estimation of market potential for a product-essan industries (1)

7/29/2019 Estimation of Market Potential for a Product-Essan Industries (1)

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A Project on

Estimation of Market Potential for a Product

Dissertation Submitted To

Amity Global Business School,

Banjara Hills,

Hyderabad-500034.

In partial fulfillment of the degree of

Master of Business Administration

Submitted By:

Rahul Tibrewal

A30601911035

MBA Batch 2011-2013


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DECLARATION

I, Rahul Tibrewal student of MBA Semester III of Amity Global Business School,Hyderabad hereby declare that the project work presented in this report is my own work

and has been carried out under the supervision of Ms Sandya Rani.

My report is submitted as a part of study curriculum and as a partial fulfillment of the

degree of M.B.A. (Masters in Business Administration). I am also declaring that I am

submitting this report based on the learnings and practical experience at IDBI Life

Insurance Co Ltd, Hyderabad regarding Estimation of Market Potential for a

Product in the same organization.

I guarantee that this project report has not been submitted for the awards to any other

university for degree, diploma or any other such prizes.

Date: Rahul Tibrewal,

Place: E.No-A30601911035 SemIII,

AGBS, Hyderabad.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The joy of ingenuity!!! This is doubtlessly what this project is about. Before getting to brass

tacks of things. I would like to add a heartfelt word for the people who have helped me in

bringing out the creativeness of this project.

To commence with things I would like to take this opportunity to gratefully and humbly thank to

Sandya Rani, Project guide, Essen Industries pvt Ltd, Hyderabad for being appreciative enough

by giving me an opportunity to undertake this project in .

Respected guide Prof. Jayanthi Ramesh,Faculty, Amity Global Business School, Hyderabad

for his undeterred guidance for the completion of the report.

Rahul Tibrewal,

E.No-A30601911035, Sem III,

AGBS, Hyderabad.


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INDEX

CHAPTER NO. PARTICULARS PG.NO

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 5 - 13

CHAPTER 2 Review of Literature and

Research14 - 31

CHATER 3 Company profile 32 - 58

CHAPTER 4Data Analysis-And

Interpretation

59 - 75

CHAPTER 5Summary, Findings and

Suggestions76 - 78


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Chapter 1

Introduction


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Estimation of Market Potential for a Product

Estimating market size is normally conducted utilizing secondary sources in a quantitative

process to establish a market universe. Typical secondary sources might include census data,

publication circulation lists and sales/penetration data of comparables. Using this as a base, along

with a sales interval to estimate a rate of penetration.

One may then construct various scenarios based upon, assumptions of demand, distribution and

promotional strategies to estimate subsets of the total to represent sales potential (never to be

confused with market potential or a potential market).

As a further refinement, and to further direct your efforts and reduce risk, you then use surveyresearch to test the assumptions of your scenarios.

As an entrepreneur, your time is a very valuable asset.

It takes as much time and effort to build a business whether youre attacking a small market or a

big one. But the rewards for success in a big market are much greater, so it makes sense to attack

big markets. For the same reason; VCs are often very focused on market size. But there is a lot of

confusion about how to estimate market size. While you might play in a big industry, it is the

Total Addressable Market size (TAM) that is really important.

TAM is really a pretty simple conceptit is what your revenue would be if you had 100%

market share in your business.

Sizing the market is a necessary task for business and marketing planning, and budgeting for all

start-ups, especially those that seek third-party financing such as venture capital. Even though

their investment philosophies may differ, most VCs and angel investors would like to know thatthey are investing in a market with a large potential size (typically, at least $1 billion).

Even if you do not seek external financing, understanding your market potential is essential for a

range of different strategic decisions, in areas such as:


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Product development

Partnering and distribution

Organizational design and critical employee skills

Start-ups must also evaluate the size and nature of their market when arranging more tactical

issues such as selecting a bank, an accountant or legal representation.

Total addressable market (TAM), also called total available market, is a term that is typically

used to reference the revenue opportunity available for a product or service. TAM helps to

prioritize business opportunities by serving as a quick metric of the underlying potential of a

given opportunity.

One approach is to estimate how much of the market you can gain if there were no competitors.

A more encompassing variation is to estimate the market size that could theoretically be served

with a specific product or service. TAM can be defined as a global total (even if a specific

company could not reach some of it) or, more commonly, as a market that one specific company

could serve (within realistic expansion scenarios). This focuses strategic marketing and sales

efforts and addresses actual customer needs. Including competition and distribution issues then

modifies frames the strategy with realistic boundaries and allows gauging served market share

(SAM), the percentage of the market that is already being served (either by that company or all

providers).


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Define the target customer

Determine who your target customer is and create a profile of your typical/expected target

customer. It is critical to recognize that the target customer equals the person or company for

whom your technology solves a specific problem. Defining the target customer is an essential

task for all start-ups. (See the article entitled Target customer to review the key steps in making

this decision, including the creation of aday-in-the-life summary, to help you analyze the

nature of the customer problem you are solving.) Given the importance of defining your target

customer, it is crucial to set aside enough time to do a proper analysis of this first step.

Estimate the total number of target customers in the marketi.e., companies who have a profile

similar to that your target customer. You can use industry databases such as those offered by

Statistics Canada, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis or Hoovers to help you quantify your

market.

Computers, word-processing and internet: It is almost impossible today to operate a business in

the developed world without a computer that has word-processing capabilities and is connected

to the internet. While the penetration of those three technologies has not quite reached 100%, it is

close enough to use that assumption for business planning.

Estimate is an entrepreneur; your time is a very valuable asset.

It takes as much time and effort to build a business whether youre attacking a small market or a

big one. But the rewards for success in a big market are much greater, so it makes sense to attack

big markets.

For the same reason,VCs are often very focused on market size. But there is a lot of confusion

about how to estimate market size. While you might play in a big industry, it is the Total

Addressable Market size (TAM) that is really important.

TAM is really a pretty simple conceptit is what your revenue would be if you had 100%

market share in your business.


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Business intelligence systems: In theory, most companies would benefit from having a business

intelligence systema type of software that is used to manage and analyze data about finance,

sales, and marketing activities, in addition to more specialized purposes. In practice, however,

very few ventures have the combination of the scale, skills and business practices required to

make business intelligence systems a worthwhile investment. This limits the penetration rate to

very large organizations that make up maybe less than 1% of all businesses in the developed

world. Nevertheless, while 1% may not sound like a lot, it still represents a much larger number

of target customers than a start-up could effectively pursue.

