Product management para software comercial

Product Strategy
Gustavo Muñoz (@justavo)

Product Strategy

Defining Vision
Aligning Strategy
Executing Timely

Four core parts of a Product Strategy

1. The Framework for Product Strategy
2. Competitive Strategy
3. Growth Strategy
4. The Process for Product Strategy

1. The Framework for Product Strategy

• Strategy requires Vision
• Aligning Vision and Strategy
• Building the Foundations: Product Platform Strategy
• Defining the Offering: Product Line Strategy
• Addressing Market Realities: The Market Addressing Plan
(MAP)
• Successful Expansion Paths: The Leveraged Expansion
Framework

2. Competitive Strategy

• Achieving Sustained Differentiation Using Vectors of
Differentiation
• Product Pricing Strategy
• Taking advantage of First-to-Market and Fast-Follower
Strategies
• Thinking Globally about Product Strategy
• Understanding the Opportunities and Risks of
Cannibalization

3. Growth Strategy

• Highways of Rapid Growth
• Growth Through Acquisitions
• Growth Through New Ventures
• Growth Through Innovation

4. The Process of Product Strategy

• Strategic Balance and Portfolio Management
• Process Elements

1.The Framework of Product Strategy
1. Strategy Requires Vision

Product Strategy begins with a
strategic vision that states
where we want to go,
how we will get there
and
why we will be successful.

1. Strategy Requires Vision (cont.)
• Impaired Vision (Tunnel, Blindness, Shortsightedness, Hallucination)
• Exceptional Vision (20/20, Peripheral, Foresighted)
• Core Strategic Vision
o Focus
Bad example:
"Our strategy is to develop products that truly fulfill customer needs by exploiting our skills
and abilities to the maximum level in order to provide a maximum profit to our
shareholders. We will do this with high-quality products that provide a substantial
competitive advantage. And while achieving this, we will be supportive of our community
and our employees".
Good example (Compaq Computer 1993)
"We want to be the leading supplier of PCs and PC servers in all customer segments
worldwide. We intend to accomplish this goal by leading the industry in developing new
products, pricing competitively, controlling costs, supporting customers, and expanding
distribution. Compaq understands the dynamics of the industry and is poised to move
decisively to exploit new opportunities.
o Clarity --not ambiguous.

o Completeness
 Where do we want to go?
 The desired destination needs to be as specific as possible without
restricting the company too much.
 The key is finding the right balance between short-term objectives and
longer-term opportunities.
 Compaq 1993: "We want to be the leading provider of PCs and PC servers
in all customer segments worldwide"
 Intel wanted to dominate the ever-increasing market for microprocessors
and related devices.
 "We want to be one of the top three companies providing computer-based
tools for improving programmer productivity. These tools will take
advantage of increasing computer power to provide ease of use".
 Specific regarding where --what it wants to achieve
 Not restricting it to a specific type of tool
 Stresses market focus --software productivity

• Completeness
o How will we get there?
 The Compaq vision: good
 "By taking advantage of the new 386 microprocessor"
 Good now, but later?
 Needs to be robust enough to last beyond the next product --check
example.
o Why will we be successful?
 Usually based on a unique value provided to the customer.
 This ingredient is the basis of a competitive strategy.
 For a company competing in price, the CSV would include something
like: "by being the price leader and low-cost producer".
 For a company using a strategy of differentiation, the vision would
provide direction for that differentiation.
 The basis for competitive strategy needs to be reasonably specific.

oCompleteness (cont.)
 Why will we be successful? (cont.)
 "Our products will use appropriate technologies to fulfill customer
needs and provide the highest quality" doesn't instill a great deal of
confidence that the company really knows how it will be successful.
 All successful companies knew beforehand.
o Feasibility
• Who's Responsible for Vision?
o Board of Directors create it.
o CEO is responsible for it.
o CEO is responsible for effectively communicating it.
• When Change in Vision is Called For
o Need for Clarification
o Need for Evolution
o Obsolescense

• How Vision Guides Strategy
o It establishes a framework for product platform strategy
o It focuses the efforts of those responsible for identifying new
product opportunities
o It aligns other strategies and initiatives
o It guides product development
o It guides technology strategy (core competencies)
o It sets expectation for customers, employees, and investors

2. Aligning Vision and Strategy

The Core Strategic Vision broadly
establishes strategic alignment within
both constraining and enabling
boundaries. Without such alignment, a
vision will not get translated into strategy.

