Hi All,

I was thinking about the Planning and Development phase of the Product Life Cycle. One of the most important aspect in this phase is the market and the evaluation of the market. Ensuring that the market is a attractive is a key in ensuring that the product will move forward. Another key feature is the feasibility of the project again to ensure that they will move forward. Both these areas are huge keys to ensure that a project will move forward or be ended.

-Andrew Nashed

Product Introduction is also very important as it follows after Planning and Development. Some of the key aspects in Product Introduction are reviewing project at regular intervals and begin establishing connections to customers. Keeping track of the project during the intervals will be critical in order to make sure that the timeline is being followed. You don't want to be delayed in your timeline as it can influence the budget etc. Another key aspect is establishing connections to customers, you want to make sure that once your product hits the market, it is being bought. You have to make sure you use all of the company's connections to successfully launch the product on the market. This also parallels with marketing as mentioned above.

One key feature of post-launch product management is having a fully trained, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic sales force. It is important to keep a sale and advertising team up to date but also well-informed on the product because if a sales person cannot answer questions about the product, then the customer that they are trying to sell it to will not trust them, or the brand, resulting in a loss of sale. Furthermore, if a salesperson cannot get excited about the product themselves, it can fail to sell well, resulting in poor market performance. This is sometimes demonstrated on the popular show, Shark Tank, where inventors present their idea to a team of investors, in hope to gain additional funds for their product. When an inventor is not excited about the product, it can often be seen by investors, causing them to back out of a deal that would have otherwise taken place, had the inventor been more enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the product and its market.

I agree with the key aspect of the post-launch product management being having the correct sales team to help push the product into the market and be a helpful resource to better understanding the nature of the product. Another key aspect within this part of the cycle is having the correct project team to track of metrics, dealing with regulatory concerns, working through and resolving any quality issues and complaints and providing additional assistance to the sales team. Unfortunately, one the product hits the market, there are issues that arise and even with having an extensive process with clinical trials and approvals with any regulatory body, there are times the product may have an issue that was unforeseen.

In the Discovery and Innovation phase of the Product Life cycle phase, it is important to understand the customer. Analyze and research the customers needs, if there is something that could fulfill a void or be done easier and a customer would respond to this, a potential product could be developed. Additionally, it is also important to review the market and identify that interest in this respective area. If this niche market could potential grow, it creates a larger need. Additionally, you review the market for competitors and evaluate their products. If there is a reason to believe that the company can create a better product in this open market, it is important to do the research and provide that data/analysis for all facets before presenting this innovation to upper management.

During post-launch product management, it is very important to keep track of the product's quality performance by interacting with the customers and keep track of it. This way you are ensuring that customers are not only satisfied with the new product but they are also getting all the features and benefits promised as marketed during promotions and campaigns. A new product in the market definitely raises customer expectations and it is essential for an organization to touch base with their clients on a regular basis to find out whether the new product has made them happy, fulfilled their needs and has been an effective replacement of what they have been using till now. Customers are undoubtedly the success of every business and ignoring them just because the product has been sold, could potentially affect the product's sales, thus leading to a quick decline.

Post-Launch Product Management: Monitoring the product maturity/decline must heavily be examined to see if the product was still consistently selling, or going through a very slow maturity period, while at the same time, the product's intellectual properties and trademarks were close to expiring, the company should must determine new routes to brand and market to remain relevant. This can be detrimental to the growth of the company, especially if the product did not take off almost half way into its IP time frame. Generic manufacturers would make the most of this situation, capitalize the most, for they invested nothing into the research and development. Re-branding and marketing would be best suitable route for a company to extract the largest revenue for the same product.

In a product's life cycle as we all know consists of the following: Discovery and Innovation -> New Product Planning -> New Product Introduction -> Post-Launch Product Management. Each of these sections holds substantial significance in the product's life cycle. The Discovery and Innovation is best in identifying the market, customer needs, identify competitors and other target markets. They will also formulate the strategy on how to approach the life cycle of the product and uncover opportunities and creating functional teams. As mentioned before this section is first initiated by the marketing team and performing market research, the customer needs is obtained by interviewing doctors and surveys to customers. New Product Planning is the next stage where forecasts are derived and a business case is created along with prototypes. This allows the teams to visualize and prioritize opportunities and prepare a launch plan etc. This section i believe is idea when it comes to ensuring the product planning continues to move along the process and the process of generating a concept, feasibility and definition is done. The next would be the New Product Introduction where is essentially the overall development process of the product and launch, this is essentially where Design Controls takes place along with product production and release. Lastly would be the Post-Launch Product Management, this is where tracking customer satisfaction and conduct post launch audits is important. This is where it allows the company to monitor the performance management and the growth-maturity decline of the product. This is where providing support to the products for customers is important because it allows the company to gather statistical data on their product and learn how to further improve in areas where is needed.

