THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS

MKT 6329.501: Product Management

Contact Information

Spring 2006 Dr. Norris Bruce TA: Mose Lee

T 7-9:45 PM Office: SOM 3.220 Phone: 972-883-4420
Classroom: SOM E-mail:
Phone: 972-883-6293
2.901 mose.lee@student.utdallas.edu
E-mail: :
norris.bruce@utdallas.edu
Office Hours: T. 4-7PM and by
appointment

Course Background and Objectives

The course's primary focus is the development of new products and the management of existing products. It will provide an
analytical coverage of the various product decisions, critical discussion of the research needed as input to the decisions, and the
contributions of management and behavioral sciences to the development process. Topics covered include: new product
strategy, market definition and entry strategy, growth and diffusion of new products and technologies, consumer measurement,
perceptual mapping, product positioning, advertising and product testing, pretest market forecasting, test marketing, use of the
computer models in the analysis of marketing data.

The course will be both analytical and applied, with many case discussions that emphasize the actual management of products.
Our goal is to develop a set of conceptual and quantitative skills needed to help inform product decisions. Quantitative analyses
will involve the use of simple regression models and basic statistical inference. Regression modeling involves developing
mathematical equations that analyze the relationship between variables to be predicted (dependent variables) and variables that
marketers believe are related these predicted variables (independent variables.)

The course should be useful to marketing majors, as well as students of finance, or operation management who value
quantitative analysis.

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

1. better understand the issues pertaining to the execution of new product strategies,
2. formulate strategies for building, leveraging, and defending existing products,
3. use regression models to formulate and analyze new product decisions, and
4. communicate your analysis in a clear and concise manner to your peers and senior management.
Prerequisites: Completion of MKT 6301 or permission of instructor.

Text and Course Materials

Urban and Hauser (U&H), Design and Marketing of New Products, Prentice-Hall, 1993

Harvard Cases: Case Packets for MKTG 6329

Grading and Course Requirements

A) Weekly Assignments (40%)

Weekly case write-ups (These will be typed written answers to specific case questions shown below. Your report should be no
more than two pages of text, plus any charts or other exhibits you care to add.)
Quantitative homework problems involving simple regression analysis and basic statistical inference techniques

B) Group Case Analysis (20%)

For this assignment students will be organized into groups of 3. Each group will be assigned a case on which they will be
expected to prepare a written report and a 20-minutes in-class group presentation. The report should: 1) Provide a sharply
focused diagnosis of the strategic issues and key problems in the case; 2) Analyze the situation; 3) Identify major alternatives;
and 4) Recommend a course of action. The written report should not exceed 5 pages of text plus any figures, tables,
spreadsheets, or other exhibits.

C) Final Exam (25%)

Quantitative and Essay type questions covering materials covered in assigned readings and class.

D) Class Participation (15%)

Case-based learning requires class participation from every student. Participation and discussion are imperative to foster a
collaborative learning environment. Without that participation, the learning experience is significantly compromised. In
addition, participation also enables you to develop the skills needed to present and defend your ideas as well as to see
contrasting points of views. Those skills can prove invaluable in your careers.
 MKT6329.501 Course Schedule

Week 1 (January 10) - Introduction to the Course

Reading: Chapter 3 U&H - New Product Development Process

Week 2 (January 17) – Market Definition

Reading: Chapter 4 U&H
Case: United States Trust Co. of New York

Assignments Due: United Trust Case and Hw1

1. What is US Trust’s position in the financial services marketplace? What are its strengths and weaknesses?
2. How well does US Trust’s existing range of services meet the needs of the market segments it seeks to serve? (Hint:
Focus on personal services and consider all ways of segmenting the market for these services.)
3. Should UST offer an asset management account? Why/why not? Is such an account compatible with UST’s market
position?
4. What marketing program would you recommend for the proposed “Supper-CMA” account? Be specific and address:
1. Product features
2. Product Name
3. Pricing
4. Communication strategy (including target audience).
Week 3 (January 24) - Entry Strategies
Reading: Chapter 4 U&H
Case: Optical Distortion (A)

