The Product Managers Handbook, 3E [Hardcover]

Linda Gorchels (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2005

Revised and updated techniques to achieve top performance in product management

The Product Manager's Handbook takes the mystery out of this field by detailing how to integrate aspects from production and coordination to value maximization into a cohesive whole, while examining key international issues, new technologies, and the financial side of product management.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Renowned for offering detailed and valuable guidance to all product managers, regardless of market or industry, The Product Manager’s Handbook has been extensively revised and updated for today’s changing business landscape. While product managers must flourish in many different environments--such as consumer versus business-to-business products or hierarchical versus horizontal, team-driven organizations--the techniques and tools they need for management success are remarkably similar.

The Product Manager’s Handbook examines each piece of the puzzle, showing you how to integrate your organization’s disparate segments into a cooperative, results-focused unit that works together to create satisfying products from initial design through post-purchase satisfaction. The essential guide to seamless product management in a fluid and unpredictable business world, The Product Manager’s Handbook gives you the knowledge you need to:

• Conduct market and customer analysis
• Design branding strategies
• Establish and implement prices
• Target current and new markets
• Develop, launch, and assess new products
• Manage existing and mature products
• Create and manage customer demand
• Work effectively with sales, operations, and research departments

Clear, easy-to-read charts show you how to manage each crucial step, from conception to completion. Practical checklists help you to evaluate progress at every stage. Concise “Business Briefs” feature case studies of leading companies confronting and overcoming today’s product management challenges. Interviews with seasoned product management consultants and top-performing product managers provide you with dynamic, proven strategies for addressing potential problems in marketing, production, cross-cultural communication, and more.

Product managers must create, grow, and manage products that combine internal design integrity with external customer integrity--all, of course, while adhering to strict bottom-line necessities. The Product Manager’s Handbook examines current market-leading companies, latest research findings, evolving customer perceptions, and more to provide you with the tools you need to design, produce, and market winning products, regardless of your industry.

Guidelines for successfully managing your company’s most vital competitive assets--its products

A skilled product manager is among a company’s most valuable employees, responsible for spearheading every step in a product’s lifecycle. The Product Manager’s Handbook shows you how to develop and seamlessly integrate the key aspects of successful product management--product and market knowledge, financial and strategic skills, interpersonal ability, and more--to enhance your hands-on proficiency and ensure that you are a vital contributor to your company’s long-term profitability.

Filled with the updated guidance and insights you need to become an accomplished, valued product manager, this comprehensively revised edition features:

• All-new information on product management brand strategy and global brand management
• Expanded guidelines and insights for getting top performance from teams and team members
• Insightful “Business Briefs” featuring case studies of leading companies

In an environment of increasing product complexity, intense international competition, and accelerating customer sophistication, product managers can mean the difference between product success and failure. The Product Manager’s Handbook provides a straightforward template that you can follow to create and deliver superior products and services to your company’s customers, while at the same time providing long-term value to your company.

About the Author

Linda Gorchels is the managing director of executive marketing seminars in the executive education department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. She is the author of a number of successful business books, including The Product Manager’s Field Guide and The Manager’s Guide to Distribution Channels. Gorchels has provided corporate training for global organizations including Nokia, Siemens, Metso Automation, and others.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 3 edition (November 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071459383
• ISBN-13: 978-0071459389
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Marketing > Product Management

More About the Author

Linda Gorchels is the author of several international business books that have changed the way corporations and managers think since 1995. Having taught over 10,000 executives from the United States and globally, Gorchels continually reinvents her approaches by functioning as both student and teacher. From her background in foresight studies, she provides insights into 21st century trends that are important for companies to incorporate into planning and business model renewal.

Linda is a wife and mother of two daughters and an eclectic volunteer helping build Habitat for Humanity homes, devoting time on boards of directors, and participating in Rotary.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

110 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great overview of product management as a profession, August 1, 2000

By 

Todd Dailey (Santa Clara, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Product Manager's Handbook : The Complete Product Management Resource (Hardcover)

As a new product manager, I found this book quite useful as an overview of what is to be expected of a product manager. The book covers the roles, skills, and expectations of the product manager, covers the different organizational structures that cover product management, and uses detailed examples to show how those functions work in practice.

My only criticism is that it is a broad overview, and as such some of the areas (branding, for example) are covered very briefly. This book probably won't teach anything to the experienced product manager, but it might be useful as a reference to how other companies approach product management.

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for First Venture into Product Management, April 25, 2000

By 

Michael J Webb - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Product Manager's Handbook (NTC Business Books) (Hardcover)

This book is a good first step into product management (even though I tend to be partial to textbooks). It covers a wide spectrum of the topic. Unfortunately, this wide coverage and the book's short length (254 pages) means that at times it tends to be a bit too general. If you are looking for a very specific and comprehensive book then this might not be the one for you.

On the upside, it's packed full with charts, checklists and case studies (invaluable tools in learning), and it's written in a pretty concise fashion.

Overall, I feel that this book is a very good introduction into the area of product management for the beginner and possibly a supplimental text for the seasoned product manager.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

SECTION ONE: The Role and Operation of Product Management. 1. The New Product Management. 2. Introducing Product Management and Managing Product Managers. 3. The Role of Product Managers in the Organization. Case One: Heavyweight Product Managers.

SECTION TWO: Planning Skills for Product Managers. 4. The Product Marketing Planning Process. 5. The Annual Product Plan. Case Two: The Importance of Data.

SECTION THREE: Product Skills. 6. Evaluating the Product Portfolio. 7. Strategic Product Planning. 8. New Products: Proposal, Developmeent, and Lauch. Case Three: The Many Aspects of Product Line Management.

SECTION FOUR: Functional Skills. 9. Pricing Products and Services. 10. The Product Manager as Marketing Manager. 11. Product Management: The Final Frontier? Case Four: The 3M ScotchCartII Cartridge.

Please let me know if this was of help.

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great reference book...but perhaps start at Chapter 5, February 1, 2003

By 

Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Product Manager's Handbook : The Complete Product Management Resource (Hardcover)

For product managers and, in fact, *anyone* who contributes the to the making, marketing or selling of products, this is a great reference book to have on your shelves. Linda Gorchels does a masterful job synthesizing all of the issues a product manager must be capable of tackling. She accomplishes this task with clean, well-structured text and examples. The heart of the book is really a series of extended checklists which are comprehensive, well-researched and accesible to the lay reader.

My only complaint is that the book is front-loaded with some some compartively less important stuff, including a chapter entitled "Product Manager.com." I suppose this emphasis is reflective of a book written in 1999 and published in 2000. But as I cast my eye warily at that chapter I was *this close* to just chucking the whole thing.

Just then...bingo. The red meat arrived at Chapter 5 when *finally* the planning skills required to be a PM were introduced. The book from this point (p. 69 in hardcover) on is cram-packed with tremendous information that you'll use again and again.

So, my word of advice when you get this book is either (a) don't give up on it early, or (b) proceed directly to Chapter 5.