新产品开发中产品经理的角色

The role of Product Manager in many firms is often described as one of unlimited responsibility for the success of a product line with absolutely no authority over those who are critical to achieving this success. Development of new products within a firm’s existing portfolio of products is no exception. Product Managers are expected to manage the development process by exerting influence over others in the organization with no real authority to call upon. This article is intended to explore the reasons that firms pursue new products and provide guidance on how the product management team can be used to maximize results.

在许多公司中，产品经理的角色常常被描述为对产品线的成功负有无限责任，而对那些对实现这一成功至关重要的人却完全没有权力。在公司现有的产品组合中开发新产品也不例外。产品经理被期望通过对组织中没有实权的其他人施加影响来管理开发过程。本文旨在探讨企业追求新产品的原因，并就如何利用产品管理团队实现结果最大化提供指导。

Why is New Product Development Important?

产品开发为什么是重要的？

New products are critical to the long term success of any firm. Firms may pursue new products for a variety of reasons.

新产品对任何公司的长期成功都至关重要。公司可能因为各种各样的原因追求新产品。

Regardless of those reasons, the intent is clear: to improve market position and to improve profitability. The Product Manager is in a unique position to recognize opportunities for new markets and products. The most prevalent reasons for pursing new products include:

抛开这些原因不谈，其目的是明确的：提高市场地位和提高盈利能力。产品经理在识别新市场和新产品的机会方面具有独特的地位。购买新产品最普遍的原因包括：

Market Share Growth: Apart from the sales force, Product Managers are the individuals in an organization who are closest to the market, and hence, the customers. Product Managers hear, every day, about what new segments are emerging in the market and are called upon to know the difference between a real opportunity and a “red herring.”

市场份额增长：除了销售人员，产品经理是组织中最接近市场的人，因此也是最接近客户的人。产品经理每天都听到市场上出现了哪些新的细分市场，并被要求知道真正的机会和“与事实不相干/转移注意力的东西”之间的区别。

Product Managers must also clearly separate those opportunities which represent incremental growth in market share versus those that will merely cannibalize the sales of existing products. In the orthopaedic industry, those devices that pushed the average age of patients down were the ones that provided the best opportunity for real growth. Such innovations as porous coatings on implants and modular/replaceable bearing surfaces were real advancements and fueled growth for many years for their innovators. Product Managers should be searching for the next big advance in the field.

产品经理还必须清楚地区分那些代表市场份额增量增长的机会和那些只会蚕食现有产品销售的机会。在整形外科行业，那些降低患者平均年龄的设备为真正的增长提供了最好的机会。植入物上的多孔涂层和模块化/可更换轴承表面等创新是真正的进步，推动了创新者多年的增长。产品经理应该寻找该领域的下一个重大进展。

Competitive Response：The first mover advantage in a market is well documented. Firms that are first in a market, in most cases, are able to dominate the market throughout the product life cycle. Unfortunately, not everyone can be first to market. This places tremendous pressure on those firms who are not first to be fast followers. In many cases, a good Product Manager can direct substantial improvements to a competitor’s product in the fast follower mode and create a dominant market position.

竞争反应：市场中的先发优势是有据可稽的。在大多数情况下，在市场中处于领先地位的公司能够在整个产品生命周期中主导市场。不幸的是，并不是每个人都能率先进入市场。这给那些不是第一个成为快速追随者的公司带来了巨大的压力。在许多情况下，一个好的产品经理可以在快速跟风模式下基于竞品指导实质性的改进，并建立主导的市场地位。

This calls for the Product Manager to be in tune with the reasons for the competitor’s new product. Is the product in answer to a real demand from customers? Or is the new product just a “lemon scented” version of an existing product that will simply cause the competitor to cannibalize its existing products?

这就要求产品经理与竞争对手的新产品的合拍。产品是否符合顾客的真实需要？或者新产品只是现有产品的“柠檬香味”版本，只会导致竞争对手蚕食其现有产品？

In the former case, the Product Manager may be well advised to pursue a new product that addresses the same issues. In the latter, the Product Manager should simply monitor the competitor’s new product.

