Republic of the Philippines

CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY NAIC

(Formerly CAVITE COLLEGE OF FISHERIES)
Bucana Malaki, Naic, Cavite
www.cvsu-naic.edu.ph

Management Department
Bachelor of Science in Business Management
MKTG 60 – PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
BSBM Second Year

MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

(WEEK 2 – 3)

Lesson 1: Product Management vs. General Marketing Management

Lesson 2: Marketing Organization
Lesson 3: Critical Skills in Product Management
Lesson 4: Challenges Affecting Product Management

Prepared by:

JULHMA P. FERNANDEZ
Instructor 1

Reviewed by:

PETER DANIEL Z. DIAZ RHONALYN C. PAPA

Chairperson, Management Department BSBM Program Coordinator

Noted by:

MAT M. NUESTRO
Director, Curriculum and Instruction
 PREFACE

This module aims to analyze product management typically deals with all of the end-to-end
aspects of a product or product line including product profitability, the role may be split with
closely related functions Product marketing, program management and project
management.

This provides the students with the importance of product management principles. They will
learn to analyze the business environment for strategic direction. They will prepare
operational plan. They will innovate ideas based on emerging industry. They will manage a
strategic business unit for economic sustainability. Also they will conduct business research
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Author, Julhma P. Fernandez, is a part-time faculty member of the Management

Department of Cavite State University Naic. She finished Master in Business Administration
in Philippine Christian University and completed academic requirements in Doctor of
Philosophy in Business Management. She owned and manage different businesses in
Japan.

She is currently residing at Dasmariñas City.

 MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT

This course will introduce students to the principles of

product management.

What should you know?

This module is written for you to;

 Understand the principles of product management;

 Outline the role of a product manager;
 Discuss the different approach of product management via the organizational
structure;
 Highlight the skills needed in managing a product; and
 Discuss the challenges facing product management

Instruction to learners:_________
1. The learner is advised to answer the pre-test to determine how much is already
known by the learner about the topic and the post-test to find out how far the learner
learned from the module.
2. Make sure to read the lecture notes thoroughly and jot down unfamiliar terms and
take time to research its definitions by any means possible.
3. You may also be asked to watch video clips related to certain topics so please be
mindful of footnotes regarding the links to such learning materials.
4. The answered pre-test and post-test (Activity 2) should be submitted on or before
March 12, 2022

LESSON 1
 Product management vs general marketing
management

How much do you know?

PRE-TEST
Identify at least 5 products needing innovation
1. Water faucet
2. Wi-Fi router
3. Ladies napkins
4. Notebook
5. Cooler

What will you do?

Read the Information very well then find

out how much you can remember

Product management can be defined as the general business structure

within a company that supports and manages all
the activities related to developing, marketing and
selling a product – or even more than one – all
through its lifecycle. It’s usually a role inside the
Development department.

What do you need to you know?

Product manager
 The planning activities related to the management of product(s) or product line.
o Analyzing the market & turning this information into marketing objectives &
strategies for the product.
 Obtaining organizational support for the marketing plan.
o Involve coordinating with other areas of the firm.
o Involve in internal marketing of the product – obtain assistance & support of
more senior managers in the firm.
 Analyzing potential partner relationship for the product.

 A Product manager’s potential interactions

Product Management vs General Marketing Management

 LESSON 2
Marketing organization
 Marketing Organization
Product-Focused Organizations

Head of
company/division

Corporate
Manufacturing Marketing Finance
communications

Marketing Product
Support
research management

Manager of Manager of Manager of

product A product B product C

Product-Focused Organizations
Used where different products use the same channel distribution.

Product Manager acts as a “mini-CEO” by taking responsibility for the overall health of
the brand.

A well-defined hierarchy within the product management system will developed. (refer to
the hierarchy structure)

Key roles are assigned to assistant and associate product managers

Assistant PM - market & share forecasting, budgeting, coordinating with

production, executing promotion, packaging, etc.
 Associate PM – more freedom to develop brand extension.

Advantages:

 Focus of responsibility is clear.

 PM’s training and experience - develop the ability to work with other areas in
organization.
 Advocate for the product.
 Fast response to customer request.

