Urea-molasses mineral block: it's time to make a decision
Authors: Dardak Rozhan Abu , Quoquab Farzana 
Published: April 2015

Subject area
New product development (NPD), entrepreneurship and strategic management.

Study level/applicability
Advanced undergraduate, MBA/MSc in Marketing and Management course that cover the topics on NPD.

Case overview
This case illustrates that commercialization of a new product requires a proper strategic direction to make it a reality. The case fact is positioned in livestock feed industry centered on commercialization of a newly developed urea-molasses mineral block (UMMB) or called Nutriblock. Dr Wan, a Senior Principal Research Officer of Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), developed food supplement for ruminants which contained urea, molasses, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Dr Wan believed that the UMMB was a better quality food supplement compared to products in the markets because it contained 12 raw feed ingredients and an anthelmintic medication. After almost 10 years of research, in 2003, Dr Wan completed his research and, thus, wanted to get a suitable way to commercialize this product. He had two options: commercializing the technology through licensing of intellectual property right (IPR), or to transfer it as a public domain. The Business Development Unit(BDU) was responsible for the former option, whereas Centre for Promotion and Technology Transfer (CPPT) was in charge for the latter. At the beginning of2006, MARDI decided to commercialize the Nutriblock through licensing the IPR to March Avenue Technology Sendirian Berhad (March Avenue), a newly formed company. March Avenue was formed byKarthiir, a lawyer and Ma Irwan, an electrical engineer. The operation was going smoothly for the first two years. However, problem started in 2008 when Karthiir left the company due to some disagreement with Ma Irwan. Since then, March Avenue failed to achieve its sales target that seriously affected its profit level. Moreover, it suffered from internal management problem. The company finally closed down at the end of 2009. By this four year of operation, March Avenue failed to pay any royalty to MARDI. This circumstance forced Dr Wan to think seriously about his next move regarding choosing the right way of commercializing his Nutriblock. MARDI requested him to give his opinion by January 15, 2010 about whether to give another chance to BDU to commercialize this technology through IPR or to go for public domain under CPPT?

Expected learning outcomes
Using this case, students can learn that new product development and its commercialization requires proper strategic directions. It illustrates the importance of managing the commercialization of a new product effectively. NPD involves many stages, and it is important to manage every stage properly. This is because a “high-quality product” and/or a “new to the market” product are not enough to succeed in the market. In other words, producing a “product that meets market needs” must be combined with appropriate strategies.

Supplementary materials
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