Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
What is Product ?
- A product is anything that can offered to market
for attention, acquisition, use, consumption that
might satisfy a want or need.
- A product can be a service or an item. Every
product is made at cost, and each is sold at a price.
- The price that can be charged depends on the
market, the quality, the marketing and the segment
that is targeted.
Product Management
• Product management is a process that focuses on
bringing a new product to market or developing
an existing one.
• Product management unites business, product
development, marketing, and sales. • Product
management is an organizational life cycle
function within a company dealing with the
planning or marketing of a product or products at
all stages of the product life cycle.
• Product Management Process starts with the
type of company one works for.
Aspects of Product Management
- Depending on the company size and history,
product management has a variety of functions
and roles. Sometimes there is a product manager,
and sometimes the role of product manager is held
by others.
Product Manager
• Product manager is the person responsible for
defining the why, when and what of the product .
• Product managers provide the deep product
expertise needed to lead the organization and
make strategic product decisions.
• A product manager has to make sure that all
members of a team work harmoniously to achieve
the main goal.
• This person is also responsible for the outcome
of a product launch.
Role Of Product Manager
• Product managers are responsible for guiding the
success of a product and leading the
cross-functional team that is responsible for
improving it.
• It is an important organizational role —
especially in technology companies — that sets
the strategy, roadmap, and feature definition for a
product or product line.
• Product managers provide the deep product
expertise needed to lead the organization and
make strategic product decisions.
 • A well-defined hierarchy within the product
management system will develop. (refer to the
hierarchy structure)
• Key roles are assigned to assistant and associate
product managers.
• Assistant PM - market & share
forecasting, budgeting, coordinating with
production, executing promotion,
packaging, etc.
• Associate PM – more freedom to develop
A PRODUCT MANAGER’S POTENTIAL brand extension.
INTERACTIONS
Advantages:
- Locus of responsibility is clear.
- PM’s training and experience - develop the
ability to work with other areas in organization.
- Advocate for the product.
- Fast response to customer request.
- Focus on customer –modification/elimination of
a product.
- Resource & knowledge sharing – easier to get
the PM to pull in together.
- Work well for ‘system’ or bundle sale – different
PRODUCT VS GENERAL MARKETING
segment with different strategy or tactic.
MANAGEMENT

Disadvantages:
- Focus on one product.
- Centralized structure.
- Too myopic – focus on ST sales & market share
goals (increase in sales promotion).
- Potential conflict within the product
management structure – different internal system
to serve different segments
- Less sharing of resources across division.

Lead to the “death of the product manager

system” and widespread burnout among them.

This burnout are:

