1. In the era of globalization, plants tend to be focused in terms of product, robotized in terms of technology, and diversified in terms of market served.
Paul W. Beamish (b. 1953) Canadian academic and author. International Management (1990)
2. Junk is the ideal product-the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy.
William S. Burroughs (1914-97) U.S. novelist. The Naked Lunch (1959)
3. Treating Processes holistically means that much more is being included under the umbrella of product development.
Dan Dimancescu (b. 1943) U.S. Consultant and writer. World-class New Product Development (cowritten with Kemp Dwenger; 1996)
4. I have no use for a motor car which has more spark plugs than a cow has teats.
Henry Ford (1863-1947) U.S. industrialist, automobile manufacturer, and founder of Ford Motor Company. My Life and Work (cowritten with Samuel Crowther; 1922)
5. We in the U.S. have a problem or, if you will, an opportunity to break away from technological traditions and to find really new and better ways of making products for the markets of the world.
Henry Ford (1919-87) U.S. automobile-manufacturer and C.E.O. of Ford Motor Company. Speech (1964)
6. It is duality of design we’re concerned with, not just how it works and how the two inter-relate.
Rawdon Glover (b. 1968) British marketing executive. Marketing (June 2000)
7. A successful product merely gives us a head start in race.
John Harvey-Jones (b. 1924) British management adviser, author, and former chairman of ICI. Managing to Survive (1993)
8. You just don’t understand. Go find a car and saw the top off the darn thing.
Lee Lacocca (b. 1924) U.S. president of Ford Motor Company, chairman and C.E.O. of Chrysler Corporation.Referring to his wish to see a prototype of a new convertible car. Quoted in Thriving on Chaos (Tom Peters; 1987)
9. Both Apple and Pixar…Their product is pure intellectual property. Bits on a disk.
Steve Jobs (b. 1955) U.S. entrepreneur, cofounder and C.E.O. of Apple Computer Company, and C.E.O. of Pixar. Quoted in “Steve’s Two Jobs,” Time (Michael Krantz; October 18, 1999)
10. My theory is that good furniture could be priced so that the man with a flat wallet could be attracted to it.
Ingvar Kamprad (b. 1926) Swedish business executive and founder of IKEA. Forbes (August 2000)
11. A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption.
Philip Kotler (b. 1931) U.S. marketing management thinker. Marketing Management (1967)
12. Every company should work hard to obsolete its own product line before its competitors do.
Philip Kotler (b. 1931) U.S. marketing management thinker. Marketing Management (1967)
13. If you can’t smell it, you can’t sell it.
Estee Lauder (b. 1908) U.S. entrepreneur and cosmetics executive. Interview (1976)
14. All products must be seen as experiments.
Regis McKenna (b. 1939) U.S. marketing entrepreneur and chairman of The McKenna Group. Relationship Marketing (1991)
15. The important product comparisons come from people in the marketplace.
Regis McKenna (b. 1939) U.S. marketing entrepreneur and chairman of The McKenna Group. The Regis Touch (1986)
16. Twenty four out of twenty five new products never get out of test markets.
David Ogilvy (1911-99) British advertising executive, founder and chairman of Ogilvy & Mather. Confessions of an Advertising Man (1963)
17. The engineers do the marketing in a less quantified and less sophisticated way, but move right into product design.
Kenichi Ohmae (b. 1943) Japanese management consultant and theorist. Quoted in Thriving on Chaos (Tom Peters; 1987)
18. There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.
Ken Olsen (b. 1926) U.S. computer designer and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation. 1977. Quoted in The Experts Speak (Christopher Cerse and Victor Navasky; 1984)
19. It’s not just a concept, but the way that concept is executed that is important.
I.M. Pei (b. 1917) U.S. architect. Interview (1979)
20. Average sales reflect oil prices.
Sayyid Khalid Bin Hamad Bin Hamoud Al Bu Said (b. 1965) Omani entrepreneur. Reffering to production of the world’s most expensive perfume. Forbes (March 2000)