While following these steps to estimate your market size (value) is by no means an exact science,

there are ways to maximize the effectiveness of this exercise:

At the time you make your first estimate, examine each assumption you make and what

would cause it to change. To factor in the risks of change, calculate best-case and worst-

case scenarios in addition to your expected scenario.

Over time, monitor the accuracy of your initial assumptions and whether you need to

modify them.

Case study: By studying publicly available sources, we have found out that in our target group

there are 1,300 hospitals in Canada and the United States.

We have analyzed patient-safety procedures in a few different hospitals and have determined that

our technology would generate the most value in the largest hospitals (the top 25%, ranked by

size).


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Determine the penetration rate

Refine your market size by assuming a penetration rate for your category of product. The

penetration rate is a function of the nature of your product. Assume a high penetration rate if

your category of product is mission- critical or mandated through regulation; assume a low

penetration rate for products with a specialized purpose.

Penetration ratesexamples:

Computers, word-processing and internet: It is almost impossible today to operate a

business in the developed world without a computer that has word-processing capabilities and is

connected to the internet. While the penetration of those three technologies has not quite reached

100%, it is close enough to use that assumption for business planning.

Business intelligence systems: In theory, most companies would benefit from having a

business intelligence systema type of software that is used to manage and analyze data about

finance, sales, and marketing activities, in addition to more specialized purposes. In practice,

however, very few ventures have the combination of the scale, skills and business practices

required to make business intelligence systems a worthwhile investment. This limits the

penetration rate to very large organizations that make up maybe less than 1% of all businesses in

the developed world. Nevertheless, while 1% may not sound like a lot, it still represents a much

larger number of target customers than a start-up could effectively pursue.

Case study: We have studied the factors that drive improvement in patient safety across North

America, and found that it depends on provincial and state regulations. Based on areas where

patient-safety regulations are strict, we can assume a penetration rate of 70% for our technology.


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Introduction to Study

As researchers in a rapidly changing environment, we are often faced with the challenge of

assessing the potential for a product or technology that is entirely new to the marketplace. In this

situation, traditional research techniques such as trend analysis and traditional concept tests mayfail.

2. The Problem Statement

a. In todays highly competitive and global environment, retention of the

product estimation has been considered as one of the most important while launching a

product.

b. A preplanned step is Estimation of Market Potential for Product promotions during global

recession.

3. Objectives of this Research: - The specific objectives are as follows:-

i. To Estimate of Market Potential for a Essen industries Product in Cement industry

Industry.

ii. To find out the challenges Essen products in industry.

iii) To Know the Different types of estimation of market potential for launching a product.

iv) The Primary objective is to analyze the changes of selected product before launching.

v) To study Consumer reasons and expectation of new product.

To study the measure for estimate market potential for a product.


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5. Scope of the study: -

The present study covers the different aspects of marketing strategies in cement industry. The

study is important in the global environment to find out the strategic marketing strategies

6. Limitation of the study:

a. The study and the research will be limited to the Hyderabad City only.

b. The research will be carry out the typical and special characteristics of the

Hyderabad Marketing.

7. The Methodology. The methodology which will be used for carrying out the report will be

used as follows:-

Research Synopsis of Group- 2

Types of Data Source.

For present research work, primary as well as secondary data will be used. Research will be

broadly classified into two sections. Various statistical tools will be used to suggest and analyse

the primary and secondary data.

Tools of collecting Primary Data: - The information will be collected directly from the

contractors builder, cement users

a. Questionnaire and Surveys: - This will include range of response questions,

close ended questions, providing limited answers to specific responses or on a

numeric scale.


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b.Interview: This will include people to interview, Develop the interview

questions including open-ended questions and close ended questions and

carefully eliminating leading questions.

C.Sample Size:- 100 users of Essen products,

e. Sampling Technique: - The study will be using Simple Random sampling.

All these data will help in formulating as very comprehensive case study. All

sample units will be personally contacted and interviewed. Tools of collecting Secondary Data: -

Various statistical tools will also be used to analyze the secondary data.

a. Document Review: - Obtaining the actual forms and operating documents currently being used.Reviews blank copies of forms and samples of actual completed forms.

b.Observation: - analyzing annual reports and press releases, verifying the

Statements made during the interviews.

c. Web Search: - The information related to outside region (other part of India and Globe) will

be studied from internet to other published papers.

d. Various policies from National organization will be dealt in details by referring various

government publications and reference book, journals, published data from time to time.

Research Synopsis of Group- 2

e. Research of journals, periodicals, technical materials, electronics/internet search,

Professionals meetings, seminars and discussions, site visits etc.

f. Sampling like records, reports, operational logs, data entry documents,

Complaints and various types of forms.


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Chapter 2:

Review of Literature and Research


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Product management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the

planning, forecasting, or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle.

The role consists of Product development and product marketing, which are different (yet

complementary) efforts, with the objective of maximizing sales revenues, market share, and

profit margins. The product manager is often responsible for analyzing market conditions and

defining features or functions of a product. The role of product management spans many

activities from strategic to tactical and varies based on the organizational structure of the

company. Product management can be a function separate on its own, or a member of marketing

or engineering.

While involved with the entire product lifecycle, the product management's main focus is on

driving new product development. According to the Product Development and Management

Association (PDMA), superior and differentiated new productsones that deliver unique

benefits and superior value to the customeris the number one driver of success and product

profitability.

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

shared by other roles. Frequently there is Profit and Loss (P&L) responsibility as a key metric forevaluating product manager performance. In some companies, the product management function

is the hub of many other activities around the product. In others, it is one of many things that

need to happen to bring a product to market and actively monitor and manage it in-market.

Product management often serves an inter-disciplinary role, bridging gaps within the company

between teams of different expertise, most notably between engineering-oriented teams and

commercially-oriented teams. For example, product managers often translate business objectives

set for a product by Marketing or Sales into engineering requirements. Conversely they may

work to explain the capabilities and limitations of the finished product back to Marketing and

Sales. Product Managers may also have one or more direct reports who manage operational tasks

and/or a Change Manager who can oversee new initiatives.


