MBA 657

Product Management

Marketing Department Home Page Courses

Course Overview

MBA 657, Product Management, introduces advanced concepts of product management strategy. Specifically considered are the development and implementation of marketing plans for new and established products. The course materials cover a full spectrum of topics, including "Future Trends in Product Management", "Management Skills for New, Existing, and Dying Products", "Developing an Analytical Tool Kit","Positioning, Forecasting, Developing New Products", "New Product Design", "Product Management Carreer Paths and Pitfalls along the Way", "Pricing and Promoting Products".

Product Management broadens and deepens the first year MBA marketing preparation by treating market strategy, planning, and analysis in the context of managing new and existing products.

Learning Objectives

The course has three major objectives:

  1. To gain a fundamental knowledge of product strategy development, planning and market analysis necessary for effective product management.
  2. To develop a toolkit of market analysis skills for solving market analysis and strategy problems encountered for newly developed and existing products.
  3. To engage in product management activities in a project setting , emphasizing the same market measurement, market analysis, market forecasting, pricing, promotion, distribution, and product development decisions required of a product manager.
Instructional Format

The instructional format is a mixture of lecture/class discussions, cases and problem sets.

  1. Lectures/class discussions: These will be based on the assigned reading material for that session.
  2. The term project
  3. Cases/Problem sets: Eight Harvard Case studies are analyzed, each focusing focusing on the topics identified above in the course overview. The problem assignments and cases are used to integrate and reinforce the topic material, and to polish problem solving skills.
Learning Materials
  1. Building Strong Brands, David Aaker, Free Press, 1996 (Quick read, share)
  2. Cases in Product Management, John A. Quelch, Irwin, 1995




Weekly Schedule Topic / Assignment

1 Jan 6-8,13-15 Product Management, Developing a Business Plan
Product Strategy and Planning; Brand Equity: Concept and Assessment; Video: Product Management, Pizza Hut Style
Assignment: Aaker Ch. 1,2,3,4; Case: General Foods Corp: Product Management System

2 Jan 22 Means-End Analysis; Discussion and Mini-Project #1

3 Jan 27-29 Strategy and Planning Concepts;
Successful Product Development; Perceived Quality, Positioning Decisions;
Assignment: Case: Yoplait (A)

4 Feb 3-5 Product Objectives, Developing Criteria, Perceptual Maps, Joint Spaces
Designing the Offer; Brand Associations: Positioning Decisions Finding Value in New Product Ideas;
Assignment: Perceived Quality Aaker Ch 5,6; Case: Procter and Gamble (A); Mini-Project #2 Perceptual Maps

5 Feb 10,12,18,19 Consumer Judgement, Utility Curves, Forecasting, Elasticon Pricing & Conjoint Analysis
Illustrative Offer Development; Selecting, Creating & Maintaining Associations.
Assignment: Aaker Ch. 7; Case: Clark Equipment: Midterm Exam

6 Feb 24-26 Concept Statements,Test Design, Questions, Analysis
Testing Value: Concept & Product Testing; Name Symbol and Slogan; Introducing a New Product (Video)
Assignment: Aaker Ch. 8; Mini-Project #3: Outline and Conduct a Focus Group Analysis;

7 Mar 3 -5 Trial, Repeat, Preference, Pretest Models
Pretest Market Models and Test Markets
Assignment: Yoplait (B) Read case for class discussion on BASES

8 Mar 10 - 12 Promotion, Pull-Push Communications
Planning Product Introduction
Assignment: Case: Procter and Gamble (B)

9 Mar 17 - 19 Modeling Brand Awareness, Distribution, Retention, Switchback, Market Segments, Sensitivity Analysis; Multi-period Planning & Budget Models
Assignment: Brand Extensions Aaker Ch. 9 Case: Beacham Products

10 Mar 24 - 26 Short Term Plans: Established Products, Mktg Mix Planning and Budgeting Models
Assignment: Revitalizing the Brand Aaker Ch. 10; Case: General Foods: Local Marketing

11 Mar 31-Apr 2 Advanced Topics in Market Measurement and Analysis;
Assignment: Run Analyses for Market Analysis Techniques: Cluster Analysis, Factor Analysis, Discriminant Analysis

12 Apr 7 - 9 - 14 Term Project Team Presentations