2. Aligning Vision and Strategy

2. Aligning Vision and Strategy (cont.)

• SWOT Analysis vs CSV (We can't afford to evolve
incrementally)
• The Boundary CSV Framework
o Core competencies (value chain)
 Critical skill or unique expertise that enable us to
provide a superior value to our customers that's difficult
for competitors to emulate.
o Financial plan (economic model)
 Financial goals: revenue growth, profitability and
investment.
 Check whether the CSV can achieve the financial
objectives.
o Business charter
 What we are and what we don't.

2. Aligning Vision and Strategy (cont.)

• The Boundary CSV Framework (cont.)
o Technology trends / strategy
 We need to identify the roadmap of key technologies,
emerging technologies that could affect the vision in the
future and unrelated technologies that could create
substitute products.
o Product strategy (if any existing)
o Market trends / competitive strategy
 Market segmentation may show how the CSV needs to
be shaped for each segment.
 Don't automatically rely on customers to define the
market trend boundary. Sometimes they are wrong and
this incorrect input could distort the CSV.

3. Building the Foundation: Product Platform Strategy

A product platform is a collection of
common elements, particularly the
underlying technology elements,
implemented across a range of products.
It is primarily a definition for planning,
decision making, and strategic thinking.


Fig. 3-1 New products are built over time on a common platform and are
related through common elements


Ingredients of Platform Strategy
• The underlying elements of the platform are clearly
understood.
o The choice of a defining technology in platform strategy is perhaps the most
critical strategic decision that a high-technology company makes.
• The platform's defining technology is clearly distinguished
from other platform elements
o The inability to understand the defining technology of a platform dooms a
platform strategy to failure
• The platform's unique differentiation provides a sustainable
competitive advantage
o Experience suggests that core competencies should never be outsourced.
• No more than one product platform should serve a market


Benefits of Platform Strategy
• A platform strategy focuses management on key decisions at
the right time.
• A platform strategy enables products to be deployed rapidly
and consistently.
• A platform approach encourages a longer-term view of
product strategy.
o Platform life cycles drive the major competitive changes in high-technology
industries by introducing new product generations, forcing companies into
dramatic changes in product strategy.
• A platform strategy can leverage significant operational
efficiencies.
o Engineering headcount
o Materials cost savings
o Supply chain costs


Benefits of Platform Strategy (cont.)
• Product platform principles help management anticipate
replacing a major product platform.

Product Platform Examples
• Apple
o Apple III
o Lisa
o Performa Platform (12+ models)
o Quadra Platform (12+ models)
o Mac II Platform (12+ models)
o Server Platform (10+ models)
o Mac LC Platform (10+ models)
o Power Mac Platform (20+ models)
o PowerBook Platform-PowerMac Extension (35+ models)
o Macintosh (1 through 9) (Classic Macs 7+ models)
o Newton (9 models)
o Apple I --> Apple II
o OS X, Intel, etc...


Product Platform Examples (cont.)
• Windows Server
o NT 3.1, 3.5, 3.51, 4,
o Win2000, Win2003
o Windows Vista, Windows 7
• Intel processors
o 8086/8088
o 80266
o 80386
o 80486
o Pentium
o P6 common architecture
 Pentium Pro
 Pentium II
 Celeron
 Pentium II Xeon


Product Platform Management

When a primary product platform enters its decline, the entire business is threatened if
the company doesn't react in time

1. Identify where a platform is in its lifecycle
2. Synchronize the replacement of a major platform with a next-generation
platform
3. Extend the life of a major platform
o Improving the underlying technology or redesigning some of the platform
elements
1. Compared to replace it is cheaper but ROI is limited
2. Is it a matter of throwing good money after bad?
4. Understand what causes a platform's lifecycle to decline.
o A change in the desirability of a technology can be behind the decline of a product
platform.
– Regularly replace platforms with short life cycles.

4. Defining the Offerings: Product Line Strategy

A product line strategy is a time-
phased conditional plan for the
sequence of developing product
offerings from a common platform,
with each product offering targeting a
specific market segment.

Without an effective product line
strategy, the true potential of a platform
strategy will not be realized


Ingredients of Product Line Strategy
• The product line covers all primary targeted market
segments.
o Collectively, the products within a product line should cover the major
segments of the market.
o While there are many ways to segment a market, the key is to segment it in
a manner that provides competitive advantage.
o Segmentation can change rapidly, particularly in high-technology markets.
New product offerings may be necessary to address these newly emerging
market segments.
• Each product offering is sufficiently focused to avoid product
proliferation and market confusion.
o Product proliferation is the result of the company's failure to focus on
selected segments.
o Product proliferation can result from the company being overly customer-
focused.


Ingredients of Product Line Strategy (cont.)

• The product line development schedule is time phased.
• Similar product families and product lines are coordinated.


