Analyses the nature of product strategy and the management of the product life cycle, from product development to product elimination. This book emphasizes that without product strategy and management there would be no markets, no customers, no competition. It explores the relationship between success of a product and survival of the firm.

The long-awaited second edition of Baker and Hart’s Product Strategy and Management expertly analyses the nature of product strategy and the management of the entire product life cycle, from new product development to product elimination.

The nature and practice of the life cycle are central to the firm’s overall strategy for competitiveness. The authors repeatedly emphasize the fact that without product strategy and management there would be no markets, no customers, no competition - and therefore no marketing.

Exploring the fundamental relationship between the success of a product and the survival of the firm, the book employs an innovative four-part structure:

Part 1 – The theoretical foundations

Part 2 – New product development

Part 3 – Product management

Part 4 – Product elimination

Whether studying at undergraduate, postgraduate or MBA levels, students will find this book essential to their understanding of this increasingly important subject area.

Michael Baker is Emeritus Professor of Marketing at the University of Strathclyde where he founded the Department of Marketing in 1971. Past Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and founder of its Academic Senate, he was Chair of the Marketing Education Group for 16 years and President of its successor, the Academy of Marketing, for 18 years.

Susan Hart is Professor of Marketing at Strathclyde University. She has held professorial appointments at Heriot-Watt and Stirling University and visiting positions in the USA, Australia and Europe. She has published numerous articles on the subject of product deletion, new product development and new product launch.

Product Strategy and Management

offers a holistic discussion and explanation of this subject area and shows why it is fundamental to a firm's competitiveness and its ultimate survival. It covers the entire product life cycle from new product development to elimination.

This book is geared to students studying product management/product development at advanced undergraduate, MBA or postgraduate levels. It is also suitable for non-business school programmes - e.g., engineering, who offer elective courses on product strategy. It has also proved to be a useful tool for professionals in their day-to-day management and strategising of products.

This is a book that attempts to set the act of product strategy and new product development in a wider framework of strategic thinking and management theories. It has an easy to access style which makes it a good choice for students meeting such concepts for the first time.