Product development, more commonly known as new product development or NPD is one of the most important and core business activity of an organization. The product development hierarchy is involved in ensuring that the product that needs to be developed in line with the organization’s credo and with the industry it operates in.
Other factors like the strategies of market penetration or market expansion also need to b taken into account since these are the situations when a company usually decides to go for introduction of a new product. The organization also looks into support factors such as the availability of resources, competitor analysis, costs, etc. to decide upon the strategy of NPD.
The employees and employers of an organization need to look into certain business activities in this regard. Segregation in a vertical manner is necessary to specify the chain of command which flows from the strategic level till the level in which the product is actually manufactured in the factory. The product development hierarchy includes the following three levels:
A. The Strategic Level
This hierarchical level is constituted by people who take the decisions regarding the business strategies in respect of product development, the pricing strategy, the design of the product, the ingredients to be used, etc. They also take decisions regarding the segment of customers the product is supposed to target, etc. The job titles under this level are:
- Senior Product Manager
- Manager, Creative Output
- Senior Production Manager
- Chief Market Analyst
- Chief of Quality Control
These people engage in gathering market insights and applying the same in product design to deliver the best value to the customers. These decisions and insights are then communicated to the subsequent level.
B. The Middle Management Level
The personnel under this level are involved in carrying out the research work and in collection of market data that help the strategic level to make quick business decisions regarding NPD. They also look into factors like availability of resources and coordinate the manufacturing activities of the subsequent hierarchy. The profiles include:
- Product Manager
- Procurement In-Charge
- Research Associate/Executive
- Production Manager
- Project Manager
C. The Executive Level
The employees under this product development hierarchy level carry out the ultimate production process in the manufacturing units. They comply with the strategic decisions taken by the strategic level as communicated by the middle level. The job titles are as follows:
- Factory In-Charge
- Logistics Executive
- Production Supervisor
- Technical Associate
- Floor Executive
This level engages in ensuring the inbound logistics and the scale of production with a view to meet the market demand as communicated and look into the working conditions of the machineries and the safety of the product that is manufactured.
The product development hierarchy engages in idea generation in line with market trends and communication of the same to the subsequent levels for ultimate execution.