Product Line Examples

• HP Color Workgroup Printer Product Line
• Dell Desktop Product Line


Product Line Management

• Defining product offerings from a common platform.
• Targeting specific product offerings at specific market
segments
o Variations:
 Capacity
 Performance
 Features
 Quality
 Packaging
o Besides the primary products in a product line, add-on products, product
upgrades, and custom products also may be part of a product line.


Product Line Management (Cont.)

• Targeting specific product offerings at specific market
segments (cont.)
o Once a market approaches saturation, upgrades may become the primary
source of continued revenue growth.
• Phasing the sequence of development
Fact: The time horizon of product line plan is typically 2 or 3 times the
longest development cycle time.

5. Addressing Market Realities: The MAP

Platform and product line strategies
are powerful concepts if applied
effectively; a Market Addressing Plan
(MAP) integrates knowledge about
the market and knowledge about the
product and its defining technology.


Product Strategy Structure

Fig 5-1 Product Strategy Structure


Fig. 5-2 This MAP framework provides a structure for developing a market addressing
plan


The MAP
• Enables us to translate platform strategy into a practicable
attack plan for a target market
• Focuses our attention on the critical issues with the most
leverage for understanding the interface between a market
and the products developed to meet its needs and wants:
o Characterize and prioritize customer segments.
o Define the basis of customer value and differentiation that will be used to
win high-priority customer segments.
o Define the offerings to the customers and outline the building blocks used
to develop these offerings.
o Define a monitoring plan to sense external developments that could alter
strategy.
o Establish economic metrics for measuring success in the market.


The MAP
• Markets and Market Segments
o Market: large group of potential customers, with common needs or
problems, who purchase a common class of products and/or services for
similar use or application.
o Market segment: group of customers within a market with very similar
concerns and requirements. They have behavior sets (patterns of why and
how they use a product, how they purchase it, and how they perceive the
risk of purchasing it) that are distinctly different from those of other
segments.

The MAP
• Markets and Market Segments
o Effective segmentation requires iterative analysis and validation.
 Hierarchically: most easily perceived and easiest to implement
characteristics considered first, followed by those that require
increasingly more insight and creativity and greater skill to
implement. Organizational demographics, such as industry, customer
base size, and location are usually the easiest characteristics to identify
 The purchase decision-making process may be important in
segmentation. For some products, for instance, the CIO may be the
primary decision maker, while for others the role may fall to technically
minded end users.

Developing a market addressing plan involves selecting,
deselecting, and prioritizing market segments

The MAP
• Economic and Business Case
o Vector of differentiation
 Is the thematic characteristic that consistently differentiates a market
addressing plan.
 Is consistent across all product offerings based on the product platform
and therefore across all market segments.
 Provides the long-term competitive advantage not usually achieved by
individual product features.
 Enables the MAP development team to focus its efforts on continuous
improvement along a single high-priority vector so it can stay ahead of
advancing competition and customers' increasing expectations.
 Can be derived from problems, purchasing behavior, economics, and
requirements shared by customers across all targeted segments within
a market


The MAP
• Economic and Business Case
o Vector of differentiation (cont)
 If a MAP requires more than one product platform to effectively address
its given market space, it is likely that each product platform may deliver
a different vector of differentiation. In such cases, market
communication and positioning must be carefully managed to minimize
customer confusion.
o Market and platform economics define the economic viability of a MAP
based on the dynamics of the segment, revenue, and costs from the
complete set of product offerings.
o A value proposition for a product offering is a brief statement of the
customer benefits delivered by that product offering to its target market
segment(s). A successful value proposition matches the customer's
highest priority requirements in the target market segment(s).


The MAP
• Product Offerings and Product Lines
o Whole product offering is more than the physical product.
 Includes the complete set of activities --support, professional services,
and so on-- that delivers value to the customer.
 Each product offering usually targets a market segment or a small
subset of market segments within the total market.
 Typically, it makes sense to create a distinct product offering from a
common platform for each distinct market segment, since the value
profiles and customer needs vary by segment. The benefits of
customizing product offerings to a segment, however, must be balanced
against the associated design, development, delivery, and support
costs.


The MAP
o The product line is the time-phased conditional plan for the sequence of
developing product form the product platform.
 Each product in the product line targets a specific market segment.
 The product line plan in the MAP should cover the major segments of
the market, but it doesn't require that all segments be covered. Some
may be ignored, with the expectation that a portion of that segment will
purchase one of the product offerings anyway.
 In most cases, the vector of differentiation chosen for the product
platform will effectively target certain market segments. For example, a
vector of differentiation focused on high performance may effectively
deselect those segments that prefer low cost to performance.


The MAP
o Product line.
 Market and technology readiness, resource availability, strategic
objectives, and related factors determine the timing of the introduction of
each product offering in the product line.
 This product line then influences the timing and initiation of development
of platform technology elements.


