PRODUCT-LINE PLANNING
As we noted, the integration of technology strategy with business strategy occurs in the planning of a business’s future product lines. Business strategy thus focuses technology progress into future products---product-lines planning. A product-line is an assortment of product models and services that can be applied by different groups of customer in market for the business. Steven Wheelwright and W.Earl Sasser suggested mapping out the evolution of product models of a line of products (Wheelwright and Sasser 1989). They pointed out that product models evolve from a core product, such as one can branch enhanced models for a higher price line or strip a model of some features off a price-reduced line. Also, they argued that from the core product, one should plan is evolution in generations of products. The core product system will differ in the subsidiary technologies of features. Next-generation products differ in dramatically improved performance or new features, or improved technologies in features or dramatically reduced cost. We can diagram the planning of a line of product models as branched product models and as generations of products. Wheelwright and Sasser called this a New Product Development Map. Such a map is particularly useful for the long-term product development Map. Such a map is particularly useful for the long-term product development process, when the anticipated technical goals for product performance and features are listed in the product boxes.