Product management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning, forecasting, and production, or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle.
Why do we need product management?
• A product has a life cycle of its own.
• It starts out with its launch.
• It grows, stabilizes and sometimes dies or may be re-incarnated through a re-launch program, revised design or total renewal under the same name.
• The PLC is usually seen as the inverse bathtub curve.
The product manager is responsible for all product related actions.
Design specification, feature availability, branding, package, promotion etc. along with launches and discontinuations of products or product lines.
Process of Product Management
Generating, analyzing, organizing, planning, implementing and controlling the organization’s existing and new product efforts so as to satisfy the needs and wants of chosen customer segments, while satisfying organizational objectives is called product management process.
This definition summaries in the following ways:
• The management process of generation, analysis, organization, planning, implementing and control .
• The focus on both existing and new products .
• Objectives, efforts and marketing concepts should be plan and manage to satisfy the needs and wants of selected market segment.
• Marketing concepts also do work simultaneous to firm’s own objectives.
The product management process has following steps:
1. Specifying the relevant decision. Ex: a packaging plan would involve decision about package , type of material in the package, size , label etc. and also define bundle of physical services.
2. Identify and quantify the criteria for evaluating product decisions or brand or product performance . Ex: profitability, sales growth, market share etc.
3. Identifying the factors that affect the decisions. Like: consumer( need and want their surrounding atmosphere), the competitors( strength weaknesses), the environmental factors and firm’s own objective and resources.
The effect of the decision on the other marketing variables.
The effect of the decision on the other management functions.
Ex: price, current product responsibilities, policy, distribution, product positioning, product market.
• The effect of the decision on the marketing system. Ex: finance, accounting, personnel, top management, production etc.