The MAP
• Product Platforms
o A product platform is primarily a planning construct.
o It is the set of architectural rules and technology elements that enable
multiple product offerings and define the basic value proposition,
competitive differentiation, capabilities, cost structure and life cycle of these
offerings.
 Architectural rules governs how the technology elements are integrated,
along with other required technologies to form the specific product
offering in the MAP. These rules define the capabilities, partitioning, and
interfaces of the technology elements.
 A number of platform technology elements must be defined, such as
components, subsystems, technologies, and processes. We focus here
on the most critical elements, which are reused within the products that
come from the platform. The defining technology is the most important.

The MAP
• Product Platforms
o Effective product platforms are not static, of course.
o They have the flexibility and speed to incorporate new technology and stay ahead
of customer requirements.
o Instead of allowing the platform and product offerings to react to individual
customer's needs, a well developed product platform will show that customer
needs from all relevant markets have been integrated and prioritized within the
platform.
o Instead of bringing products to market with no consistent theme, a product platform
continues to evolve along a desired vector of differentiation. This vector is based
on the defining technology of that platform. Continuing improvement of the defining
technology is emphasized in technology development.
o Effectively managing a product platform implies
 Defining the underlying platform elements and constructing a schedule for
inserting new and improved elements from appropriate sources.
 Using product platform requirements to drive the development of technology
platforms.

• Product Platform
o Three categories of platform technology elements:
 Defining technology elements
 Enable the vector of differentiation
 Establish the performance characteristics and limits of the product offerings
from the platform.
 Define the relative cost structure of the product platform.
 It's highly preferable to reside within your company, if at all possible.
 It's highly preferable that your company have some barriers to entry around
the defining technology that will impede competitors from copying or
possible improving the defining technology
 Tylenol active substance (acetaminophen)
 Supporting/enhancing technology elements
 Additional Tylenol cold and flu products which enhance it.
 Segmentation technology elements
 Address the specific customer value propositions of high-priority segments
of the market.
 They may add cost in order to address these specific segment needs.
 Tylenol presentations: tablets, caplets, gelcaps and geltabs.


The MAP
• Value-Chain Strategies and Ongoing MAP Management
o Many other strategies must be aligned with the product
offering. Collectively, these are the value-chain strategies
o Supporting capabilities include services, marketing,
distribution and logistics, development, technologies, and
other resources. These most be coordinated with the
platform and product line strategy to deliver and support
the product offerings.
o Standards also are a critical part of any MAP.
 Product requirements that all products must comply
with --> Legal, corporate biz goals, industry, market.


Managing the Technology Elements
• Technological change must be anticipated
• A technology platform is managed differently than a product
platform
• Technology roadmaps chart the planned application of
technology

6. Successful Expansion Paths: The Leveraged Expansion Framework

Why does expansion into new
markets sometimes succeed
and sometimes fail?
The answer is leverage.
Companies that leverage their
market knowledge and
technology are most
successful.

6. Successful Expansion Paths: The Leveraged Expansion Framework

• Create and launch a continuing series of products that open
new markets and fuel rapid growth: This is the dream of most
high-technology companies.
• High-technology markets have a unique characteristic: They
appear and disappear relatively quickly.
• Leveraging a company's technical and marketing experience is
one of the key determinants of new product success.

2.Competitive Strategy

There are two primary types of
competitive strategy: product
differentiation strategy and price-
based strategy. Of these two,
product differentiation strategy
provides the primary source of
competitive advantage for most
high-technology products.

1. Achieving Sustained Differentiation Using Vectors of Differentiation

A vector of differentiation (VOD)
enables sustained competitive
product differentiation by
continuous improvement along a
specific path with a distinct benefit
of value proposition. This is by far
the most successful competitive
strategy for high-technology
companies


What is differentiation?
• Differentiation is a way of distinguishing a product's value from
that of competing products.
• It means more than being different.
• Differentiation is a strategic approach to positioning products
advantageously as customers decide which product to choose
• Differentiation is a relative comparison. A product is
differentiated only because it offers something superior to what
is available in competitive products.
• No competition -> no differentiation.
• This is where second or subsequent companies to market may
have advantage. They can better position their products through
differentiation against competitive products already in the
market.


Effects of differentiation
• Differentiation positions a product in the market.
• Differentiation segments the market.
o The success of differentiation varies by market segment as each
segment values a particular vector of differentiation based on its own
unique preferences.
o Sometimes differentiation can be so significant that it creates new
markets.
• Differentiation evolves throughout a market's life cycle.
o Market development, growth, maturity, redifferentiated market (a
vector provides a path for continuous differentiation in a specific
direction), and market decline.
• Differentiation should be managed as vectors, not points.
o Products differentiated by a single point have nowhere to go next,
and products differentiated by multiple points in many directions
generally do not get as far as those that go in a well-determined
direction.