Assignments Due: Optical Distortion Case

1. What characteristics of the ODI contact lens are likely or unappealing to different types of chicken farmers?
2. In what geographic areas should ODI focus its efforts?
3. On what market segments (in addition to geographic) should ODI focus its efforts?
4. What Price policy should ODI adopt?
5. What’s a realistic goal for ODI by 1978?
Week 4 (January 31) – Preference Evaluation
Reading: Chapters 10, 11, 12 in U&H
Case: Clark Material Handling Group-Overseas: Brazilian Product Strategy (A)

Assignments Due: Clark Case (A) and Hw2

1. Make sure you understand how market simulation analysis works. In particular:
- How are the market attributes and levels determined? How do the choices between alternative lift trucks get
translated into utility measures?
- How are attribute utilities converted to product utilities? How is market share predicted?
2. What are the major managerial issues facing Mr. Richards in developing a marketing strategy?
3. What are the major steps in the research process? How well did they address the managerial issues you identified?
4. What did you learn from the research?
5. Evaluate the John Morton Research. Why was Sr. Santos so upset?
6. How would access to the model be beneficial to Mr. Richards and/or Santos?

Week 5 (February 7) – Target Market Selection and Positioning

Reading: Chapters 10, 11 & 12 in U&H
Case: The New Beetle

Assignments Due: The Beetle Case.

1. What is the appeal of The New Beetle?
2. Describe the meaning of the VW Brand
3. Why is the positioning decision termed “mission impossible?”
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different positioning options?
 5. How would the pricing and media selection choices be affected by the positioning of the car?

Week 6 (February 14) - Pretest Market Forecasting

Reading: Chapters 12 in U&H
Case: Clark Material Handling Group-Overseas: Brazilian Product Strategy (B)

Assignments Due: Clark (B) Case and Hw3.

1. How will Hyster, Yale, and Madal respond to the possible changes in Clark’s product line policy?
2. What effect will a large Japanese entry into the market have on the attractiveness of the Norton Recommendations?
3. What product line strategy would you recommend for Clark?

Week 7 (February 21) - Pretest Market Forecasting

Reading: Chapters 6 and 16 in U&H
Case: Johnson Wax (A)

Assignments Due: Johnson Wax (A) Case

1. What is the nature of competition in the instant conditioner market?
2. What are the roles of: product, Advertising copy, advertising budget, price in determining sales volume in the market?
How well does assessor measure the impact of each of these marketing program elements?
3. Sherman wants to know “why did I only get about half the share point I need? What would you tell him?
4. Does the assessor methodology seem an appropriate research tool given Sherman’s situation?
5. What should Sherman do now?

Week 8 (February 28) – Test Marketing

Reading: Chapters 15 and 18 in U&H
Case: GD Searle & Co. Sweet and Low Calorie Sweetener (A)

Assignments Due: GD Searle Case and Hw4

1. What are the important managerial issues related to the introduction or Equal?
2. Evaluate the research design. How well does it address the managerial issues? How well does it address the research
issues we’ve in the other test market cases?
3. Discuss the decision to proceed with rollout so early in the test market.
4. Watson’s decision to change the price midway through the test interfered with the statistical design of the test, but it also
provided us more price point to consider. Determine the best price Equal

Week 9 (March 14) - Launch Planning and Tracking

Reading: Chapters 15 and 18 in U&H
Case: Information Resources, Inc (A)

Assignments Due: Information Resources Case

1. What research needs does the Marketing Fact Book satisfy, and is this a compatible companion product for
BehaviorScan?
2. What marketing strategy do you suggest for IRI?
3. What problems and opportunities would you anticipate that the BehaviorScan system presents to a manager planning a
marketing strategy?
4. Evaluate the BehaviorScan system.

