The Ohio State University – Max M. Fisher College of Business
MBA 842 Product Management Strategy
TTh 8:30 - 10:30am, Gerlach 275
Instructor: Greg Allenby, 540 Fisher Hall, 292-9452
Office Hours: 10:30-11:30am TTh and by appointment.
Course Objectives: Product strategy requires a conceptual understanding of the kinds of demand
addressed by an offering, and the demand it could potentially address in light of the competition.
The very nature of business requires answers to strategic questions such as “What do we offer to
whom?” by deciding how best to engage in exchange with consumers. Some strategic questions are
answered, at least partially, when management defines its market and decides the kinds of exchanges
it selects for competition. Other questions in product management strategy are answered when the
market is segmented, a market target selected, and the brand positioned in a competitive market.
This class develops the conceptual and technical skills needed to guide product strategy, bringing
together two recent developments in the academic and practitioner communities. Recent developments in statistical science have become increasingly visible in the academic literature because
of its ability to produce respondent-level coefficients for complex models. Choice simulators and
spreadsheet analysis have likewise been increasingly used by practitioners to predict the effects of
alternative actions. We bring together these developments and examine a set of practical solutions
to some commonly encountered problems in product strategy.
The objective of this course is to acquaint students with modern interactive decision tools
(IDT) used by brand managers at leading companies to address key issues in product strategy, and
to develop an understanding of how IDTs work. Running case studies based on surveys in two
product categories will be used to illustrate the class material. Students will be assigned to groups
and given the task of repositioning one of the brands in the surveys.
Textbook: Seven Summits of Marketing Research by Greg Allenby and Jeff Brazell.
Prerequisites: MBA 840 or permission of the instructor.
Course Outline:
The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 3, 2012
Chapter 1 – Market Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 5, 10, 12
Chapter 2 – Market Segmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 17, 19, 24
Chapter 3 – Customer Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 26, 31
Chapter 4 – Product Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 2, 7, 9
Chapter 5 – Pricing Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .February 14, 16, 21
Chapter 6 – Advertising Analysis . . . . . . . . . . February 28 and March 1
Chapter 7 – Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 6, 8
Grading: Grading for the course is based on the following items:
1. Individual homework assignments from each chapter. Please be sure to have your homework
completed before starting a new chapter (see schedule above). Late homework will not be
accepted.
2. Group homework assignments from each chapter. Same rules as above.
3. Group course project. Your assignment is to suggest a repositioning strategy for a brand
based on the class material. Part of the grade for the course project will depend on your
performance relative to other repositioning strategies by other groups using the class IDT.
4. Final Exam.
Academic Honesty: All material submitted for course grade credit must be your own work. For
group exercises, I encourage you to interact with, and seek advice from other students, including
those not on your team. Individual assignments, however, are to be completed individually. I
want to avoid students copying from one another without thinking through and attempting the
assignment on their own. While collaboration is fine for starting to formulate an answer, I want
everyone to work individually to complete the formulation of their thoughts. Please be informed that
I will follow Faculty Rule 3335-5-54, which requires that “all instances of what he or she believes
may be academic misconduct” be reported to the University Academic Misconduct Committee.
Academic misconduct is a serious threat to the integrity and value of your diploma.
Extra Help: Please do not hesitate to come to my office during office hours or by appointment to
discuss a homework problem or any aspect of the course.
Important Dates:
Project Deadline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monday, March 12
Course Final . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monday, March 12 a
a
7:30-9:18am in Gerlach 275.