Benefits of Vectors of Differentiation
• Vectors separate strategic from the tactical
o VODs enable a clear focus on the unique way a product will be successful,
instead of on individual details.
o VOD answers the following questions:
 What is the primarily value to customers of alternative VODs?
 How will various market segments value this VOD?
 Will a particular VOD enable us to win against expected competitive
products with alternative VODs?
 Do we have sufficient advantages to prevent competitors from more
successfully incorporating this VOD?
 Will be at a disadvantage relative to other VODs?
o Continuous improvement of the product or service, or new releases of
product offerings, on the other hand, are more tactical. They don't define the
VOD; they implement it.
o Mistake: determining the feature set for a new product without any particular
vector in mind -> determines strategy on the basis of tactics: the success of
the strategy is then left up to chance.


Benefits of Vectors of Differentiation
• A VOD focuses product improvements (SAP example)
• The length and slope of a VOD provide strategic insight
o Length: determines how long a product can be continuously improved
along one vector. It provides a sense of the time before competitors
can catch up. You become a moving target for the length of the VOD.
o Slope: shows how fast a product can improve.
• The relative value of a VOD changes over the market life cycle.
(Apple - relative ease of use)


Differentiation Strategies
• Differentiation Using Unique Features
o Easiest to select but one of the most difficult to define as a continuing
vector, especially if the features are unrelated.
o Differentiation can sometimes be achieved on the strength of a single
feature.
o Feature differentiation is most successful if several unique features
can be grouped around a common theme or vector.
• Differentiation by Measurable Customer Benefit
o If this gets achieved, customers will prefer it even at a significantly
higher price.
o It goes beyond achieving the benefits, it required clearly
quantifying and communicating them.


• Differentiation through Ease of Use
o Ease of use has become a very popular VOD in today's increasingly
complex high-tech products.
o Ease of use definitively appeals to a large segment in most markets,
especially customer markets.
• Differentiation by Improved Productivity (of the consumers)
• Differentiation by Protecting the Customer's Investment
o Since advances in technology create change, a product can claim
a competitive advantage by differentiating itself to protect a
customer's existing investment, thus avoiding or reducing the loss
incurred by upgrading to an improved product.
 IBM System/360 in the '70s. It provided a compatible family of
computers, enabling customers to upgrade to more powerful
computer hardware without losing their investment in software
of peripherals. Today it is a most in such market.


• Differentiation through Lower Cost of Product Failure
o The direct cost of repair or maintenance is obvious.
 It dove the differentiation advantage for Japanese cars in the '80s
• Differentiation with Higher Performance Products
• Differentiation by Unique Fundamental Capabilities
o Polaroid example
• Differentiation through Design
• Differentiation Based on Standards
• Differentiation by Total Solutions
o Total solutions offer customers savings in the costs of using products.
o Total-solution differentiation is achieved by bundling software and
hardware or by offering a range of compatible products.


• Differentiation by Total Cost of Ownership
o Selling price is only one aspect of the total cost to the customer.
 Maintenance, service and repair, lost revenue due to downtime,
cost of consumables.
o This VOD strategy relies on relatively sophisticated customers who
are not easily seduced by a lower list price.
o It is particularly effective in the high-value capital purchase
markets, where products are expected to have a long life.
• Differentiation through Brand Name
o It is not generally a primary VOD.
o It runs against newcomers.
• Differentiation Based on Convenience
o Not generally a primary VOD.
o It can be copied by competitors unless offering such convenience
relies on innovative manufacturing/development processes.


Causes of failure on differentiation
• Differentiation can't be sustained
o Adequate barriers to entry is a key factor for sustain a VOD over time.
• There is insufficient proximity to price.
o A differentiated product must maintain price proximity to products
without that differentiation.
o The market paces a value on any new VOD. Price proximity is
equal to that price.
• Customer preferences are misunderstood
• The cost of differentiation is too high


Causes of failure on differentiation
• There is too much unfocused differentiation
o Some companies incorrectly think that a differentiation strategy
means adding more and more features.
o Belief on needing to add every feature included on competitive
products or every feature requested by customers. In reality
customers base their decisions on the features that are most
important to them.
o The results of "too much differentiation" are a price that is too high,
confused customers, and lack of distinction in the market.
• A company fails to build the perception of differentiation
o Perception is reality. The sole fact of differentiation is not enough
for customers to realize it.


