Group Project 1 - Product Management 2018

The objective of this exercise: There is a large body of academic work which is
available in the management discipline and the same has been made available to the
students through the physical and virtual library. There is knowledge which is beyond the
prescribed text books and the classroom sessions. This is a self learning mechanism to
help the student develop the appreciation of the contemporary understanding of the
topic(s) which would be useful to them in their professional career.

Guidelines

1) Group project with 15% weight of the entire course.

2) The Groups have to nominate a coordinator. There are other activities where Group
coordinator would be required to interact with the faculty.

3) Indicative project topics list is given at the end of this section, but specific topic for the
Group would be allotted at random by faculty and communicated.

4) Research article based output with adequate and specific references is required. At
least 10 academic articles (not journalistic) are to be referred to. PLEASE USE MDI E-
LIBRARY (NOT GOOGLE SEACH FOR THIS WORK). However, in case academic
articles are not found by the group, then journalistic work may be considered only as a
last resort. The project would be evaluated based on the reputation of journals from
which they have been drawn out from, the relevance of topic and recentness of the
publication (year of publication after 2005 would be given greater value).

5) The understanding of different literature and making a concrete proposition,

observation and analysis from a product management perspective would be rewarded.
There would be use of plagi-check software.

6) Word Limit: 3000 - 4000 words (References and any diagram would not be considered
as part of word count). There would be appropriate penalty for deviation beyond the
range and plagiarism. The soft copy in word document format has been sought to check
this (apart from other checks).

Topics from which the group would be assigned:

a) Evolution of New Product Development (NPD) Frameworks.

b) Line Extension Decisions
c) Innovation management in NPD
d) Strategic challenges faced by organization in NPD process
e) Development challenges faced by organization in NPD process
f) Marketing challenges faced by organization in NPD process

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g) Commercial challenges faced by organization in NPD process
h) Coordination challenges faced by organization in NPD process
i) Production challenges faced by organization in NPD process
j) Risk Management in NPD
k) Outsourcing issues in NPD
l) Capturing consumer’s voice for NPD
m) Typical problems of marketing of new products in emerging markets
n) Marketing models and theories which are relevant to product managers.
o) Category management
p) Cannibalization concept
q) Product life cycle – a critical review
r) Virtual teams in NPD
s) Pricing of new products
t) Difference between radical and incremental product launch strategy
u) Brand extension decisions
v) Idea generation for new products
w) Managing products in growth stage
x) Managing products in decline stage
y) Diffusion of innovation

Evaluation details:
a) Overall understanding of the topic and its evolution over time.
b) The recentness of the research articles reviewed.
c) The flow of the term paper in terms of clarity of thought, use of references to
substantiate the point of view of the Group.
d) Communication clarity.
e) Original work, avoiding cut paste solutions to term paper submission. The Groups
would have to ensure that the entire work is original as the marks awarded (and any
disciplinary action in case of suspected malpractices) would be applied equally to the
entire Group.

Group Project 2 on Product Management 2018

Objective: To supplement the classroom learning with the actual conceptualization of the
new product development and marketing activity. Total weight of the project: 15% of the
course.
New product business plan
The project would require the groups to select at least three or at most four companies
which together account for 75% of market share of the Industry / product category which
would be assigned to you. Then the group has to view the project from the perspective of

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a particular existing company and justify the selection based on facts and figures. No two
groups should select the same company.

Do a detailed market analysis of the specific set of companies selected by the group.
This should help the organization identify the specific consumer needs, segment, the
market potential etc. based on:
i. Secondary data (which are to be referred accurately and adequately)
ii. Primary data (if required)

Develop a new product idea which the group would like to pursue to address the needs of
your company in the assigned category. The group may choose to consider it as a startup
which wants to enter the market in case they so desire. Develop a commercial plan giving
at least the investments required, resources required, the four P’s and the business
projections with contribution impact for the first two years.

Only organized sector is to be considered for the project as accurate data for the
unorganized sector is very difficult to get.

Word Limit: 3000 - 4000 words (References and any diagram would not be considered as
part of word count). There would be appropriate penalty for deviation beyond the range
and plagiarism. The soft copy in word document format has been sought to check this
(apart from other checks).

Industry / Product category

1. Mobile telephone services
2. Mobile handsets
3. Television
4. Washing Machines
5. Digital Camera
6. Broadband services
7. Satellite TV services
8. Two wheelers

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 9. Light Commercial trucks
10. Heavy commercial trucks
11. Bicycles
12. Sports shoes
13. Carbonated drinks
14. Chocolate drinks
15. Potato Chips
16. Biscuits
17. Jeans
18. Life Insurance
19. Mutual funds
20. Air-conditioners
21. Passenger Cars
22. Sports Utility Vehicles
23. Ice Creams
24. Coffee
25. Tea
26. Detergent

General Note:
1. Group size has to be 5 or 6 members. It can be across sections as the group
activity has no class interface. This activity has to be coordinated by a "project
representative" (as decided in the class). The task is to be communicated to the
faculty by project representative, by 15:00 Hrs on Monday, 11th of June 2018.
2. It is solely the participant’s responsibility to get included in a group, for being
evaluated in the component.

3. Deadline for both the Group assignments:

a. Group Project 1, Before the 12:00 Noon, 11th of July 2018 to me vide e-
mail and hard copy.
b. Group Project 2, Before the 12:00 Noon, 3rd of August 2018 to me vide
e-mail and hard copy.
4. The responsibility of reaching the hard copy report in my hand (or the letter box)
before the deadline and the soft copy in my mailbox is solely on the group. Please
note that the groups could submit the assignment before the deadline to avoid any
last minute difficulties, which may arise. The deadline has been announced well

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 in advance and delay for any reason what so ever would not be excused. In case
the students foresee problems, they should try to finish the activity beforehand
and not wait for the last minute. In case any Group is not able to score marks
which more than the penalty they have accumulated for late submission, the
negative marks shall be carried forward in their total scores.

2. Penalty of missing hard copy submission (for evaluation and comments) and soft
copy submission (for plagi-check) deadlines for both the assignments would be at
the rate of 2 marks for late submission (even by a minute) and additional one
mark per two hours of delay. For example, if the submission is 2 minutes after the
deadline, 2 marks would be deducted, if it is 127 minutes late, it is 2 + 2 = 4
marks deduction.
3. The report would be put through plagi check and institute norms would be
applied.
4. What is written would be evaluated and not what was meant. Hence be precise in
your communication.
5. Format: MS Word document, Times New Roman, Point Size 12, Line spacing 1.5
6. E-mail ID for soft copy submission: [email protected]
7. All groups can (at the group’s discretion) meet me for 10 minutes each (as a
group – only once) to discuss the project within the next working week at a
mutually convenient time with prior appointment (vide e-mail) to confirm “if their
interpretation of the projects are accurate”. However they should come with the
full plan and not depend on the discussion to make the plan.