High-Performance Product Management: The Impact of Structure, Process, Competencies, and Role Definition*

Abstract

Product management is one of the most important functions in marketing. Yet the product management literature has focused largely on creating successful products and has relatively little to say about creating effective product management organizations. This paper focuses on the organizational determinants of high-performance product management at three levels: (1) the product manager as an individual; (2) the marketing processes related to product management; and (3) the organization structure and role definition. The paper identifies several key factors that potentially impact product management performance. A set of qualitative interviews is conducted to develop hypotheses related to constructs that may drive product management performance. These hypotheses are used to develop a causal model for product management performance that includes constructs related to roles and responsibilities, organization structure, and marketing processes related to product management. An empirical survey of 198 product managers from a variety of industries is conducted to test the causal model. The results of the causal model suggest that performance of a product management organization is driven by structural barriers in the organization, the quality of marketing processes, roles and responsibilities, and knowledge and competencies. The findings suggest that structural boundaries and interfaces are the biggest impediment to effective product management, followed by clarity of roles and responsibilities. The research highlights the importance of organization structure and effective human resource practices in improving product management performance.

Predicting online product sales via online reviews, sentiments, and promotion strategies

“…Secondly, companies are becoming increasingly pressured to secure sales on their products within a shorter time period. This is illustrated by the trend of new product development in the aeronautical industry and the automotive industry, as well as electronic products; the latter one being used in this study (Tyagi and Sawhney, 2010). A means to achieve this is by turning to an online platform for promotional marketing purposes.…”

Productisation: A review and research agenda

“…Roach, 2011), with an emphasis on product life-cycle considerations (e.g. Tyagi and Sawhney, 2010). The difference arises from the motivation and the focus of the discussion, whilst some similarities exist.…”

Developing a domain ontology for software product management

“…1.188 (62; 1126) [6], [8], [37], [38], [43], [44], [61], [63] Internal Stakeholder - [8], [9], [10], [26], [48], [51], [63] Product Manager 3.766 [3], [4], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [13], [24], [26], [30], [37], [48], [51], [62], [69], [68] Organization Business Division - [8], [9], [19], [22], [23], [29], [37], [44], [48], [62], [69] Customer(/s) 5.271 (3348; 1923) [8], [27], [44], [48], [69] Partner(/s) 322 (155; 167) [11], [27], …”

“…The fourth column contains the corresponding qualitative evidence in terms of references to the literature which contains the excerpts. [4], [26], [37], [39], [48], [59] Launch 897 [7], [13], [26], [34], [37], [48], [62], [69] Planning 2.165 [5], [8], [23], [37], [48] Strategy(/ies) 1.102 (784; 318) [4], [25], [26], [37], [39], [48], [59] Support 1.601 [37], [46], [48], [59], [69] Artifact Product(/s) 21.960 (18.915;3.045) [26], [37], [40], [43], [44], [69] Product Description(/s) 24 [4], [19], [37], [44], [ [25], [37], [40], [48], [68] Specification(/s) 442 (294; 148) [37], [41], …”