Weekly Marketing Analysis Paper: Product Development and Product Positioning

Introduction and Alignment

This is the second of six Weekly Marketing Analysis Papers you will complete in this course. New product development models a firm’s future. Improved products and services can maintain or build sales; brand new products and services can radically change firms or industries and even change lives. The low success rate of new products and services points to the many challenges faced in creating a successful new product or service. Companies are doing more than just talking about innovation. They are challenging industry standards to develop new products and services that engage consumers. Marketers play a key role in new-product development by identifying and evaluating ideas and working with other departments in every stage of development.

For a company to position its products and/or services, they must be differentiated. BusinessDictionary.com defines product differentiation as

“Development or incorporation of attributes (such as benefits, price, quality, styling, service, etc.) that a product's intended customers perceive to be different and desirable. Advertising and promotion of a product is based on its differentiating characteristics.”

Upon completion of this assignment you should be able to:

• Recommend strategies for the products of an organization based on their stage in the product life cycle.
• Develop strategies for improving the product development cycle of an organization.
• Construct strategies for product positioning based on a positioning matrix

Resources

• Textbook: A Framework for Marketing Management
• File: Positioning Matrices PowerPoint

Background Information

Some products such as chicken, aspirin, and steel allow little differentiation, while others such as autos and furniture are capable of major differentiation. For products in the latter case, the company faces an abundance of differentiation possibilities. Form, features, customization, quality, durability, dependability, repair ability, and style may differentiate your product from the competition.

Once a company has segmented the market, chosen its target customer groups, identified their needs, and determined its desired market positioning, it is ready to develop and launch appropriate new products and services. Marketing should participate with other departments in every stage of new product development. This is crucial for successful marketing strategies.

Instructions

1. Read Chapter 9 of the textbook.
2. Using the company you selected in Workshop One, respond to the following in your weekly marketing analysis paper:
   1. Select a product or service from the company’s product offering. Explain how you recognize its stage in the product life cycle (PLC). How do you recognize when a product may be transitioning to another stage? Why is this important?
   2. What new product or service would you suggest for this company based on the above product’s position in the PLC? Why?
   3. Choose a product-line of the company. What are the product attributes that are dimensions for positioning on a positioning matrix? For example, price and quality. Identify three pairs of product attributes and fully explain your rationale for these attributes.
   4. Download the Positioning Matrices PowerPoint  file. Using the three pairs of product attributes you identified in the previous step, chart the product-line of the company and one of its competitors on three positioning matrices. Create one matrix for each pair of attributes.
   5. Based on your positioning matrices, which product strategy do you suggest to reposition the product?
3. Use clear, insightful, detailed critical thinking in your responses.
4. Paper Requirements:
   1. Length: five – six pages plus three positioning matrices.
   2. Research requirements: 10 research sources. Sources must be credible and from the last five years.
   3. Your paper should use proper spelling, grammar, and APA formatting.
5. If appropriate, these sources can be used in subsequent Weekly Marketing Analysis Papers. Hint: Look ahead at the topics for this series of papers. When you conduct your research for this paper; you will likely identify possible research sources for future papers.
6. When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy to your instructor using the Dropbox by the end of the workshop.