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Product Management can be defined as the process undertaken to manage a particular product

after it has been developed. Once the product is finalized it is imperative to administer it as well

as market it. Therefore the product manager has to take care of a number of responsibilities

which differ from that of a product marketer. The product manager is required to prepare a

product report by taking inputs from the sales or marketing personnel. AstroWix offers training

in product management teaching the important concepts needed to handle a product. Product

management course is equipped with all the information that a product manager should have

regarding establishing and maintaining a good market for the product. It is vital to learn the

techniques in order to attain a name for your company in the corporate world. This course not

only helps professionals to inculcate the important concepts but also adds to their existing skills

and making them competent product managers. A good product demonstrates the goodwill of the

company that is how good the company in terms of its reputation is. Good products raise the

standard of the company while bad products defame the company in the market.

A good product manager has a very crucial role to play as product management is a position that

holds many tasks starting from the inception to finalizing the product. It is an interesting concept

necessary for understanding the correct way of managing all kinds of tasks related to products

and ensuring a ready market for them. There is a set of rules that every manager needs to follow

in order to deliver his services with the right kind of approach. This will increase theeffectiveness and efficiency of product implementation and therefore will increase the chances of

success. In most organizations the product marketing managers take care of both product

management as well as marketing. It is important to learn about product management the right

way .These skills can be absorbed by enrolling for the product management course.

Product management is the activity undertaken to manage the products of a company throughout

its lifecycle. For being able to establish a good market for the manager needs to be vigilant in all

his endeavours like planning, development and marketing of products. This activity should

operate within the rules and regulations laid down by the organization. Undergoing product

management training will help organizations inculcate a sense of developing

products,establishing a good market for them and taking care of important decisions related to

the product. This concept is important because it provides training needed to develop products to

meet the market needs within the scope and capabilities of the company.The training at


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AstroWix is very well renowned to provide in depth knowledge on product management and

give a real world experience to the product management aspirants.

Service Product Management deals with managing a service product across its complete life

cycle.1This organizational function is equally common between Business-to-business as well

as Business-to-consumerbusinesses. A service product, unlike a hardware or software product, is

intangible and manifests itself as pure professional services or as a combination of services with

necessary software and/or hardware. The service product management practice ensures

management of a profitable service in the marketplace. Service Product manager identifies

profitable service space, packages services in a productized form and delivers the same to the

market. The function is a core service business management function and is a mix of sales and

marketing functions. The function interfaces with various organizational groups like Strategy,

Planning, Financial Controls /Management Accounting, Sales, Marketing Communications etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_product_management#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_product_management#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_product_management#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business-to-businesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Business-to-consumer&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Business-to-consumer&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business-to-businesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_product_management#cite_note-0


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Important functions of a Service Product Managment

Service Idea Generation/Management

The function deals with capturing market's unmet and/or under-served needs, filtering the ideas

based on business viability, business feasibility and potential, scalability, company strategy, and

capital rate of return considerations. The end result is a potential set of market feasibility and

market features captured in a marketing requirement document.

Service Product Creation

Potentially saleable service features The G3RBaL are captured and productized. That means

creation of necessary product documentation like executive materials, service product document,

technical services document, service scope etc.

Service Sales Support

Service product management supports service sales by providing accurate resource estimate and

in the right mix to provide an efficient product cost base on which to baseline the customer

pricing.

Demand Supply Planning

Services profitability management by supporting balance between service demand and supply of

necessary service resources.

Business Management System Support

Efficient management of service product cost and revenues according to service contract and

incurred costs. The same is generally needs a service product manager to provide product data

management for Enterprise resource planning systems.

Marketing and Market Communications

Industry event participation, press release, consensus building, delivering service messaging

through various available marketing channels.


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Knowledge Management

Manage the knowledge management process and best practices for the service.

Service Ramp Down

Manage the decision process of ramping down service product, and executing the service ramp

down thus ending the service product management process.

Product lifecycle management

In industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire

lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and

disposal. PLM integrates people, data, processes and business systems and provides a product

information backbone for companies and their extended enterprise.

PLM systems help organizations in coping with the increasing complexity and engineering

challenges of developing new products for the global competitive markets.

Product lifecycle management (PLM) should be distinguished from 'Product life cycle

management (marketing)' (PLCM). PLM describes the engineering aspect of a product, from

managing descriptions and properties of a product through its development and useful life;

whereas, PLCM refers to the commercial management of life of a product in the business market

with respect to costs and sales measures.

Product lifecycle management is one of the four cornerstones of a corporation's information

technology structure. All companies need to manage communications and information with their

customers (CRM-customer relationship management), their suppliers (SCM-supply chain

management), their resources within the enterprise (ERP-enterprise resource planning) and their

planning (SDLC-systems development life cycle). In addition, manufacturing engineering

companies must also develop, describe, manage and communicate information about their

products.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_life_cycle_management_(marketing)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_life_cycle_management_(marketing)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planninghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_development_life_cyclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_development_life_cyclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planninghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_life_cycle_management_(marketing)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_life_cycle_management_(marketing)


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One form of PLM is called people-centric PLM. While traditional PLM tools have been

deployed only on release or during the release phase, people-centric PLM targets the design

phase.

As of 2009, ICT development (EU-funded PROMISE project 20042008) has allowed PLM toextend beyond traditional PLM and integrate sensor data and real time 'lifecycle event data' into

PLM, as well as allowing this information to be made available to different players in the total

lifecycle of an individual product (closing the information loop). This has resulted in the

extension of PLM into closed-loop lifecycle management (CL2M).

Benefits

Documented benefits of product lifecycle management include:

Reduced time to market

Improved product quality

Reduced prototyping costs

More accurate and timely request for quote generation

Ability to quickly identify potential sales opportunities and revenue contributions

Savings through the re-use of original data

A frameworkfor product optimization Reduced waste

Savings through the complete integration of engineering workflows

Documentation that can assist in proving compliance forRoHS orTitle 21 CFR Part 11

Ability to provide contract manufacturers with access to a centralized product record

Areas of PLM

Within PLM there are five primary areas;

1. Systems engineering (SE)

2. Product and portfolio management (PPM)

3. Product design (CAx)

4. Manufacturing process management (MPM)

5. Product Data Management (PDM)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-loop_lifecycle_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_to_markethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototypinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_frameworkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoHShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_21_CFR_Part_11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_engineeringhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_portfolio_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_designhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_process_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Data_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Data_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_process_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_designhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_portfolio_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_engineeringhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_21_CFR_Part_11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoHShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_frameworkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototypinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_to_markethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-loop_lifecycle_management


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Systems engineering is focused on meeting all requirements, primary meeting customer needs,

and coordinating the systems design process by involving all relevant disciplines. Product and

portfolio management is focused on managing resource allocation, tracking progress vs. plan forprojects in the new product development projects that are in process (or in a holding status).

