Tom Peters was recently interviewed by the managing editor of Planning Review and, during that interview, made several comments relevant to new products today. First, he stressed that many firms have forgotten the need to think strategically. That is, they may spend time planning but not creating new strategy. We've got corporations today that are lean and mean but not heading anywhere in particular because they haven't done enough stargazing. He said that Michael Porter put it this way: getting rid of the fat just puts you in a position to do something.PepsiCo is a classic case of a firm that is constantly reinventing itself--they've broken the firm into bits and pieces and have youngish men and women running each one independently. There are no cash cows being milked. The CEO doesn't try to make the strategy; the business managers do. No cookie cutter styles--CEOs create opportunity, that's all.Peters feels the CEO is the chief marketer, unless pieces of the business are broken off, in which case their general managers become chief marketers by setting up marketing teams, several people, to do the creating and stimulating required.Reengineering is a particular concern, because it can become just a search for efficiency. Every operation runs the same way; every product has the same character. There isn't must time left for strategic thinking and turning the firm inside out if management is preoccupied with scraping the plaque out of their veins. The really vital issue for business is to invent new products and services, to create new businesses, and to hire talented people. Make jobs, not destroy jobs.Regarding relationship marketing (or one-on-one marketing, database style) Peters is supportive but surprised that so many firms forget something--you can focus on one customer or not, but the product offered to that customer had better be interesting! He cites Baxter as a firm that overoriented to distribution and logistics, to the point where they let their basic product franchises atrophy. Reinvestment and R&D are now producing products that are worth distributing.However close you are to your customer in relationships, we don't get interesting products by asking them what they want--find what they don't know they need. The best always surprises, so build a surprise factory and stand back.