• focus on short term - stifles innovation
• an explosion of marketing data leading into
information overloads,
• corporate downsizing; and
PRODUCT-FOCUSED ORGANIZATIONS
• more responsibility and pressure with less
• Used where different products use the same
autonomy.
channel distribution.
• Product Manager acts as a “mini-CEO” by
taking responsibility for the overall health of the
brand.
MARKETING ORGANIZATION
FUNCTIONALLY - FOCUSED
ORGANIZATIONS
FUNCTIONALLY-FOCUSED
ORGANIZATIONS
• Align the company by marketing functions.
• No single person is responsible for the
day-to-day health of a product.
• CEO and VP make marketing strategy decisions.
• Strategies are implemented through discussion
and coordination among the functional areas.
• Works well when the company is producing only
two products.
Advantages:
- Administrative simple – the groups are designed
to be parallel to normal marketing activities.
- Well-coordinated.
Disadvantages:
- Who is ultimately responsible for the product?
- Substantial time in solving problems.
- Focused only on functional development.
CRITICAL SKILLS OF PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
Negotiation
• Product manager must be persuasive and able to
influence the management
Teamwork
• Product manager must synthesize information
from a variety departments. Communication
skills
• Product manager communicates the
product/brand to internal and external parties.
Analytical ability
• Product manager needs to analyze and interpret
all the figures such as sales targets, share vs
competitions, etc.
CHANGES AFFECTING PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
The web
• New channel distribution, communication
medium,& creating a community around a brand.
• customer acquisition and retention.
• part of the brand building and will affect many
facets of the product manager’s job.
The data explosion
• Increase the use of IT – effective marketing
today requires today sophisticated information
management.
• For consumer goods better time for market
shares, sales and distribution.
• Laptop computer guide transmission of
competitor information
• Use of ‘data mining’ software and traffic data.
The increased emphasis on brands
• Brand is the greatest assets of a company.
• Focus on brand equity.
Changes in the balance of market power
• Involvement in IT partners between
manufacturers and sellers both has equal access to
sales and market share data.
• The balance power in distribution channels has
shifted from the manufacturer to retailer.
• Consumers & retailers hold bigger marker
power.
Increased importance of customer retention
programs
• Company focus on the
lifetime-value-of-a-customer concept.
• Customer services and satisfaction programs,
advertising and promotion programs. Increased
global competition
• Not appropriate organization structure .
• Obtain experience & knowledge about how a
variety of cultures conduct business.
• Forming trade blocks (Eg: European Union,
South America, economy free – trade zone)
CHAPTER 2: MARKETING PLANNING
MARKETING PLANNING
- A systematic process that involves assessing
marketing opportunities and resources,
determining marketing objectives, and developing
thorough plans for implementation and controls.
MARKETING PLAN
- is a written document containing for the business
center’s marketing programs and allocations over
the planning period.
HIERARCHY OF PLANNING
THE OBJECTIVES OF A MARKETING
PLAN CAN BE STATED CONCISELY AS
FOLLOWS:
FREQUENT MISTAKES IN THE
PLANNING PROCESS
1. The Speed of the Process: Rushing through
the planning process or taking too long, both of
which can lead to missed opportunities or
outdated plans.
2. The Amount of Data Collected: Collecting too
much data can be as problematic as collecting too
little, leading to analysis paralysis or insufficient
information for decision-making.
3. Who Does the Planning: If the wrong people
are involved in the planning process, it can result
in plans that are out of touch with reality or lack
necessary insights.
4. The Structure: A poorly structured plan can be
difficult to follow or implement, leading to
confusion and inefficiency.
5. Length of the Plan: Plans that are too long and
detailed can be overwhelming and impractical,
while too short plans may lack essential
information.
6. Frequency of Planning: Planning too
frequently can lead to burnout and a lack of focus
on execution, whereas infrequent planning can
result in missed opportunities for adjustment.
7. Number of Courses of Action Considered:
Considering too few alternatives can limit
potential outcomes, while too many can cause
decision-making paralysis.
8. Who Sees the Plan: Restricting access to the
plan can hinder buy-in and collaboration, while
too wide a distribution can dilute its focus and
purpose.
9. Not using the Plan as a Sales Document:
Failing to leverage the plan to communicate value
and strategy to stakeholders, missing out on
alignment and support.
10. Insufficient Senior Management
Leadership: Lack of leadership commitment can
result in a lack of direction, resources, and
motivation to follow through with the plan.
11. Not Tying Compensation to Successful
Planning Efforts: Without incentives linked to
planning success, there is little motivation for
individuals to invest in the planning process or its
outcomes.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD PLANNING
SYSTEM: SOME EMPIRICAL RESULTS
1. Utilizes experience from several managerial
levels rather than just from product managers.
Particularly in organizations in which senior
marketing managers have risen through the ranks,
consideration knowledge exists of past successful
and unsuccessful product marketing strategies.
2. Employs a variety of both internal and external
sources of information rather than just internal
information.
3. Extends over a period sufficient to collect and
analyze the data necessary for developing the
marketing strategies. 4. Employs a number of
incentives for the product managers in addition to
employment security or advancement.
APPROACHES TO PLANNING
Two General Approaches in Planning
TOP-DOWN PLANNING
- the marketing plans are formulated by either
senior or middle management with the aid of staff
and product management and then implemented
by the latter.
BOTTOM-UP PLANNING
- the lower ranks down to field salespeople are
actively involved in the planning process through
collecting competitors and customer information
and making forecasts.
THE PLANNING PROCESS
MARKETING PLANNING SEQUENCE
STEPS IN PLANNING PROCESS
Step 1: Update the facts about the past.
- Data collected for marketing planning
purposes are often provisional or
estimated.
Step 2: Collect background data.
- Data collection focuses on information
available about the current situation, which
forms the situation analysis part of the
plan.
Step 3: Analyze historical and background
data.
- Analyze the existing data to forecast
competitors’ actions, the behavior of
customers, economic conditions, and so
forth.
Step 4: Develop objectives, strategies, and
action programs.
- Use the implications drawn from the
background data (see step 3) to formulate
objectives, strategies, and marketing mix
decisions.
Step 5: Develop pro forma financial statements.
- Develop pro formula financial statements.
- Such statements typically include
budgets and profit-and-loss figures.
Step 6: Negotiate.
- Rarely, if ever, is the marketing plan
generated from steps 1 to 5 implemented
without several rounds of negotiations
with senior management.
Step 7: Measure progress.
- To correct the plan if the environment
changes within the planning period,
progress towards stated objectives must be
monitored.
Step 8: Audit.
- After planning period, it is customary to
determine variances of planned versus
actual results and sources of the variances.
COMPONENTS OF THE MARKETING
PLAN
Marketing Plan Summary