在前一种情况下，可能会建议产品经理开发解决相同问题的新产品。在后一种情况下，产品经理只需监控竞争对手的新产品。

Early in my career, I was the Product Manager for Zimmer’s Miller/Galante Total Knee System. We were competing successfully against Howmedica’s PCA Total Knee System, the market leader at the time. Both the Miller/Galante and the PCA were introduced with resurfacing tibial components— tibial plates with small pegs. I remember taking a number of calls from our sales force alerting me to a new device on the market—the PFC from Johnson & Johnson, featuring a stemmed tibial component. The sales force was adamant— the market was moving toward stemmed tibial components and away from tibial resurfacing. Fortunately, we listened to our sales force and were able to react quickly and add a stemmed tibial component to the Miller/Galante line to address the emerging issue of stability of tibial components at a critical time. Care should be taken to avoid legal entanglements through patent issues, but a good Product Manager should also not shy away from the alternate definition of R&D: Rob and Duplicate.

在我职业生涯的早期，我是Zimmer 's Miller/Galante全膝关节系统的产品经理。我们成功地与当时市场领先的Howmedica公司的PCA全膝关节系统竞争。Miller/Galante和PCA均采用胫骨表面修复-带小钉的胫骨板。我记得我们的销售人员给我打了好几个电话，提醒我市场上有一种新设备——强生公司的PFC，其特点是有茎状胫骨组件。销售人员态度坚决——市场正在向有梗的胫骨组件发展，而不是胫骨表面修复。幸运的是，我们听取了销售人员的意见，并能够迅速做出反应，在Miller/Galante生产线上添加了一个茎状胫骨组件，以解决关键时刻胫骨组件稳定性的新问题。应该注意避免由于专利问题而引起的法律纠纷，但一个好的产品经理也不应该回避研发的另一个定义：掠夺和复制。

Complementary Products: The best Product Managers are able to provide incremental sales to their firms by pursuing new products that do not compete with their existing products.

互补性产品：最好的产品经理能够通过开发不与现有产品竞争的新产品为公司提供增量销售。

Such product development strategies answer the question, “What else can I sell my customers that might go with what they are already buying from me?”

这样的产品开发战略回答了这样一个问题：“我还可以向我的客户出售什么，以配合他们已经从我这里购买的产品？”

Such opportunities, while providing purely incremental sales to the firm, may also serve to increase the sales of existing products, as well. Product Managers should be at the forefront of answering such questions. Through contact with the sales force as well as with customers, we learn valuable information. During my time as a product director with DePuy, we introduced a product in the acetabular cup line—the apex hole eliminator. This simple UHMWPE plug was designed to be screwed into the apex hole of an acetabular cup prior to the installation of the cup liner. Surgeons were concerned that the presence of a hole in the outer profile of the cup might invite soft tissue impingement and compromise the stability of the acetabular cup liner. The apex hole eliminator provided a simple solution that added incremental sales to the company and actually drove the sales of the complemented product even higher by addressing one of the objections to the device expressed by customers.

像这样的机会，在为公司提供纯粹的增量销售的同时，也可以增加现有产品的销售。产品经理应该站在回答这些问题的前列。通过与销售人员和客户的接触，我们了解到有价值的信息。在我担任DePuy的产品总监期间，我们推出了一种髋臼杯线的产品——尖孔消除器。这种简单的UHMWPE桥塞设计为在安装臼杯衬垫之前将其拧入髋臼杯的顶部孔中。外科医生担心，在臼杯外部轮廓上有一个洞可能会引起软组织撞击，损害髋臼臼杯衬垫的稳定性。顶孔消除器提供了一个简单的解决方案，为公司增加了增量销售，并通过解决客户对该设备表示的反对意见，实际上推动了补充产品的销售更高。

Environmental Changes: Some changes in the marketplace are beyond the control of any of the competitors. Such environmental changes may spur new product development, as well.

环境变化：市场中的一些变化是任何竞争对手都无法控制的。这样的环境变化也可能刺激新产品的开发。

Continuing price pressures on manufacturers has created a whole sub-category of products intended to meet the emerging need to control health care costs. The current healthcare debate continues to challenge manufacturers to create products that both meet high standards of patient care and, at the same time, address the cost of care issues prevalent in the debate. Product Managers must stay vigilant and monitor potential environmental changes that may affect their product lines. The global warming debate may eventually find a foothold, even in our industry. Firms must take steps today to consider changes in manufacturing practices that might decrease a firm’s carbon footprint. Product Managers that successfully address such issues may well gain a sustainable competitive advantage in the eyes of consumers who are in tune with this debate.

制造商持续承受的价格压力创造了一个完整的产品子类，旨在满足控制保健费用的新需求。当前的医疗保健辩论继续向制造商提出挑战，要求他们创造既能满足高标准患者护理的产品，同时又能解决辩论中普遍存在的护理成本问题。产品经理必须保持警惕，监控可能影响其产品线的潜在环境变化。全球变暖的争论可能最终会找到一个立足点，即使是在我们的行业。企业现在必须采取措施，考虑改变生产方式，以减少企业的碳足迹。成功解决这些问题的产品经理很可能在与这场争论一致的消费者眼中获得可持续的竞争优势。

Excess Capacity: Some firms find themselves with idle capacity from time to time due to poor economic conditions or lower than expected demand for their core products.