Sustainable Differentiation
• Sustainability is a major consideration in selecting the vector of
differentiation.
• Sustainability comes from establishing barriers to entry:
o Maintaining Technological Advantage
 Basing VOD on core competencies.
 Competitors need to catch up improving their core competencies.
 Pay a penalty: they might not own the tech themselves.
 Possessing or cultivating technical core competencies is
important insofar as they are applied to achieve a VOD in actual
products.
 Xerox overlooked this consideration.
• Rapidly Advancing Vector
o Moving so fast along the VOD that competitors cannot catch up.
o If you don't have other way to sustain your differentiation, this is the
way.

2. Product Pricing Strategy

Too often companies
ignore pricing strategy,
and it shows.


• Competitive factor in all high-technology markets
• It is an element of strategy (explicit or implicit)
• The success of failure of many product may depend on
their pricing strategy.
• It is often neglected: it becomes a financial computation
instead of a strategic consideration.
• Usually it is spent only a few days --sometimes only a
few hours-- working on the pricing strategy.
• They don't estimate how customers will value the
product, project how price will evolve in the market,
understand how competitors will price products, or
consider alternative strategies.
• In short, they fail to think about price strategically.

• Appropriate price strategy varies by product, competitive pricing and
stage in the life cycle of a market. Typically gets more aggressive in later
stages.
• Products with distinctive VOD can sustain a higher price
• Market share leaders can introduce a lower price, because they have
scale advantages.
• Aggressive pricing by competitors such as market share leaders can force
lower-than desired pricing
• Competitors in a market have different cost structures, and eventually
these differences provide a source of competitive advantage, whether
price is used as an offensive or a defensive strategy.

The sources for cost advantage provide the foundation to support
pricing strategy. Without a cost advantage, a company competing on
price is really just cutting its profit.


Effects of Pricing Strategy
• Price positions a product in the market
• Price decline throughout a market's evolution
o Development
 Cost are initially high. Products are at their highest prices
 Differentiation is not established
 Pricing framework may not yet be set
o Growth
 VOD start to be detected by customers and become firmly
established.
 Price reduction for those which don't have valuable VODs
o Maturity
 Price competition accelerates.
 Competitors are able to imitate the successful VODs --> with
products less differentiated, price becomes a more important
competitive strategy


Effects of Pricing Strategy (cont.)
• Price decline throughout a market's evolution (cont.)
o Maturity (cont.)
 Costs are lower. Initial investments in developing the product platform
have been recovered.
o Decline
 Market declines are usually messy.
 Some competitors exit the market, some don't go gracefully
 Some others stay with hyper reduced margins
• Lower prices increase market penetration
o High-tech markets tend to be very elastic; lower prices drive higher
volumes up to a natural limit.


Offensive Pricing Strategies
• Established Price Leadership as the Basis for Competing
o Particularly effective in a mature market.
o Only one company can successfully execute this strategy
• Use Penetration Pricing to Increase the Market
o It's both a growth strategy and a competitive strategy.
o It's a variation of the price leadership strategy. But intents are different.
It's not to take today's customers away from competitors; it's to
increase market share while growing the market
o Eventually, a penetration strategy runs out of gas.
• Use Experience-Curve Pricing to Discourage Competition
o Preemptive strategy or even a predatory one.
o Prices products below cost in hopes of forcing those already in the
market to exit, while keeping others out of it.
o The key to success with it is that cost benefits are achieved at a
predictable rate


Offensive Pricing Strategies (Cont)
• Use Experience-Curve Pricing to Discourage Competition (Cont)


Offensive Pricing Strategies (cont.)
• Compete on the Basis of Price/Performance
o Price-based competitive positioning does not mean just lowest price.
o A competitive strategy based on price/performance combines the
performance VOD strategy with a price-based strategy.
o Goal: offer the lowest price for unit of performance.
o This strategy requires some inherent cost advantage in the design of
the product and preferably in the defining technology.
• Use Promotional Discounting to Accelerate Purchases
o Competitive upgrades
o Bundles and packages


Defensive Pricing Strategies
• Adapt Prices to Maintain Highest Competitive Price
• Use Price to Segment the Market
• Use Skim Pricing to Maximize Profit
o Offering a premium-priced product that only a small portion of the
customer base will pay for.
o High-price, low-volume strategy.
• Use Value-Based Pricing to Maximize Profit
o It is most effective in the early stages of a market. Once competition
begins to set in, it becomes less tenable.
o Intends to maximize profit margins by setting prices at higher levels
than justified by product cost alone.
• Redirect Product Line Sales by Bait-and-Switch Pricing
o Draws attention to the product line with the low price, but then tempts
customers to purchase a higher-priced product with more features or
capacity.


