Research and Development

• Also known as R & D
• It refers to work directed towards the innovation, introduction, and improvement of products and processes
• It involves:
  1. Developing completely new products
  2. Creating imitation products that can compete with a rival’s products
  3. Creating prototypes and models based on marketing research data
  4. Improving existing products and processes
• It acts as the bridge between marketing and production
• Marketing Research is used to determine customer needs and wants
• Research and Development is used to convert these ideas into real products the business can sell
• This usually begins with research which later accumulates in the form of a model or prototype
• A model is a not to scale representation of what the final product would look like
• A prototype first or preliminary version of a device or vehicle from which other forms are developed
• The Research and Development department then works with the production department to come up with a method to produce the product for the market
• Research and Development carries out research that can be used to improve the product and the production processes
• In the modern day world technologies such as Computer Aided Design, simulation, automated testing etc are used to speed up the research and development process
• Also due to technological changes product life cycles have become shorter and the rate of change faster
• For example major cellphone makers such as Samsung and Apple release a new product every year

To access more topics go to the O Level Business Notes