ESL WORKSHEET - Product development

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS
INNOVATION AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

LinguaHouse
Apr. 10, 2024

Level: Intermediate (B1-B2)
Type of English: Business English
Tags: Marketing; Innovation and Product Development; Describing a Product/Service; Marketing; Business Skills; Starting and Developing a Business; 16-18 Years Old; 18+ Years Old; Article Based
Publication date: 04/10/2024

This worksheet is the first of a series of three on Innovation and Product development. They are divided into looking at the six stages of product development and this lesson focuses on the first stage: generating ideas. Students will read an article on the topic and listen to a meeting where some employees perform a SWOT* analysis on a new product they have planned. Exercises focus on reading and listening skills, related vocabulary and provide students with an opportunity to discuss questions (by Joe Wilson).

* SWOT is an acronym that means “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats”.

• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audios (Am/Br English).

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

Deborah: Right, everyone, let’s just go through this SWOT analysis and make sure we have all the essential points before we present the idea to management. So, looking at strengths, to begin with, obviously, the design is key here. We’ve got a unique design which makes it much quieter than any of the competition. That’s obviously our USP there. I want to make sure we leverage that as much as possible. Sebastian? Anything to add to that?
Sebastian: Yes, the design also makes it easier to clean. The traditional versions attract a lot of dust which is then blown at the customers causing problems with allergies. Ours is self-cleaning. I also think it’s a beautiful design. I think the marketing needs to focus on that too. It’s not just for keeping cool, it’s an attractive addition to the home. We can emphasize the design in a similar way to what Apple did when they introduced their products such as the iPhone and the Mac. Our customers are going to care about that too, not just the function.
Deborah: Yes, yes. Both are great points, thank you. OK, let’s look at our weaknesses. Sylvia?
Sylvia: Well, the main one is obviously going to be price. We’re planning to sell this at a price point that is 30% to 40% higher than the nearest competition. As beautiful as the design is, it’s not as easy to make. There’s also the packaging. Traditional versions can be easily taken apart and put together by the customer making them easy to put in a flat box. Ours will have to come ready-made, meaning the boxes will be much larger. Not only is that more expensive for us, it’s less convenient for the customer and for the shops selling them as they will be able to store fewer of them.
Deborah: Yes, I can’t really see anything that we can do to change that. It comes back to the design. I think if we are selling this as a must-have item and people see how good it looks, the market will be able to tolerate the inconvenience of the size of the packaging. Besides, a lot of people will be having them delivered directly to their homes, so the packaging will be a minor problem for them. We could even focus on the fact that they don’t have to put it together themselves. I know it’s a plus for me, I hate putting anything together. So, opportunities?
Sebastian: Unfortunately, with temperatures rising, the market for these is going to be increasing. There’s going to be a lot of demand in Western Europe for these as the cost of air conditioning still isn’t something that people want to have to pay, especially after heating their houses all winter. Also, the time when you’re really going to need our product is going to be for a month or so in the summer. I think the Middle East and Asia will also be interested in the high end of the markets. Although there’s more air conditioning in those places, I think there's still a lot of potential in the cooler months to replace air conditioning.
Sylvia: As for threats, we will have to be careful of similar designs in future from our competitors, although I think customers will value the original over a cheaper version if our marketing is right. We do have a possible situation with the design which means it has to be made in Sweden. If there’s any problem with the supply from there, it will affect the number we can make. However, I think we have time to look at other ways to design the fan in future so that we can use other suppliers.

Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/business-english/innovation-and-product-development. Accessed on April 11, 2024. © 2008–2024 LinguaHouse.com. All rights reserved.