Portfolio management is a tool that assists management in tracking progress on new products and

making trade-off decisions when allocating scarce resources. Product data management is

focused on capturing and maintaining information on products and/or services through their

development and useful life.

Introduction to development process

The core of PLM (product lifecycle management) is in the creations and central management of

all product data and the technology used to access this information and knowledge. PLM as a

discipline emerged from tools such as CAD, CAM and PDM, but can be viewed as the

integration of these tools with methods, people and the processes through all stages of a

products life. It is not just about software technology but is also a business strategy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_designhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_manufacturinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_data_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plm1.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_data_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_manufacturinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_design


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For simplicity the stages described are shown in a traditional sequential engineering workflow.

The exact order of event and tasks will vary according to the product and industry in question but

the main processes are:

Conceive

Specification

Concept design

Design

Detailed design

Validation and analysis (simulation)

Tool design

Realize

Plan manufacturing

Manufacture

Build/Assemble

Test (quality check)

Service

Sell and deliver

Use

Maintain and support

Dispose

The major key point events are:

Order

Idea

Kick-off

Design freeze

Launch

The reality is however more complex, people and departments cannot perform their tasks in

isolation and one activity cannot simply finish and the next activity start. Design is an iterative
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specificationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quality_check&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maintenancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick-offhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Design_freeze&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Design_freeze&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick-offhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maintenancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quality_check&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specification


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process, often designs need to be modified due to manufacturing constraints or conflicting

requirements. Where a customer order fits into the time line depends on the industry type and

whether the products are for example, built to order, engineered to order, or assembled to order.

History

The inspiration for the burgeoning business process now known as PLM came from American

Motors Corporation (AMC). The automaker was looking for a way to speed up its product

development process to compete better against its larger competitors in 1985, according

to Franois Castaing, Vice President for Product Engineering and Development. After

introducing its compact Jeep Cherokee (XJ), the vehicle that launched the modern sport utility

vehicle (SUV) market, AMC began development of a new model, that later came out as the Jeep

Grand Cherokee. The first part in its quest for faster product development was computer-aideddesign (CAD) software system that make engineers more productive. The second part in this

effort was the new communication system that allowed conflicts to be resolved faster, as well as

reducing costly engineering changes because all drawings and documents were in a central

database. The product data management was so effective, that after AMC was purchased by

Chrysler, the system was expanded throughout the enterprise connecting everyone involved in

designing and building products. While an early adopterof PLM technology, Chrysler was able

to become the auto industry's lowest-cost producer, recording development costs that were half

of the industry average by the mid-1990s.

Phases of product lifecycle and corresponding technologies

Many software solutions have developed to organize and integrate the different phases of a

products lifecycle. PLM should not be seen as a single software product but a collection of

software tools and working methods integrated together to address either single stages of the

lifecycle or connect different tasks or manage the whole process. Some software providers cover

the whole PLM range while others a single niche application. Some applications can span manyfields of PLM with different modules within the same data model. An overview of the fields

within PLM is covered here. It should be noted however that the simple classifications do not

always fit exactly, many areas overlap and many software products cover more than one area or

do not fit easily into one category. It should also not be forgotten that one of the main goals of

PLM is to collect knowledge that can be reused for other projects and to coordinate simultaneous
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concurrent development of many products. It is about business processes, people and methods as

much as software application solutions. Although PLM is mainly associated with engineering

tasks it also involves marketing activities such as product portfolio management (PPM),

particularly with regards tonew product development (NPD). There are several life-cycle models

in industry to consider, but most are rather similar. What follows below is one possible life-cycle

model; while it emphasizes hardware-oriented products, similar phases would describe any form

of product or service, including non-technical or software-based products:

Phase 1: Conceive

Imagine, specify, plan, innovate

The first stage in idea is the definition of its requirements based on customer, company, market

and regulatory bodies viewpoints. From this specification of the products major technicalparameters can be defined. Parallel to the requirements specification the initial concept design

work is carried out defining the aesthetics of the product together with its main functional

aspects. For the industrial design, Styling, work many different media are used from pencil and

paper, clay models to 3D CAID computer-aided industrial designsoftware.

In some concepts, the investment of resources into research or analysis-of-options may be

included in the conception phasee.g. bringing the technology to a level of maturity sufficient

to move to the next phase. However, life-cycle engineering is iterative. It is always possible thatsomething doesn't work well in any phase enough to back up into a prior phaseperhaps all the

way back to conception or research. There are many examples to draw from.

Phase 2: Design

Describe, define, develop, test, analyze and validate

This is where the detailed design and development of the products form starts, progressing to

prototype testing, through pilot release to full product launch. It can also involve redesign and

ramp for improvement to existing products as well as planned obsolescence. The main tool used

for design and development is CAD. This can be simple 2D drawing / drafting or 3D parametric

feature based solid/surface modeling. Such software includes technology such as Hybrid

Modeling, Reverse Engineering, KBE (knowledge-based engineering), NDT (Nondestructive

testing), Assembly construction.
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This step covers many engineering disciplines including: mechanical, electrical, electronic,

software (embedded), and domain-specific, such as architectural, aerospace, automotive, ...

Along with the actual creation of geometry there is the analysis of the components and product

assemblies. Simulation, validation and optimization tasks are carried out using CAE (computer-

aided engineering) software either integrated in the CAD package or stand-alone. These are used

to perform tasks such as:- Stress analysis, FEA (finite element

analysis); kinematics; computational fluid dynamics (CFD); and mechanical event simulation

(MES). CAQ (computer-aided quality) is used for tasks such as Dimensionaltolerance

(engineering) analysis. Another task performed at this stage is the sourcing of bought out

components, possibly with the aid ofprocurement systems.

Phase 3: Realize

Manufacture, make, build, procure, produce, sell and deliver

Once the design of the products components is complete the method of manufacturing is

defined. This includes CAD tasks such as tool design; creation of CNC Machining instructions

for the products parts as well as tools to manufacture those parts, using integrated or separate

CAM computer-aided manufacturing software. This will also involve analysis tools for process

simulation for operations such as casting, molding, and die press forming. Once the

manufacturing method has been identified CPM comes into play. This involves CAPE

(computer-aided production engineering) or CAP/CAPP(production planning) tools for

carrying out factory, plant and facility layout and production simulation. For example: press-line

simulation; and industrial ergonomics; as well as tool selection management. Once components

are manufactured their geometrical form and size can be checked against the original CAD data

with the use of computer-aided inspection equipment and software. Parallel to the engineering

tasks, sales product configuration and marketing documentation work take place. This could

include transferring engineering data (geometry and part list data) to a web based sales

configurator and otherdesktop publishing systems.