产能过剩：由于经济状况不佳或对其核心产品的需求低于预期，一些企业发现自己的产能不时处于闲置状态。

Executives know that idle capacity is expensive, particularly regarding fixed investments like machines and warehouse space. Some firms get creative when faced with such a problem and seek product opportunities totally outside their primary focus. At least one firm in the medical device industry also makes high tech parts for the aircraft industry, finding that machining titanium parts for the medical device industry is not that different from machining titanium for jet engines. Such diversification strategies do come with some inherent risk that can be mitigated by operating as a subcontractor for an established firm, rather than trying to enter the market to compete with firms who have a reputation for expertise in the field.

高管们知道闲置的产能是昂贵的，尤其是像机器和仓库空间这样的固定投资。一些公司在面对这样的问题时变得有创意，并在他们的主要关注点之外寻求产品机会。至少有一家医疗器械行业的公司也为飞机工业生产高科技零件，他们发现为医疗器械行业加工钛零件与为喷气发动机加工钛并无太大区别。这种多样化战略确实带来了一些固有的风险，可以通过作为一个成熟公司的分包商来减轻这些风险，而不是试图进入市场与那些在该领域享有专业知识声誉的公司竞争。

Product Managers as Catalysts in New Product Development Cycle

产品经理是新产品开发周期中的催化剂

Product Managers should be integral to the new product development process. These individuals serve as a vital interface between the sales force and the firm. Further, the Product Managers are charged with the overall responsibility for the success or failure of a product line. As such, Product Managers are in a unique position to filter new product ideas from both outside and inside the firm. Product Managers should be prepared to vigorously defend new products and line extensions of existing products, but should also enjoy some freedom to take on a more entrepreneurial approach to seeking new products. This is especially true when trying to avoid simply cannibalizing the sales of an existing product with a new product.

产品经理应该是新产品开发过程中不可或缺的一部分。这些人是销售人员和公司之间的重要纽带。此外，产品经理对产品线的成功或失败负有全面责任。因此，产品经理处于一个独特的位置，可以过滤来自公司内外的新产品想法。产品经理应该准备好积极捍卫新产品和现有产品的产品线扩展，但也应该享有一些自由，采取更企业家的方法来寻找新产品。当试图避免简单地用新产品蚕食现有产品的销售时，尤其如此。

The Product Manager serves as coordinator of the new product development cycle from inception to product release.

产品经理作为新产品开发周期的协调者，从开始到产品发布。

This means developing and maintaining relationships with engineering to coordinate specifications and to insure that the customers’ needs are being met. Product Managers must work closely with accounting and finance to stay abreast of cost issues and to insure that the manufacturing costing methods used allow a positive contribution margin once the price is established. Manufacturing must be consulted to make sure that the new product is accurately forecasted and put into the production schedule. The sales force must be educated about the new product, and a distribution plan must be developed. Literature must be developed and distributed to the sales force and to customers. In each of these activities, the Product Manager serves as both point person and as champion for the product in an all-out effort to make the new product a success.

这意味着开发和维护与工程师的关系，以协调规格，并确保客户的需求得到满足。产品经理必须与会计和财务密切合作，跟上成本问题，并确保所使用的制造成本计算方法在确定价格后允许有积极的边际贡献。必须咨询制造商，以确保新产品被准确预测并投入生产计划。必须对销售人员进行新产品的教育，并且必须制定分销计划。必须开发并分发给销售人员和客户。在每一项活动中，产品经理既是产品的核心人物，又是产品的拥护者，全力以赴使新产品获得成功。

Despite all that I’ve noted, surprisingly few channels of clear communication exist between Product Managers and the various departments that they interface with. How did this happen? What’s being done to improve this situation? What could be done better? If a company wished to take one small step toward truly integrating the Product Manager in the development process, instead of just relying on them to be stewards of the day-to-day business, what would that first step be?

尽管我注意到了所有这些，但令人惊讶的是，产品经理和他们接触的各个部门之间很少有明确的沟通渠道。这是怎么发生的？我们采取了什么措施来改善这种情况？哪些方面可以做得更好？如果一家公司希望迈出一小步，真正将产品经理整合到开发过程中，而不是仅仅依靠他们来管理日常业务，那么第一步应该是什么？