These are the questions a good Product Manager would answer as part of an analysis of whether a product should be introduced into their portfolio.
- What are the preliminary criteria that should be used to evaluate a new product idea before moving to the detailed evaluation phase?
- What is the strategic marketing matrix, and why should it be constructed before a decision is made to invest in a new product or service?
- What is the single most important product market success factor, and what studies support this factor?
- What are the other macro and micro success factors for developing successful new products?
- What are the four major competitive strategies, and when are they typically employed?
- What are the differences between an internally driven new product development process and an externally driven process?
- Why is it important to recognize the six “types” of value producing features and benefits of a product or service?
- Why is it much more difficult to identify the value producing market segments today, than it was twenty-five years ago?
- What are the information requirements, and major questions to be answered before a “precisely” targeted market segment can be identified?
- What is product positioning, and what is the goal of positioning?
- How can a product positioning strategy based on preemptive features and benefits impact sales?
- Why must advertising messages be “engineered,” and primarily reinforce a positioning strategy, and secondarily other promotional objectives?
- How does the price setting functions differ from all the other business functions performed, and what impact does it have on pricing analysis?
- What is pricing leverage and why is it important for particular types of products and/or businesses?
- What causes small changes in pricing to result in major changes in income, without large unit volume changes?
- What does it mean to determine a price based on a market segment, competitive and internal financial analysis?
- Why is it important to recognize the three or four price segments for each market segment, and what are the product developments and marketing programs available for counteracting the pricing resistance encountered?
- What is an economical and rational marketing research methodology?
- Why is gross margin a strong indication of competitive advantages, and what level of gross margin is normal for various types of businesses?
- What are the alternative actions available for correcting a declining gross margin and when should they be employed?
- What is the Profit Impact on Market Strategy (PIMS) Database, and what insights does it provide in terms of market share, products costs, and pricing strategies?
- Why is contribution margin important in respect to making price changes, and how is it used to ascertain the volume increases or decreases required after the price changes to maintain a certain level of profitability as well as “free” cash flow?
- What are the problems with standard costing systems that allocate manufacturing overhead based on labor hours, material costs or some other arbitrary measurements?
- What is Activity Based Costing and what are its advantages over standard costing systems, and why is it a valuable “tool” in terms of identifying the precise direct and indirect manufacturing costs of a product?
Make sure your MBA program answers these product questions.