Business Plans For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 14. Managing More than One Product

In This Chapter

• Working with the product life cycle

• Expanding your market

• Extending your product line

• Diversifying into new businesses

• Identifying strategic business units

• Managing your product portfolio

Watching over a product or service as it makes its way through the cold, cruel marketplace is an awesome responsibility. It requires a major commitment of time and resources, as well as a great deal of careful planning. First, you have to understand what's required for the product to be successful. Which attributes and aspects should you stress? How do you make sure that people take notice (and like what they see)? What must you do to support and guide your product or service along the way, getting it into the right hands? You want to take advantage of opportunities as they appear. At the same time, you have to worry about the threats and competitive pressures that are lurking out there.

Does this sound a lot like rearing a child? Well, your product's your baby, and as any parent will tell you, there's going to be one blessed thing after another. Think how many times you've heard a parent say, 'You think they're difficult now? Just wait!'

Products and kids have a great deal in common; both of their worlds are continually changing, yet they eventually manage to grow up. For decades, the Dr Spocks of the business world have poked, probed, pinched, and studied products at all ages, and they've come up with a useful description of the common stages ...