CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
A product is defined by Kotler as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition use or consumption. It includes physical objects, services, places, organization and ideas. While Holloway and Hancook view a product as any bundle of features from toothpicks to watch repairs. To Boone and Kurtza, product presents a bundle of physical, service and symbolic characteristics designed to produced consumer want and satisfaction.
All these definitions and other point to the fact that product is a very important part of the market mix, and consumer want and satisfaction serve as the yard stick for creating it. Hence products must be designed with the markets need in mind.
In marketing, product is viewed as having dimension or layer reference to figure.
The inner layer is the physical component of the product, which possesses values of varying amounts for different consumers. The outer layer is the product as actually pecimed by the consumer that is his age about the product or feeling about it. It is this perceptional layer that determined the purchase or rejection of the product, while the middle layer consists of all intervening factors that modify the way consumers receives the products. These may include the packaging artising, reputation and others that create product image.
Product planning encompasses allactivities involved in devising a product to meet the requirement of the market. It is often argued that a product plan is the heart of competitive strategy. It is also believed in marketing that product success stean from product planning. A farmer ibo, sierra Leaone that consider that to plant, what quantity how should it be packaged and possible branded etc is involved in project planning.
Jolson suggests various techniques to solve new planning scenario writing, envelop curves, credence decomposition, relevance and dolphin method.
All new products, whether successful have life spans in the market.
A successful product may however have a short life span which is not in the market skillful manipulator of the promotional instrument is required to prolong the life span of such product. The promotion in turn should be sported with and adequate distribution system, effective pricing strategy and production schedule that will satisfy demand. To make a product succeed in the introductory stage, the promotion effort should be directed towards in farming and deducting potential consumers. The selective demand is stimulated in the growth stage while in the maturity sage promotional effort should be directed towards persuasion and in the decline stage all promotional effort should be curt back substantially except when attempting to revitalize the product.
1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Product is said to be a very important fact of marketing mix, and consumers want and satisfaction, serve as the yardstick for creating it.
The objectives of this essay is to bring out strategies, methods and all activities involved in devising a product to meet the requirement of the market.
All new products, whether successful have life spas in the market. Also this essay, look at the market skillful manipulator of the promotional instrument required to prolong the life span of such a product and how the market uses product life cycle analysis as a basis for planning changes in marketing strategy.
Due to the importance of new products coupled with the high rate of failure, most organization have developed some formalized system or structure.
The essay will look at the formalized system as a structure for managing the new product development process. And finally the essay also looks at the need for new product development.
1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ESSAY
The study will be of great benefit to prospective entrepreneur by improving the performance of the current product line adding new product line. It is noteworthy to maintain that almost in all growth strategies, it follows an up-signing process. This is a management fad used in the context of increasing the size of an organization by mainly hiring more employees.
1.4 SCOPE OF THE ESSAY
The study is limited to the impact of new product development in an organization.
LIMITATIONS OF THE ESSAY
In the course of carrying out this essay, certain factors militated against the smooth operation of the work. The exercise was greatly limited due to some factors.
Some of the factors include:
- Lack of funds
- Time constraints
- Inadequate research materials to collect data such as textbooks, journals, magazines
1.6. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
H0: There is no significant impact of new product development on the performance of Pz cussons calabar
H1: There is a significant impact of new product development on the performance of Pz cussons calabar