Course Description:

Analyzes the process, organizational interaction, and strategic concepts that govern the development of new products and services. Involves the formation of rough ideas through market and financial analysis for the development and marketing of a product. Topics also include strategies and tactics for managing products over the entire life cycle.

Objectives:

This marketing course is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of the job of the “typical” product manager in marketing consumer and business-to-business goods and services. While the specific duties of a product manager vary considerably across industries and companies, the course focuses on four major activities common to the

position: 1) analysis of market information, 2) developing a product strategy, 3) programming the strategy, and 4) implementation.

As might be surmised from the variety of activities covered by the course, a successful product manager has a broadly-based set of skills. Thus, key concepts will be drawn from a variety of areas including marketing strategy, buyer behavior, marketing research, and quantitative methods.

Tentative Schedule BA 444/544 Product Policy

4/1/19 Introduction and course overview                 5/8/19 Ch 9 New Products

4/3/19 Ch 1 Intro to Product Management               5/13/19 Ch 10 Pricing Decisions

4/8/19 Ch 2 Marketing Planning                                  5/15/19 Test 2 Ch 6-10

4/10/19 Ch 3 Defining the Competitive Set               5/20/19 Ch 11 Advertising Decisions

4/15/19 Ch 4 Category Attractiveness                       5/22/19 Ch 12 Promotion

4/17/19 Ch 5 Competitor Analysis                              5/27/19 Memorial Day Holiday (No Class)

4/22/19 Test 1 Ch 1-5                                                    5/29/19 Ch 13 Channel Management

4/24/19 Research Day (no class)                                 6/3/19 Ch 14 Service and Direct Marketing

4/29/19 Ch 6 Customer Analysis                                 6/5/19 Ch 15 Financial Analysis

5/1/19 Ch 7 Market Potential/Forecasting

5/6/19 Ch 8 Developing Product Strategy

Guidelines for Product Alerts:

Product alerts are written to keep upper management informed about developments in the market that may have an impact on your firm’s performance. For purposes of this assignment you are required to focus on one narrowly defined product/industry category that exists in publicly traded company, trading on one of the US stock exchanges. All 15 of your product alerts must deal with the same industry/product category. During the course of the term you will write 15 product alerts that deal with a product related development that you feel upper management should be aware of. These product alerts will be written in the form of a MEMO to the instructor. You should include a number of different topics in your collection of product alerts such as: NEW PRODUCT INTRODUCTION, PRODUCT BEING DISCONTINUED, LINE EXETENTION, MAJOR STRATEGY CHANGES, MERGES, ACQUISITION AND COMPANIES WHO ARE EXITING THE MARKET — NO MORE THAN 5 OF YOUR 15 PRODUCT ALERTS CAN BE ABOUT NEW PRODUCTS OR LINE EXTENSIONS OF EXISTING PRODUCTS. The sources you use should be CURRENT (published within the last 6 months). Your sources should be credible, we are interested in facts NOT rumors! Each update will be graded separately as each is submitted.

Sample Product Alert: (Follow this format exactly)

Product Alert 7

To: Joe

From: Joe Student – Product Manager Harris/Galante Hip System

Subject: Orthopaedic Surgeons Rethinking Age Ranges for Total Hip Replacement.

Article Summary:

Orthopaedic surgeons are rethinking traditional wisdom about who is and who isn’t a good candidate for total hip replacement surgery (THR), a procedure that replaces the bones of the hip with an artificial joint.

Once reserved primarily for patients over the age of 60, the surgery offers a more desirable option for younger patients with disabling arthritis than previously believed, John J. Callaghan, MD, reported at the 69th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).

Only 5-10% of the 150,000-200,000 total hip replacements performed each year are in patients under the age of 50.

That could change, said Callaghan, professor and Lawrence and Marilyn Door Chair of the department of orthopaedics at the University of Iowa. Anyone under 60 with severe arthritis can be a candidate for THR if he or she is willing to make some lifestyle changes.

That means making lifestyle changes, including a shift to more moderate activity – hiking, biking and doubles tennis rather than jogging and high-impact aerobics.

According to the results of a University of Iowa study of 70 patients presented by Callaghan at the AAOS meeting, the prostheses of 65% of patients who underwent THR before the age of 50, remained intact 25 years later.

Recommendation for Action:

If the average age for THR continues to decline, firms in our industry may have to take another look at promotional materials used in pull marketing. Currently these advertisements feature elderly patients in rather sedate settings. We might be wise to revamp materials to also include patients in younger age groups.

I own 107 shares of ZMH. The current value is $ 10,091

Source: Orthopaedics Today (2014). New Age Ranges for Hip Replacement. March 13 2014 pp 17-21.