The Discovery and Innovation phase as many have mentioned is the part of the life cycle that identifies customer needs, market, and competitors the "Climbing the Hill" phase where we search for ideas, unmet needs and look at how we can do better than competitors. You need to have a target market, understand and segment the market. In this phase Quantitative Research (surveys to customers, questionnaires online, consensus data etc) and Qualitative Research (customer visits, speaking with KOL's, brainstorming, focus groups etc) to search for needs. Ideas are only the beginning. Then you need to have a strategy and the strategy for the product must fill with the overall company strategy. Execution is when you are "Coming Down the other side of the Hill" . In an Innovation Project you need to have a Dedicated Team, Operations and Shared Staff. Every innovation needs a team with a custom organizational model and strategic plan. The key aspects of this phase include Develop Market Insight and Formulating Strategy as mentioned in lecture:
Developing Market Insight
1. Segment Markets
2. Define Customer Targets
3. Assess Customer Needs
4. Create Customer Personas
5. Detect Industry Trends
6. Evaluate Competitors
7. Compere Competitor Products

Formulating Strategy
1. Establish Strategic Baseline
2. Configure Product SWOT
3. Determine Lifecycle State
4. Uncover Opportunities
5. Integrate Product Relationships
6. Align Cross Functional Teams

Some important takeaways are brought to light when Dr. Simon mentions the 7 Common Mistakes for Partnership between Operations and Dedicated Team; 1. Having a bias for insiders 2. Adopting existing roles and responsibilities 3. Reinforcing regular performance engine power centers 4. Assessing performance with the usual metrics 5. Failing to create distinct culture 6. Using exiting processes and 7. Succumbing to tyranny and conformance. Overall Innovation is about learning and trying new methods and having the freedom to innovate. (Not having to follow company SOPs or include accounting dept etc).

Introduction stage of a product life cycle, its a very important stage in the product life cycle, because the product manager should focus on marketing,advertising, pricing , distribution, and promotion to sell the product. In the introduction stage limited competition, if the product is truly original or the product is better than any other product in the market or you are the first to manufacture of the product in the market, the lack of direct competition would be a distinct advantage.
Also, High Price: Manufacturers that are launching a new product are often able to charge prices that are significantly above what will eventually become the average market price. This could be a big advantage in the introduction stage. However, the challenges of the Introduction Stage, when a new product is launched, there is typically no market for it, or if a market does exist it is likely to be very small. Also, with all the costs of getting a new product to the market, most companies will see negative profits for part of the Initial Stage of the product life cycle, although the amount and duration of these negative profits does differ from one market to another, so this could be a challenge in the introduction stage.

An essential phase within the product life cycle is the product introduction phase. In this stage, the transition from development to launch takes place. As the product enters the market, it is important to consider the current market value and any competition that is currently in place. This way, the sales team can determine the most effective and successful launch of the product. In addition, it is necessary that the marketing team works to determine the best way to announce the product so the product is positively received by the customers. Along with all these factors, the company needs to ensure that secure regulatory approvals are done. Will all these aspects, the product introduction plays a key role along with the other steps in successfully launching a product.

During the maturity phase of the product life cycle, it is important to be FDA and EU compliant. This product is now on the market and is used for real people. These FDA and EU guidelines are in place to ensure a safe and effective device throughout the entire life cycle. In the maturity phase, the SOPs and specs and all the documentation that follows the device must be highly detailed and FDA compliant. The Quality and Regulatory departments of medical device companies are highly valued during the maturity phase of the device. It is also important to respond effectively and satisfactorily to complaints that may arise once the device has been out on the market in order to stay on the market. Complaints, depending on their level of severity, can make or break a device. For this reason, CAPAs must be well maintained and executed.

During the maturity, stage sales will plateau, and the profit margins of your products will begin to decline. This is typically caused by a number of factors come this can be market saturation or other alternative solution to what said product implements (especially because competition of products can highly dependent on the price of service/product). Mature markets I believe are a good time to be prepared for to have an innovative solution to implement. A solution that could find an alternative market where similar tech can use. The maturity stage is also the time to start planning and researching for a next-generation product or technology, its good to either start this process well in advance and never too late into this phase or in a decline. Invest in market research is key and should happen periodically.