Week 10 (March 21) - Organizational Issues

Reading: Chapter 20 in U&H
Case: Greeley Hard Copy: Portable Scanner Initiative (A)

Assignments Due: Greeley Case and Hw5

1. Describe the HP organizational Culture. What are some implications for developing new innovations? What is evidence
of R&D’s dominance in HP?
2. Compare the market for Portable and Flatbed scanners.
 3. What are the implications of each of these markets on Organizational forms and Reward Systems.
4. Describe the evolution of the portable project? What changed along the way? Why?

Week 11 (March 28) - Organizational Issues

Reading: Chapter 20 in U&H
Case: Lucent Technologies Optical Networking Group

Assignments Due: Lucent Case

1. From the point of view of the specific NVG enterprise and their founders, assess the benefits and also the problems or
tensions associated with starting up within a giant company. Have these ventures encountered the typical dilemmas of
newstream versus mainstreams that occurred in the last wave of corporate venturing?
2. What, if anything, can Socolof and the NVG do to increase the advantages and minimize the tensions, to ensure speedier
development of ventures with Lucent?
3. What would Steve Socolof recommend to upper management about the next phase of the New Ventures Group? What
has the NVG done well, what has it done poorly? In light of the problems at Lucent, should the NVG continue in its
presents form, change its form, or disband?

Week 12 (April 4) - Life Cycles; Marketing Mix

Reading: Chapter 19 in U&H
Case: Gateway: Moving Beyond the Box

Assignments Due: Gateway Case and Hw6

1. What are the risks associated with the Country Stores and YourJWare program?
2. What was the “old” Gateway good at? What is the “new” Gateway trying to be good at?
3. The case quotes Gateway’s CEO thus: “It seems every company in the word is trying to turn itself into a “services”
provider these days, and everyone thinks they can do it because they believe they’re a ‘relationship’ company.” What
makes Gateway think it will succeed where other have failed?
4. Do you agree with Gateway’s strategy?
5. How profitable do PC sales have to be in order for the Beyond the Box strategy to be successful?

Week 13 (April 11) - Life Cycles; Marketing Mix

Reading: Chapters 19 in U&H
Case: The Brita Products Co.

Assignments Due: Brita Case

1. To what do you attribute Brita’s success?
2. What marketing assets has Clorox acquired in these years of vigorous growth, and what is the best use to which the
assets can be deployed?
3. What are the prospects for filter sales? What are the prospects for faucet-mounted system? Which would you favor?
4. How will you defend against the new competitors?
Week 14 (April 18) – Wrap-up
Reading:
Case: Introducing…. the XFL

Assignments Due: XFL Case.

1. What was the XFL? What meaning did it seek to claim? How did the concept relate to the XFL’s larger business plan?
To the culture at large?
2. For whom were these meanings made?
3. How did the XFL management bring the XFL concept to life? What were the key levers and fundamental strategies
employed in making meanings for the XFL brand? Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these moves, particularly as
they evolve and change overtime.
4. What factor(s) determine the fate of the XFL? Why did it fail? Importantly, was there anything that partners McMahon
or Ebersol could have done to about it?
5. It has been said that no one ever underestimated the taste of the American public. Is this one case that proves this old
 adage wrong? How could two brilliant marketers have gotten this so terribly wrong?

Final Exam (April 25) – SOM 2.901. 7-9:45pm.

Supplemental Readings and Texts:

I have compiled a list of text and sources, for students who want more breadth, or those who are considering a career in Product
Management:

1. Statistics for Management and Economics, Keller, Wadsworth Publishing

2. Basic Business Statistics, Levine, Berensen, Krehiel, Prentice Hall
3. Robert J. Dolan, Managing the New Product Development Process, Addison-Wesley.
4. Edgar A. Pessemier, Product Management, WHey/Hamilton.
5. Robert Rothberg, Corporate Strategy and Product Innovation, Free Press, 2nd edition.
6. Yoram J. Wind, Product Policy, Addison-Wesley.
7. Robert G. Cooper, Winning at New Products, Addison-Wesley.
8. Thomas D. Kuezmarski, Managing New Products, Prentice-Hall, 2nd edition.
9. Clarke, Marketing Analysis and Decision Making, Boyd and Frazer Publishing Company.