Phase 4: Service

Use, operate, maintain, support, sustain, phase-out, retire, recycle and disposal

The final phase of the lifecycle involves managing of in service information. Providing

customers and service engineers with support information forrepair and maintenance, as well
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aswaste management/recycling information. This involves using tools such as Maintenance,

Repair and Operations Management (MRO) software.

There is an end-of-life to every product. Whether it be disposal or destruction of material objects

or information, this needs to be considered since it may not be free from ramifications.

All phases: product lifecycle

Communicate, manage and collaborate

None of the above phases can be seen in isolation. In reality a project does not run sequentially

or in isolation of other product development projects. Information is flowing between different

people and systems. A major part of PLM is the co-ordination and management of product

definition data. This includes managing engineering changes and release status of components;

configuration product variations; document management; planning project resources and

timescale and risk assessment.

For these tasks graphical, text and metadata such as product bills of materials (BOMs) needs to

be managed. At the engineering departments level this is the domain of PDM(product data

management) software, at the corporate level EDM (enterprise data management) software, these

two definitions tend to blur however but it is typical to see two or more data management

systems within an organization. These systems are also linked to other corporate systems such as

SCM, CRM, and ERP. Associated with these systems are project management Systems for

project/program planning.

This central role is covered by numerous collaborative product development tools which run

throughout the whole lifecycle and across organizations. This requires many technology tools in

the areas of conferencing, data sharing and data translation. The field being product

visualization which includes technologies such as DMU (digital mock-up), immersive virtual

digital prototyping (virtual reality), and photo-realistic imaging.

User skills

The broad array of solutions that make up the tools used within a PLM solution-set (e.g., CAD,

CAM, CAx...) were initially used by dedicated practitioners who invested time and effort to gain

the required skills. Designers and engineers worked wonders with CAD systems, manufacturing

engineers became highly skilled CAM users while analysts, administrators and managers fully
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mastered their support technologies. However, achieving the full advantages of PLM requires the

participation of many people of various skills from throughout an extended enterprise, each

requiring the ability to access and operate on the inputs and output of other participants.

Despite the increased ease of use of PLM tools, cross-training all personnel on the entire PLMtool-set have not proven to be practical. Now, however, advances are being made to address ease

of use for all participants within the PLM arena. One such advance is the availability of role

specific user interfaces. Through tailorable UIs, the commands that are presented to users are

appropriate to their function and expertise.

These techniques include:-

Concurrent engineering workflow

Industrial design

Bottomup design

Topdown design

Front-loading design workflow

Design in context

Modular design

NPD new product development

DFSS design for Six Sigma

DFMA design for manufacture / assembly

Digital simulation engineering

Requirement-driven design

Specification-managed validation

Configuration management

Concurrent engineering workflow

Concurrent engineering(British English: simultaneous engineering) is a workflow that,

instead of working sequentially through stages, carries out a number of tasks in parallel. For

example: starting tool design as soon as the detailed design has started, and before the detailed
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designs of the product are finished; or starting on detail design solid models before the concept

design surfaces models are complete. Although this does not necessarily reduce the amount of

manpower required for a project, as more changes are required due to the incomplete and

changing information, it does drastically reduce lead times and thus time to market. Feature-

based CAD systems have for many years allowed the simultaneous work on 3D solid model and

the 2D drawing by means of two separate files, with the drawing looking at the data in the

model; when the model changes the drawing will associatively update. Some CAD packages also

allow associative copying of geometry between files. This allows, for example, the copying of a

part design into the files used by the tooling designer. The manufacturing engineer can then start

work on tools before the final design freeze; when a design changes size or shape the tool

geometry will then update. Concurrent engineering also has the added benefit of providing better

and more immediate communication between departments, reducing the chance of costly, late

design changes. It adopts a problem prevention method as compared to the problem solving and

re-designing method of traditional sequential engineering.

Bottomup design

Bottomup design (CAD-centric) occurs where the definition of 3D models of a product startswith the construction of individual components. These are then virtually brought together in sub-

assemblies of more than one level until the full product is digitally defined. This is sometimes

known as the review structure showing what the product will look like. The BOM contains all of

the physical (solid) components; it may (but not also) contain other items required for the final

product BOM such as paint, glue, oil and other materials commonly described as 'bulk items'.

Bulk items typically have mass and quantities but are not usually modelled with geometry.

Bottomup design tends to focus on the capabilities of available real-world physical technology,implementing those solutions which this technology is most suited to. When these bottomup

solutions have real-world value, bottomup design can be much more efficient than topdown

design. The risk of bottomup design is that it very efficiently provides solutions to low-value

problems. The focus of bottomup design is "what can we most efficiently do with this


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technology?" rather than the focus of topdown which is "What is the most valuable thing to

do?"

Topdown design

Topdown design is focused on high-level functional requirements, with relatively less focus on

existing implementation technology. A top level spec is decomposed into lower and lower level

structures and specifications, until the physical implementation layer is reached. The risk of a

topdown design is that it will not take advantage of the most efficient applications of current

physical technology, especially with respect to hardware implementation. Topdown design

sometimes results in excessive layers of lower-level abstraction and inefficient performance

when the Topdown model has followed an abstraction path which does not efficiently fitavailable physical-level technology. The positive value of topdown design is that it preserves a

focus on the optimum solution requirements.

A part-centric topdown design may eliminate some of the risks of topdown design. This starts

with a layout model, often a simple 2D sketch defining basic sizes and some major defining

parameters. Industrial design brings creative ideas to product development. Geometry from this

is associatively copied down to the next level, which represents different subsystems of the

product. The geometry in the sub-systems is then used to define more detail in levels below.Depending on the complexity of the product, a number of levels of this assembly are created

until the basic definition of components can be identified, such as position and principal

dimensions. This information is then associatively copied to component files. In these files the

components are detailed; this is where the classic bottomup assembly starts.

The topdown assembly is sometime known as a control structure. If a single file is used to

define the layout and parameters for the review structure it is often known as a skeleton file.

