Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic

Marketing: A

Global−Managerial

Approach, 14/e

10. Product Management
    and New−Product
    Development

Text © The McGraw−Hill

Companies, 2002

296 Chapter 10

Putting a product on the market is expensive. Manufacturing or service facilities

have to be set up. Goods have to be produced to fill the channels of distribution,

or people must be hired and trained to provide services. Further, introductory pro-

motion is costly—especially if the company is

entering a very competitive market.

Because of the size of the job, some firms intro-

duce their products city by city or region by

region—in a gradual “rollout”—until they have

complete market coverage. Sprint used this

approach in introducing its broadband wireless

service that included a rooftop transmission device.

Detroit, Phoenix, and San Francisco were targeted

first. Rollouts also permit more market testing—

although that is not their purpose. Rather, the

purpose is to do a good job implementing the mar-

keting plan. But marketing managers also need to

pay close attention to control—to ensure that the

implementation effort is working and that the

strategy is on target.

Firms often take apart
competitors’ products to look for
ideas that they can apply or
adapt in their own products.

New-Product Development: A Total Company Effort

Top-level support
is vital

We’ve been discussing the steps in a logical, new-product development process.

However, as shown in Exhibit 10-6, many factors can impact the success of the effort.

Companies that are particularly successful at developing new goods and services

seem to have one trait in common: enthusiastic top-management support for new-

product development. New products tend to upset old routines that managers of

established products often try in subtle but effective ways to maintain. So someone

with top-level support, and authority to get things done, needs to be responsible for

new-product development.^32