Disadvantages:

 Focus on one product.

 Centralized structure.
 Too myopic – focus on ST sales & market share goals (increase in sales promotion).
 Inefficient use of marketing funds – family brand such as “Kraft”.

Lead to the “death of the product manager system” and widespread burnout among them.

This burnout are:

 focus on short term - stifles innovation

 an explosion of marketing data leading into information overloads,
 corporate downsizing; and
 more responsibility and pressure with less autonomy.

Marketing organization market-focused organizations

Marketing organization market-focused organizations
Defines marketing authority by market segment(s).

Useful when there are differences in buyer behavior – different marketing strategies and
tactics are used.

Example – banks define their segment into corporate vs consumer business (customer size).

Advantages:

 Focus on customer – modification/elimination of a product.

 Resource & knowledge sharing – easier to get the PM to pull together.
 Work well for ‘system’ or bundle sale – different segment with different
strategy or tactic.
Disadvantages:

 Potential conflict within the product management structure – different internal

system to serve different segments.
 Less sharing of resources across division.

Marketing organization functionally-focused organizations

Functionally-focused organizations
Align the company by marketing functions.

No single person is responsible for the day-to-day health of a product.

CEO and VP make marketing strategy decisions.

Strategies are implemented through discussion and coordination among the functional
areas.

Works well when the company is producing only two products.

Advantages:
 Administrative simple – the groups are designed to be parallel to normal
marketing activities.
 Specialization.
 Well-coordinated.

Disadvantages:
 Who is ultimately responsible for the product?
 Substantial time in solving problems.
 Focused only on functional development.

LESSON 3
CRITICAL SKILLS OF
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
Critical Skills of Product Management
Negotiation
Product manager must be persuasive & able to influence the management.

Teamwork
Product manager must synthesize information from a variety departments.

Communication skills
Product manager communicates the product/brand to internal & external parties.

Analytical ability
Product manager needs to analyze & interpret all the figures such as sales targets, share vs
competition, e.g.

LESSON 4
Challenges affecting product
management

Challenges affecting product management

The web
  New channel distribution, communication medium, & creating a community
around a brand.
 customer acquisition and retention.
 part of the brand building and will affect many facets of the product manager’s
job.

The data explosion

 Increase the use of IT - effective marketing today requires sophisticated
information management.
 For consumer goods better time for market shares, sales and distribution.
(Eg: Scanner ).
 Laptop computer guide transmission of competitor information.
 Use of “data mining’ software and traffic data.

The increased emphasis on brands

 Brand is the greatest assets of a company.
 Focus on brand equity.

Challenges in the balance of market power

 Involvement in IT partners between manufacturers and sellers both has equal
access to sales and market share data.
 The balance power in distribution channels has shifted from the manufacturer
to retailer.
 Consumers & retailers hold bigger marker power.

Increased importance of customer retention programs

 Company focus on the lifetime-value-of-a-customer concept.
 Customer services and satisfaction programs, advertising and promotion
programs.

Increased global competition

 Not appropriate organization structure .
 Obtain experience & knowledge about how a variety of cultures conduct
business.
 Forming trade blocks (Eg: European Union, South America, economy free –
trade zone).

How Do You Apply What You Have Learned?

Show that you learned something by doing this activity

ACTIVITY 2
 How Well Did You Perform?

Kindly watch the link below and write a 3-5 sentences reaction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUOC-Y0f5ZQ

“What do Managers do?”

This video made me realize how difficult the work of a product manager is. It has a lot of
grey area that many people are unaware, which leads to the product manager's role being
underestimated. This understanding makes me appreciate our product managers even
more, as they're the ones that work constantly to balance the user experience, the
technology to be utilized, and the business. Without product managers, the creation of goods
will constantly fail and generate disorder due to unbalanced aspects that make the products
successful.

What’s next?

Kindly watch the video by visiting the link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XH36bZd3Cc

REFERENCES

 Crawford, M e.al (2015). New Products Management. 11th Edition. McGraw –

Hill Education
 Kotler, P. et al (2014). Marketing Management. 15th Edition. Pearson
 Medina, R.G. (2012). Principles of Marketing. Revised Edition. Published by
Rex Bookstore