BBM Corporation's Managers Are Attempting to Build a New Product

question 34

Multiple Choice

BBM Corporation's managers are attempting to build a new product, a better mousetrap. They began by determining the features customers wanted and what they would pay for those features. BBM's engineers then reverse-engineered a competitor's product to understand its design and related production processes. Their analysis indicated that customers would pay $10.00 for a better mousetrap.
Why was it important for BBM's engineers to understand the product design and production processes of its competitor?

• A) Most of the mousetrap's product costs are committed by that point in the value chain
• B) They needed to explain them to customers to justify the better mousetrap's cost
• C) The better mousetrap will only succeed if it is identical to their competitor's product
• D) Understanding product design and production processes is not typically important; the engineers just wanted to better understand the process