Product Planning

1. Product Planning Chapter 4

2. Opportunity Identification • Four general sources for opportunities • Underused resources – excess production capacities • New resources – new skills or technologies, or corporate acquisitions • External mandate – government regulations, industry standards, changing consumer needs • Internal mandate – upper management wants to make a change in direction

3. Breakdown Structures • A way to conceive opportunities • Top-down segmentation approach • Market segments are identified with key criteria • Size – big enough to be worth pursuing • Identification - able to recognize and describe • Access – feasible to contact segment efficiently • Different response – respond uniquely to different marketing mix elements • Coherence – homogeneous members of the segment • Stability – segment won’t change drastically in near term

4. Options for Segmentation • Demographic elements – age, gender, ethnicity, education, income, etc. • B2B demographic elements – age of business, type of product, revenue, number of employees • Psychographic – lifestyle and personality • Geographic – where are people located • Benefit – what benefits are provided • Usage – how is the product being used

5. Product Development Charter • Identifies sets of permissions the product development members have • General statement identifying what the specific product development initiatives are and what guidelines need to be followed

6. Elements of a Product Development Charter • Four major sections • Background – rationale for the product development initiative • Arena – core competencies of the company that come into play with this initiative • Objectives and goals – broad statements, not specific targets (generally) • Special guidelines – any extra information that is pertinent, key success factors, etc.

7. Screening Product Development Charters • Management needs to pick the best alternatives (charters) for further development • Two major categories of criteria • Market-related • Technology-related