Ch. 11 - Developing and Managing Products

Developing new products is one of the many ways large companies stay successful and current. Coca Cola is known for constantly coming up with new products. Today, the company owns and markets over 450 products worldwide ranging from carbonated beverages to beauty creams. Creating new products allows companies to attract new customers as well as adapting to changing times. Creating a new product is a big process for a lot of companies and goes through many stages. For product development, Coca Cola uses the stage-gate model. A stage is a period of work and a gate is the decision making point. The process of the stage-gate model follows creating an idea, building a business case, development, preparation and marketing.

 

The duties of product managers are to market and develop products. Product managers assess how a company can remain competitive as well as meeting the interests of consumers. Their job requires them to show consumers the benefits of the products they are selling. The decisions of product managers affect the success of the business. Coca Cola has remained the leading brand of carbonated beverages due to successful product managing.