Project Management and Marketing Linkages: New Product and Service Development Process

Catalog description

This is a graduate-level project management elective designed to expose project managers to strategic issues in marketing, opportunity recognition, and new product/service development. Marketing is presented as more than a business function; rather, as a philosophy of doing business. Students will be exposed to marketing management concepts and techniques in both domestic and international markets. This elective is intended to offer a specific context within which a large number of projects are initiated - i.e., new product and service development (NPSD) while broadening the perspective of students to understand how NPSD and project management directly link to marketing. An overview of the field of marketing is presented - from defining marketing and understanding its role in running a successful business to a thorough examination of the marketing mix, holistic marketing, marketing strategies, market opportunities analysis, branding, brand equity, and so on. It presents the marketer's view of product and service development as well as an understanding of stakeholder management and how project managers must work with marketing as a key stakeholder in the NPSD process. Further, the course explores linkages between marketing and project management - e.g., identifying opportunities, developing strategies, building a business case, identifying key performance indicators, and so forth. Identifying opportunities, developing strategies, and designing processes for the creation of new products, are key responsibilities for both entrepreneurs and managers in established firms. Developing new products and services is also fraught with risk, however: an overwhelming majority fail when introduced to the market. New product development is thus a joint challenge of marketing and effective project management. This course is about improving the odds of placing winning bets on new products and services. Strategies and processes for new product/service development will be the core of the course.