In 1999, TiVo and Replay Networks introduced the first digital video recorders (DVR) to replace the video cassette recorder (VCR) and move television viewing into the digital age. Experts predicted fast household adoption based on the excitement the DVR had created in pre-launch market research. Almost a decade later, the promised DVR revolution is still waiting to happen.

The case describes the evolution, between the 1970s and the 1990s, of the new product development process in the Calor division of the French SEB group, a world leader in small household durables. Calor has tried out a wide range of different approaches to new product development, some highly successful, others less. Marketing domination of the process was not associated with success.