Risks of Offensive Pricing Strategies
• Price leadership may not be sustainable
• Aggressive pricing could precipitate a price war.
• Aggressive pricing may not be supported by a sufficient
cost advantage.
o A price leadership strategy


Sources of Cost Advantage (if we want to compete on price)
• Low-cost design can provide a competitive cost advantage
o The cost structure of a product is determined when a product
specification is completed.
o Traditional design approaches don't sufficiently integrate cost
objectives into the design of a product.
 Emphasizing product specs (functionality, performance, operating
params, tolerances)
 Cost estimates are then based on them and gross margin is
computed. If less than expected then go again with the cycle.
o When product cost is of strategic importance, it is better to use a
design-to-cost approach, in which low cost is established as a product
requirement of equal importance to other critical requirements.
 Checking cost of each requirement against its value.
 Product design is the result of the cost analysis, rather than the
cost of the product a result of the design process.


Sources of Cost Advantage (cont.)
• Economics of scale build cost advantages.
o Economics of scale are relevant only on high-volume markets
• A more efficient supply chain is a source of cost advantage
• Superior technology can provide product cost advantages.
o This is a price/performance strategy which is only achieved through
technology.
o It is a defensive price strategy. Technology leaders usually are not
low-cost competitors.
• A superior development process can provide product cost
advantages.

3. Taking Advantage of First-to-Market and Fast-Follower Strategies

Being the first to market can
form the basis for competitive
strategy, as can being a fast
follower.
Overall, being fast has
tremendous competitive
advantages.
---
Timing is a key factor for
competing that we cannot
oversee.


• A timing advantage has to be paired with a primary
competitive strategy of differentiation or price leadership,
enabling a company to be the first to market with the
chosen differentiation or price advantage.
• Without a primary strategy, a company is merely first with
something that might not be relevant or that others will
soon copy.

• It's important to distinguish between intentionally being a
follower and simply being late or slow.


Advantages of Being First to Market
• The first-to-market company can capture a market share
advantage
• The first-to-market company gets earlier experience
o There is nothing like having an actual product in customer's hands to
help a company understand what its customers really want
o The key in all these advantages is applying the early experience. The
experience itself does not constitute the advantage.
• The first-to-market company can influence the definition of
standards


Advantages of Being The Fastest
A company that is faster than its competition can be first to market
even if it starts later. A last-to-start, first-to-finish strategy can be
very effective. In most cases, the advantages of being fast are
greater than those of being the first
• The fast product developer is nearer in time to the eventual
market
o Ability to predict what will be important in a market diminishes
with the length of the prediction period. Therefore, faster time
to market (TTM) empowers companies to make better
predictions.


Advantages of Being The Fastest
• The fast product developer can get ahead and stay ahead.
o Product generations and versions can be achieved faster.
• The fast product developer can use newer technology.
o As development cycles are shorter, opportunities to introduce new
technology multiplies.


First-to-Market Strategies
• Be the First to Upgrade Products with New Technology
o It is a winning strategy when the market is well understood and the new
technology is desired by many customers.
o The first to market with the new technology wins, but how much it wins
depends on how long it takes everyone else to catch up.
• Respond Rapidly to Market Changes
o Changes come from:
 Shift in customer preference to a specific VOD
 Mandated by law
 Natural evolution of the market
o The competitor that responds first can gain a major advantage.
• Introduce Continual Product Innovation
• Be the First to Create a New Market
o Creating a new market often involves pioneering technology


Fast-Follower Strategies
Fast-Follower Strategies can be very successful, particularly for
companies with TTM advantages.
The objective is to wait until the market is sufficiently clear before
entering.
• Wait Until a New Market Is Clarified
o First company to market may fail because it guesses wrong
about what the market wants.
o Competitors who cannot or do not want to educate initial
customers will let someone else do it first
• Reverse-Engineer Successful Competitive Products
o Not copying the product but copying functionality not the
specific design


Failure reasons of Timing Strategies
• Entering the Market Prematurely
• Compressing Product Life Cycles
o This might be short enough for prevent getting any profit at all
in or reduce it significantly.
• Relying on an Inferior Product Development Process
o Timing-Strategy + Inferior-Dev-Process = Failure
o TTM must be at least as fast as that of competitors
o React quickly to new technology and changes in the mkt
o Must integrate the product development process with the
product strategy process

3. Thinking Globally about Product Strategy

Recognizing that global
high-technology products
have some significant
advantages over national
competitors, it's important
to understand the unique
requirements of global
markets.


