the factors contributing to success and failure of new product development
- Develop a new product development plan and innovative marketing strategies.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