Defense engineering traditionally develops the product structure from the top down. The system

engineering process12prescribes a functional decomposition of requirements and then physical

allocation of product structure to the functions. This top down approach would normally have

lower levels of the product structure developed from CAD data as a bottomup structure or

design.
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Both-ends-against-the-middle design

Both-ends-against-the-middle (BEATM) design is a design process that endeavors to combine

the best features of topdown design, and bottomup design into one process. A BEATM design

process flow may begin with an emergent technology which suggests solutions which may havevalue, or it may begin with a topdown view of an important problem which needs a solution. In

either case the key attribute of BEATM design methodology is to immediately focus at both ends

of the design process flow: a topdown view of the solution requirements, and a bottomup view

of the available technology which may offer promise of an efficient solution. The BEATM

design process proceeds from both ends in search of an optimum merging somewhere between

the topdown requirements, and bottomup efficient implementation. In this fashion, BEATM

has been shown to genuinely offer the best of both methodologies. Indeed some of the best

success stories from either topdown or bottomup have been successful because of an intuitive,

yet unconscious use of the BEATM methodology. When employed consciously, BEATM offers

even more powerful advantages.

Front loading design and workflow

Front loading is taking topdown design to the next stage. The complete control structure and

review structure, as well as downstream data such as drawings, tooling development and CAMmodels, are constructed before the product has been defined or a project kick-off has been

authorized. These assemblies of files constitute a template from which a family of products can

be constructed. When the decision has been made to go with a new product, the parameters of

the product are entered into the template model and all the associated data is updated. Obviously

predefined associative models will not be able to predict all possibilities and will require

additional work. The main principle is that a lot of the experimental/investigative work has

already been completed. A lot of knowledge is built into these templates to be reused on new

products. This does require additional resources up front but can drastically reduce the time

between project kick-off and launch. Such methods do however require organizational changes,

as considerable engineering efforts are moved into offline development departments. It can be

seen as an analogy to creating a concept car to test new technology for future products, but in

this case the work is directly used for the next product generation.


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Design in context

Individual components cannot be constructed in isolation. CAD and CaiD models of components

are designed within the context of part or all of the product being developed. This is achieved

using assembly modeling techniques. Other components geometry can be seen and referenced

within the CAD tool being used. The other components within the sub-assembly may or may not

have been constructed in the same system, their geometry being translated from

other CPD formats. Some assembly checking such as DMU is also carried out using product

visualization software.

Product and process lifecycle management (PPLM)

Product and process lifecycle management (PPLM) is an alternate genre of PLM in which the

process by which the product is made is just as important as the product itself. Typically, this is

the life sciences and advanced specialty chemicals markets. The process behind the manufacture

of a given compound is a key element of the regulatory filing for a new drug application. As

such, PPLM seeks to manage information around the development of the process in a similar

fashion that baseline PLM talks about managing information around development of the product.


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Chapter 3:

Company profile


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Essen Industries Pvt.Ltd. has years of experience managing business processes for four of the top

ten global pharmaceutical companies, and delivering substantial business impact. Essen

Industries provides a diverse portfolio of the following services:

Finance and accounting

Procurement and supply chain

Analytics

E-Learning

Re-engineering

Essen Industries Pvt.Ltd. not only smoothly runs transactional finance and accounting processes,

we also provide high-end planning and reporting support. We develop creative e-learning

solutions to impact operational efficiency and the learning curve of the back-office teams. Essen

Industries helps its pharmaceutical clients gain control over their supply chain costs by providingtransactional procurement services remotely. We also provide analytical support that aids the

sales teams in assessing the market trends and features on an ongoing basis, while maximizing

their efforts to boost their touch-points in the market. Our unique re-engineering team analyzes

customer processes/data and recommends ways to transform them leading to impact on cycle

times, inventory, resource requirements, working capital, etc.

Essen Industries Pvt.Ltd. state-of-the-art managed operations, global networks, troubleshooting

solutions and cutting edge technology enable highly reliable operations at a reduced cost,

allowing us to reinvest the saved capital in our product development and marketing efforts.


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Synergies Driven By BPO and ITO Integration Benefits

Our ability to integrate technology and process expertise enables us to act rapidly at a reduced

total cost of ownership to our clients. We provide the following unique advantages to our

customers by leveraging the BPO and IT synergies:

Solutions reflecting standardization of process for shared services; one team bringing an

end-user perspective to solution design

Design, data validation, building and testing of the solution for the desired end result Zero loss of knowledge in operations with continuous participation in the design,

validation and adoption of the new solution

Accelerate time to market; improve cycle time for rolling-in and managing change

Decrease cost of ITO integration by reducing total software issues and identifying them

earlier in the process

Reduce total cost of ownership (BPO and IT) through lower IT maintenance and inherent

functionality that enables process standardization

Reposition and realign knowledge sharing, which enables and empowers all resources to

better understand and deliver business objectives.


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Resource Management System

Resource Management System tracks and enhances utilization of resources, software and

hardware. It also assists in the allocation of works to the resources. We can identify the training

requirements, assess productivity, provide basis for estimation.

Resource Management Features:

Tracking of

o Productivity

o Schedule Adherence

o Effort Estimation

o Resource Utilization - Hardware, Software and Human Resources

o Leave Management

o Deployment Reports

o Project Based

o Resource Based

o Software Based

o Time Based

Here are my thoughts on the state of product management in India

Firstly, there is greater awareness about the role of product management across a wide varietyof companies and how it can help them. Emergence of a number of a companies that provide

training on the role of product management based on well known methodologies/frameworks

has helped.

Companies that are derive majority of their revenues from services are beginning to explore

new opportunities to grow as their customers demand greater value for lesser price. As they


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explore opportunities to create new products or productize services they are beginning to

create a product management function.

Companies that focused on building products are realizing the benefits of product

management in scaling product revenues (making the transition from projects to products)

- Some multinationals who have explored having product managers in India have tasted success.

This has resulted in creation of more positions in Indiafor products that are targeted at the

global market.

- More companies have realized the size of the India market for a variety of products are

addressing them in a structured manner (driven by product managers). However, that said a

number of product managers are defining products for a global market and not just India. Most

products today will have to compete globally; it would mean that product managers will have to

travel to markets that they target. That is true for a product manager sitting out of North

America for example, unless that constitutes 90% of the market.