• Customers throughout the world are expecting products that
meet global standards. They are increasingly reluctant to pay
more for local products that are less advanced.
• Multinational vs Global
o Depends on the market, regulatory conditions, etc.
o Multinational
 Knows a lot about a great many countries and continually adapts
itself to their differences.
o Global corporation
 Knows one great thing about all countries
 Lures them to its custom by capitalizing on the one great thing they
all have in common.
 It looks to the nations not for how they are different but for how
they are alike.
 Globally competitive as well as national responsive.
 It continuously seeks in every way to standardize everything into a
common global mode.


• Global competitors have a significant economic advantage.
• Competitors that focus exclusively on smaller national markets
cannot afford to develop many high-technology products
because the ROI is insufficient.
• Global competitors need to have a significant share of major
markets, particularly their own. This is an advantage for
competitors from large markets.


International Differences in Products
• Government Certification Requirements.
• Different Country Industry Standards.
• Languages Differences.
• Differences in Use.
• Demographic Differences (population, income levels and income
distribution)
o Can create dissimilar market segmentation.
• National Preferences and Protectionism.
• National Laws on the use of certain foreign technologies.


Global Product Strategy (GPS) Integration with Other Global
Strategies (GSs)
• GPS is so closed linked with other GSs that it is difficult to succeed at one
without integrating the others.
• GS includes three[four] strategies:
o Global market strategy
 Defines the national and regional markets in which a company will
compete
o Global development (manufacturing) strategy
 Determines where a company locates manufacturing facilities or
development centers and how its global supply chain functions.]
o Global product development process
 Provides the framework for how and where products are developed
for worldwide markets with worldwide resources
o Global product strategy
 Defines which products are developed for which markets and how
the specs of these products address global requirements.


Global Product Strategy Integration with Other Global Strategies
• Global market strategy
o Determines where a company will sell its products.
o It is primarily a sales strategy although it affects product strategy
because implications for product variability and product priorities.
o High-tech products are marketable primarily to developed countries
o The small markets may not be economically attractive. The
advantages of selling products into multiple markets are offset by
the costs of entering each market.
o Most high-tech companies concentrate on NA, WE and Japan.
o Some companies go beyond the triad of major markets into smaller
developed and larger undeveloped country markets, entering one
or more new country markets each year.
o Smaller markets tend to be less competitive and in some there is
no competition at all.
o Once a company dominates a small market it discourages
competitors from entering.


• Global market strategy
o Emerging country markets have long-term potential; some of them
can eventually grow to be larger than the big market triad (Chindia)
o From a product strategy viewpoint, the sequence of expansion
should be based on the size of the country market, the strength of
competitors, and the suitability of current and planned products.
o From a sales strategy viewpoint, it is typically on the feasibility or
ease of expansion into targeted country markets.


• Global Product Development Process
o Priorities for assigning resources to new product opportunities
must be determined at global level.
o Product marketing tasks such as product specification, competitive
positioning, and sales forecasting need to be done through global
collaboration. This requires coordination among multiple marketing
and sales managers throughout the world.
o Worldwide sales organizations need to make commitments to
support the product launch, sell the product, and achieve sales
forecasts. This requires early involvement and coordination of all
sales organizations throughout the world.
o A company may develop products globally with design,
engineering, and testing being done in multiple countries.


Global Product Strategies
A company should try to leverage its product development by selling products
throughout the world, but at the same time, it must sell competitive product
offerings in each country market.
Global product strategies are applied on an individual product platform basis,
and a company with multiple platforms can follow multiple global product
strategies simultaneously.
• Design and Develop Products Uniquely for Country Markets
o Can be an inefficient strategy -it doesn't leverage development
resources
• Leverage a Country-Specific Product through Reengineering.
o It follows previous strategy.
o Traditional export strategy.
o Not good. Reengineered product is typically not successful and is
always more expensive than a global product that addresses all
those requirements.


Global Product Strategies
• Customize a Global Product Platform to Meet the Needs of
Different Regions
o It's perhaps the most successful
o Involves designing a base product platform that is then customized
for local requirements with minimal effort.
o The cost advantages and R&D leverage can be considerable
o The key is balancing global changes to fit local market
requirements and changes in the local market to fit global product
requirements.
o Begins with a a design that considers the requirements of all
relevant national markets. Common requirements are designed
into the base product platform, and variations are added as part of
the final configuration.
• Develop a Universal Global Product
o If possible is the best, but typically it is not possible.


Risks of Global Strategies
• It's difficult to execute a global strategy as it is closely linked with
other global strategies.
• Global products may have insufficient proximity to national
requirements

4. Understanding the Opportunities and Risks of Cannibalization

You don't want replacement
products to kill the profit of
existing products
prematurely.

Yet you don't want
someone else to do it
either.

Questions and answers

Gustavo Muñoz
@justavo
justavo@gmail.com

Product management para software comercial

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