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Semester �Spring 2011�

�Marketing Management (MKT501)�
Assignment No. 02 Marks: 20
bc070401882
�Case Study�
Star Electronics is established in 2009. It�s a newly established
company for electronic
products. The company starts its business very well. The first two
products they launch are
LCD TV and DVD PLAYER. These products are very successful.
Company earns a good profit
from these two products. These products give tough time to the
rivals. The company focuses
only these two products through out the year. Because of delivering
rapid design, production
and distribution, the company going towards growth in a very short
span of time.The
competition is increasing day by day and consumers are focusing on
better product which is
less costly and has more features. The company is well equipped
with the latest machinery
and technology. Combining technology and design to achieve
innovative solutions that offer
maximum comfort and total satisfaction to the customers. It also
consists of good
professional team. The company also takes a close eye on research
and development.
Another aspect of their success is that they not only validate and
verify its products, but it
develops them in harmony with the requirements to fulfill a
consistent and
pervasivedevelopment strategy that plugs its main principles. The
top management of the
company now thinks to make another product (Refrigerator). There
is already high
competition for this product. Many companies produce this product
now a days.

Question # 1:
As a marketing manager, what are the external factors you should
consider in order to make
this product successful in the market? (10 Marks)

Solution
Whether launching a new product or a major new version of an existing product, the
biggest
factors determining success actually take shape way before the product gets launched. As
with
any product in a market, to find big success (or any success at all), a number of things
must all
happen right and come together on launch day:
1. The tproduct must meet a marke ts needs better than the
competition and customer
alternatives (your product strategy needs to be right)
2. The product must be taken to market through high-volume, competitive
routes to market
(you need a viable, volume go-to-market strategy and ability to execute in a way that
drives sales
 growth fast)
3. The product must be rock-solid, high-quality and actually deliver the
value promised so
customers actually get the benefits theyre seeking (and that were selling to them). This is
ye
critical and must actually be verified with early customer testing and validation (and the
product
doesen
nt e t ship until i ts actually ready, regardless of the schedule).
4. The pre-launch market conditioning must create enough awareness and
zbuzz� with both
prospective customers and sales channels that this new product is coming to enable the
product
tof gain enough early mindshare and traction that leads to both actual proof and social
proo
f f
that the product is ready for the market. To grow beyond the initial launch, the product
must be
proven to meet mainstream customer needs (mainstream customers are notoriously risk-
averse,
so they want to see other companies like them have already taken the risk and proven the
product
in their environment before using it).
5. The go-to-market engine must buy into the product early and
allocate resources to it
(e.g., sales force for directly sold product, resellers/affiliates for indirect sales must
choose to
invest) and sales absolutely must have early success at selling the
product. If the product
nisntn t really ready for prime time i ts dead (the sales force probably won t touch it again for
a
long time, if ever, and bad news travels fast). And get this, because it�s super-critical. If
the
product doesnt convert better than what the reseller/affiliate is already selling today, its
nt
also
ndead (they wont waste anymore of their precious time on your new thingy, and will go
right
back to selling what already works for them and makes them the most money today).
Sales
people
d are coin operated and their behavior and decision-making responds directly to
what
nmakes them the most money the quickest (and most of them couldnt care less about your
product).
When a product team gets all 5 of the above things right, the product is often a rapid,
even
amazing, meteoric success. Of course, it�s really hard to get all of these things right the
first
time, which is why startups, and even established companies, often struggle and fail with
new
products.
One of the biggest obstacles to getting all of these success factors aligned together is
often the
fault e gof senior management a lack of patience and proper planning tends to rush the
eproduct team, causing them to take risky shortcuts. Weve all heard the old adage that
�time is
ymoney, and these days management is under extreme pressure to increase sales, profits
and
meet their growth targets and to do it fast.
Unfortunately, this time pressure often translates to being unreasonably impatient for both
ngrowth and profits. I like one of Clayton Christensens sayings, which applies here: Be
impatient for profits, and patient for growth�.
tThis y means its fine to be in a hurry to get to market and begin your learning journey
with
something new, but if you rush to get to market too quickly, be aware that your product
may well
not hit the market�s needs properly the first time out, so if you find yourself in this
situation,
keep d your costs low and avoid going broad and trying to hit a home run too early (or
uyoull
burn u your customers and sales channel and have to start over or worse, youre project
will get
cancelled altogether and your world will change overnight not a lot of fun).
uYoure often better off holding back on a broad market assault (and full launch) and
instead
ufocus on a smaller portion of the market first, and ensure youre product is ready and
capable of
market
y success. This is called a learning journey because you must learn about what the
market really needs and what must be done to your product to make it capable of being
more
broadly applicable. In 21st century Internet-based product launches, we call this the
�prelaunch
ephase�
In a product launch sense, this learning process can also often be accomplished with
some good
gbeta testing�, where you get early customer feedback and ensure you fully understand
customer
needs (and they understand your product and want it) before attempting to launch the
product broadly.
Inserting one or more early test cycles into the development/release/sales cycle takes time
and
flys directly in the face of an executive whos in a hurry so its very tempting to thrust past
oyt
validating the product�s readiness for market.
Unfortunately, I have seen this fiasco unfold firsthand far too many times in my career.
And
anytime a product is taken to market prematurely, everyone loses customers, the product
team,
sales and the sponsoring executive (who may get fired, reassigned or demoted). Avoiding
this
one rush to market� pitfall involves patience, diligence and a willingness to face the
facts and
deal with them as they arise, only choosing to release that product when the market has
told you
tiys ready�.
ty
Customers will definitely let you know when youre product is ready. Theyll start driving
uy
you
to hurry up and make that product available for them to use in their business. This is the
�go
signal youre looking for to know for certain the product is ready. Youll also have early
luu
(and
real) customer testimonials about the product and this proof goes a long way to comfort
everyone that the product is ready for serious consideration.
Whatever approach you decide to take (faster to market / narrower market focus vs.
slower to
market / broader market focus), you need to be deliberate with your strategy, and your
management team need to all fully understand and agree on the strategy, objectives and
level of
patience required to be successful.
It�s taken me decades of failures, mediocre successes and (a few) big home runs to
realize that
etheres no shortcut to new product success. One thing that really excites me about
launching
yproducts in todays global, Internet environment is that we now have the ability to
accelerate the
learning journey and product validation cycle greatly through building small, focused
communities of customers around our products BEFORE we launch them, enabling us to
see
those
s go/no-go signals efficiently and faster than ever

I hope these five new product launch success factors and insights are helpful and save
you some
time, grief and improve your odds of new product launch success either in producing a
great
unew product, if youre a product vendor, or in evaluating new products and choosing the
right
uones to go with in your business, if youre a customer.
Question # 2:
As a marketing manager, explain the product decisions you should
make in order to be
successful in the market? (10 Marks)
Solution
1. Up-front homework pays off
2. Build in the voice of the customer
3. Seek differentiated, superior products
4. Demand sharp, stable and early product definition
5. Plan and resource the market launch
6. Build tough go/kill decision points into your process
7. Organize around true cross-functional projects teams
8. Build an international orientation into your new product process