New programs are the lifeblood of an organization. In innovative organizations, 30-40% of revenues are derived from products and services introduced during the past three years. An effective product development process focuses inside the system to deliver reliability and continuous improvement. It also focuses outside the system to imagine and create breakthrough products and services

EAI has adopted the portfolio analysis model developed by the Boston Consulting Group to evaluate association programs.

• What to invest in?
  • Stars represent what you can be the "best in the world" doing.
  • Stars also include programs where you are clearly number one and the market is growing faster than 10%.
• What to sustain?
  • Cash cows are an important steady revenue source.
• What to explore?
  • Question marks represent programs where you may be able to establish a leadership position.
• What to phase out?
  • Programs with slow market growth and a small market share should be dropped to increase capacity for developing new products and services.