- Academic institutions (like IIM-B) and companies (like Yahoo!) are helping product managers

to network and create associations


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It has been 20 years since I left India as a young graduate. Indian software industry was unheard

of at that time or was in its infancy. But since then, India has become the global powerhouse in

software services. Initially, the industry grew mainly through outsourced projects for clients in

the United States. Big powerhouses such as Infosys and Wipro grew to what are now worldwide

brands. Then, over the years, as companies worldwide realized the talent available in India,

multi-national companies started arriving in droves. Microsoft, Intel, IBM, GE, Google, you

name it, started opening development offices in India.

But, will India be a one trick pony in softwaredelivering just services? This has been a

common topic during dinner discussions with my friends as to whether Indian software industry

will ever see product companies emerge that will become as well known as Infosys or Wipro.

There have been some successes such as Zoho whose entire development group is based in

Chennai. Then there is Tally that owns the ERP market in India. I have always wondered as to

the state of product management in India. It was refreshing to see an Indian product management

forum emerge on LinkedIn where very engaging discussions are now taking place.

Then, a few weeks back Pinkesh Shah, CEO of a Bangalore based company called Adaptive

Marketing reached out to me. Pinkesh was former VP of Product Management for McAFee here

is the US and had now moved back to India. Pinkesh has now set up a product management

training and consultancy company in India. Adaptive has also published the first product

management and marketing surveyyou can download the report for free. The survey has veryuseful information that is worth reading both for product companies in India (local or MNCs) or

for those here in the US that are thinking of establishing offices in India.

The big question is what will product managers in India dowould they be working on products

for the Indian market? Or for the Far East or Middle East that are all experiencing explosive

growths? This would make logical sense given the proximity of Indian software product

managers to these markets and also given their knowledge of the cultures in that part of the

world compared to those of us in the Western World. One of the interesting tidbits I found in the

report was how even professionals in the IT services companies were performing some of the

product management tasks such as requirements management and competitive analysis under the

titles of Business Analysts, Client Engagement Managers and Business Development Managers.

What do you think? I would love to hear from my blog readers based in India on their take on the

state of product management in India.
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There is a buzz. Quite recently. Which means that it isnt old enough to sink in the minds of

people and the system here in India. I neednt go back far and glean to figure out what was the

state of affairs of product management in Indian IT segment. Four years back there wasnt a

thing called Product Management here sparing few companies which had this function being

operated in a captive environment, mostly all if not sparing few tasks being directly controlled

by offshore offices, whether in US or in Europe.

I wouldnt be able to comment on other segments like automobile or pharmaceutics but have a

hunch backed with few feedbacks that things were no different either for them either.

Most of the products that we developed, tested and packed partially or wholly in India were

predominantly used by offshore customers. PMs co-located there had constant first level

dialogues with their vast customer base there and the factory stakeholders here in India. Whenthe product portfolio became larger and complimentary products started to overlay as a result of

concentration, or probably something drastically different, there was a need to shoot of some of

the inbound activities to next best place in the world, naturally India as of now, considering the

costs (it might not be the case in a decades time>.

Initially there were prefix based PM titles that we could see, Technical-PM being the most

commonly heard. Then there were Design-PM, User Experience-PM and most lately,

Commercial-Product Manager.

Requirements gathering, Converting PRD into a SFC/Design Spec, working with Pjt Mgmt to

assess the cost/resource and delivery time-frames, training the support on new feature/featurettes

etc where few common tasks among the rest. Where the product is successful in generating

revenue or not, adapted to the intended customer base or not, sufficiently differentiated with

competitor products or not, these consequences where not tied up to the Indian Product

Managers performance in the past or may be until recently with few of them. May be there

were not the ones who gathered critical inputs from customer base, not the ones who did market

research or analysis, not the ones who had a word on who should consist in a survey group. Nor

did anyone appraise them about the challenges in some accounts, heavy competitive presence, or

tackling a problem with channel sales in any of regions. But sure did they exchanged umpteen

number of e-mails with the core architects, QA Design teams and technical specialists. No one

did care much about what should be pricing/positioning. Nobody did write value propositions

much. And whether there should be a different pricing approach for the same product or


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complex solution in other parts of the world than US, and if yes what should be the approach,

are all prices malleable here etc where never discussed. Yeah, few of these discussions might be

spurting among few product managers based out of India. And they might have started to

experience the complexity of the function, and those financial targets that recently got tied-up to

their tagless performance goals until recently. I am yet to get to be one of a global product

manager or yet to come across one to have a thorough discussion on that context. But I am

hopeful and betting my time and money in that pursuit as well .


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As much as we may focus on the role of Product Managers in building great products, its

equally important to focus on the role Product Management plays with other groups in the

company and top-line revenue overall. This was underscored recently when a friend told me

about something that happened earlier this year at her company.

A classic Product Management mistake

She works in a company with a number of products and product lines. During a reorg last year,

one of their product linesan older mature onewas left without direct Product Management

oversight. Very little new product development was being done on it and the executives decided

that Product Management should focus on newer products where more R&D focus was required.

Additionally, it was believed that the sales force knew how to sell that mature productitvirtually sells itself(famous last words IMHO) was one line she said that was used to justify the

lack of PM focus.

About 9 months later, it turned out that sales of that older product line had fallen significantly.

After an internal debrief to understand why, it turned out that the lack of any Product

Management focus had some other unintended implications in other parts of the company.

1. Sales and Marketing took it that the legacy product was no longer important and didnt warrant

focus.2. There was no one to call during tricky sales situations so deals were delayed or lost

3. No product management = no roadmap. What were they supposed to tell prospects who asked?

4. No one to coordinate marketing activities with, which led to reduced lead generation overall

5. No Product Managers were monitoring the declining funnel and sales activity so no early

warning of trouble to come

The net result was a downward spiral and a real impact on the companys top line due to the

revenue drop of the product that virtually sells itself.


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This happened to me

Ive seen this pattern myself in one of my earliest Product Management positions over a decade

ago. And the reasons for the decline were almost identical. At that company, when Management

decided not to replace me when I moved to another (newer) product line, I asked an

executive the following (rhetorical) question:

Either I did such a great job that this product can function without me, or I added absolutely

zero value, so theres no value in replacing me. Which one is it?

He smiled and said,You know itsneither one of those reasons.I knew it wasnt, but I had to

ask, because any other reason was going to be bad for the product. Keep in mind, when sales has

more than one product to sell and marketing has more than one product to market, and there are

no per product sales or lead gen quotas to meet, the logical behavior is to focus on whatisperceivedto be important.

This should be a stark reminder for any company that views Product Management as strictly, or

primarily, an engineering or pure product development focused role.

