The client had two new products about to be introduced into the medical imaging market. The company anticipated needing its first modification/upgrade within a short timeframe. They wanted a scenario-based forecast of future customer needs and intervening competitor actions to identify the product characteristics necessary for a competitive advantage in the out-year market. This project was a tightly collaborative team effort between the client and FSG. With substantial coordination, we provided a set of scenarios into which the client “inserted” its industry expertise to derive future product positioning, with particular attention to robust customer needs and likely competitor activity across a range of future business operating environments. Among the client benefits were the following: critical help to a supplier industry at a time of great uncertainty in the health-care field; focusing of R&D resources on the performance attributes necessary to meet future customer needs; and successful “gaming” of competitor actions and reactions across a range of futures to avoid surprise.
