Consider the pizza box. Not a specific pizza box, because they all pretty much look the same, but all the pizza boxes you might have encountered anytime in the last half century or so. They’re probably some combination of red, white and green, and maybe feature an Italian-looking chef with a swirly mustache. They’re bulky, and you struggle to fit them in your fridge when there are leftovers, or even in your trash can when they’re empty. The pizza box has been this way for decades, even as cars have gone electric and phones have become pocket-size. Innovation in the pizza-box space has consisted of the addition of those miniature plastic platforms that keep the top of the box from sticking to the cheese below. And so what might seem like a small step — Pizza Hut is trying out a high-tech new design that’s round instead of square — feels like a giant leap for pizza-kind. The pie chain’s claims about the new box are many, writes The Washington Post (Aug. 22, 2019) Some of its shiny new features are meant to improve its function and use: The round shape means there’s less waste (i.e., it’s better for the environment), and it’s made of sustainably harvested plant fiber. It’s industrially compostable. Less material also means it takes up less space on the shelves of Pizza Hut locations — and in your fridge. They don’t require time-consuming assembling by employees, and they break down easily — you can fold them over multiple times until you have something compact enough to drop into your trash can. Discussion questions: Define product design and explain its relationship to business strategy.

Practical Management Science
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ISBN:9781337406659
Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Publisher:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Chapter2: Introduction To Spreadsheet Modeling
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Consider the pizza box. Not a specific pizza box, because they all pretty much look the same, but all the pizza boxes you might have encountered anytime in the last half century or so. They’re probably some combination of red, white and green, and maybe feature an Italian-looking chef with a swirly mustache. They’re bulky, and you struggle to fit them in your fridge when there are leftovers, or even in your trash can when they’re empty.

The pizza box has been this way for decades, even as cars have gone electric and phones have become pocket-size. Innovation in the pizza-box space has consisted of the addition of those miniature plastic platforms that keep the top of the box from sticking to the cheese below. And so what might seem like a small step — Pizza Hut is trying out a high-tech new design that’s round instead of square — feels like a giant leap for pizza-kind.

The pie chain’s claims about the new box are many, writes The Washington Post (Aug. 22, 2019) Some of its shiny new features are meant to improve its function and use: The round shape means there’s less waste (i.e., it’s better for the environment), and it’s made of sustainably harvested plant fiber. It’s industrially compostable. Less material also means it takes up less space on the shelves of Pizza Hut locations — and in your fridge. They don’t require time-consuming assembling by employees, and they break down easily — you can fold them over multiple times until you have something compact enough to drop into your trash can.

Discussion questions:

  1. Define product design and explain its relationship to business strategy.
  2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the new box?
  3. Which other product(s) can you think of that are in need of a packaging innovation?
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