Product Management has both direct and indirect influence on the business success of products

and removing all product management oversight on a revenue generating product (even if it

islegacy or mature) is going to negatively impact your business very quickly.

Dont believe me? Move all product managers away from one your mature products and wait a

few quarters. I dare you.

Many of the day-to-day challenges executing product, marketing and sales initiatives are directly

related to the approach organizations use to form their product strategies. A simple change in the

approach to product strategy yields significant improvements in the day-to-day execution of

product, marketing and sales activities.

To reap the benefits of improved execution there are two fundamental elements of strategy to

consider. One requires a downsized approach while the other requires a super-sized definition.

1. Downsize your approach from multiple product strategies to a single overarching strategy for

your entire portfolio.

2. Then super-size your definition of strategy beyond R&D investments and include marketing,

positioning and sales components.


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The results improve execution on two fronts. First, your marketing and sales teams become

highly proficient at positioning, differentiating and selling high-value solutions that reflect

capabilities of your entire suite of existing products and services. This translates into more

revenue from existing products and greater impact on short term revenue goals by simply

articulating and demonstrating a stronger value story.

Meanwhile, product teams operate with the focus of a single overarching strategy and a single set

of priorities that greatly improve utilization of R&D resources and dont limit the size and scope

of market opportunities to individual products. A single portfolio strategy gives product teams a

wider market lens to uncover bigger and broader market needs that are more valuable to buyers

and the entire portfolio of products and services at their disposal to address those needs with

greater impact.

Use the following guidelines to put the two elements of your strategy in place.

Short Term Revenue Focus via Marketing & Sales Execution

Build the marketing and sales component of your strategy by answering the following who,

what, why and how questions. Then utilize the collective capabilities of all products in your

portfolio to ensure youre positioning existing solutions with maximum value and impact.

Who (target market segments) values our strengths most?

What are their most critical needs/challenges we currently address?

Why are our solutions unique or more valuable than the competition?

How do our solutions advance the strategies of organizations in these markets?

Longer Term Growth Focus via High-Value Product Solutions

Build the product component of your strategy by answering the following who, what, why

and how questions. Utilize the collective capabilities of all products in your portfolio to deliver

solutions with maximum value and impact and build new products where necessary to strengthen

or differentiate your solutions.

Who (target market segments) will value our strengths most over the next 1-3 years?

What are their most critical needs/challenges were capable of addressing?

Why will our solutions be unique or more valuable than the competition?

How will these solutions advance the strategies of organizations in these markets?


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In some form or fashion, most organizations answer these questions, but theyre doing it for each

product. And thats where execution problems begin. When you multiply the number of

products by the number of short and long term opportunities for each, then attempt to collate that

enormous matrix into strategic plans let alone a series of resourced projects, it creates many

internal and often invisible tug-of-war battles for resources, influence and mindshare that impede

execution on all fronts.

Result: its difficult for an organization to establish market momentum or market leadership in

any area of competency when it spreads its resources too thin pursuing opportunities that go in

too many directions.

Superior execution in product, marketing and sales disciplines is paramount to market

leadership. The lynchpin to out-executing your competition may lie in a single market andportfolio strategy that elevates the who, what, why and howquestions to a level thats most

valuable to the organization. Products are the means to the end.


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In 7 years of Product Management Ive been lucky enough to start managing a new product at

least 4 times. But many times, the product was new only for me, (i.e. not a new product at all), so

getting on track and delivering what was expected was NOT always easy.

Whether or not you are familiar with the product and the market, I find the following actionshelpful to start the challenge and increase chances of success:

#1 Know your marketyou can learn all about the product later

Although it is great to have a clear vision of where you want the product to be, DO NOT start

your new role by deciding what extra features to add if you havent investigated your market,

competitors and customers problems thoroughly.

It is tempting to start inwards and read all product documentation, talk to designers/engineers,

sales teams, learn about the products history and quickly immerse yourself into the daily urgent

problem solving matters, without giving you time to understand your customers pain points.

Take the time to learn from the relevant market intelligence information you have access to, read

all the research done in the past and decide what sort of periodic customer insights reports you

want to look at.

Learn about your industry trends and competitors and find your products sweet spot without

learning all the internal details. Im confident youll probably come up with a non-biased value

proposition that will help you think externally (i.e. customer/market oriented) and have a better

estimate of the real market opportunity for your product.

After youve acquired a comfortable level of market and customer knowledge youll look at the

internal product information with different eyes.

#2 Audit your Product start building a healthy relationship with your internal stakeholders

Learning about your product status is paramount to understand what your next steps are. So

where do you start the audit? Even if you are not a Product Marketing Manager, auditing the

marketing mix will help you organize the audit.

The variables I recommend you look into are:

1. Customer Dowe know who our potential and current customers are? Do we know their real

problems? What is the buying process? Who is the decision maker?


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2. Product:Whats the product value proposition? What are the products strengths,

opportunities, weaknesses and threats (SWOT)? Is our product documentation in place? What

are our products metrics and how often are they monitored?

Price: Are we selling what was expected? Whats the product contribution to margin? Are we

gaining as much market share as we need to? Is our price right?

3. Promotion Do we need a promotion to increase product trials? Are our promotions having the

desired effect? How do we generate leads and what is the conversion rate?

4. Communications To whom are we communicating our products benefits? Is it to the right

potential customers? How good is our Product Collateral (printed, internal and external sites)?

How communication works with our key stake holders (is everybody getting the information

they need)? Do we have a proper way for customers to communicate with us?

5. Channels Are we using the right channel to engage our customers? Do they have the

information/preparation they need? Are they selling what they are supposed to? Is their

commission structured properly? Do we need a new partner to reach our target market?

6. Processes What are the products sale and post sales processes? Do we have a proper customer

support/feedback process in place? How do we address to angry customers? What do we do

with products feedback from potential and current customers? Do we follow products

performance?

7. Appearance Do our products packaging, forms, web, and brand help deliver our productsvalue proposition?

8. People Is the organizational structure optimal to product success?

In the process of answering the previous questions youll have the chance to identify your key

internal stakeholders and start building a relationship with them. Also take into account their

opinions to improve product performance as they will become your internal allies.

#3 Negotiate your Successbased on your outward and inward investigation

Now that youve gathered all relevant information and identified what are the main areas you

need to work on, manage success with your peers and superiors by showing your discoveries.

You will be in a better position to commit to the expected sales targets if you know the areas that

need i

estimation of market potential for a product-essan industries (1)

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