Managing Product Success: Cool, Good, and Great Products

There are different levels of product success: Cool Products, Good Products, and Great Products. A cool product is one that receives consumer excitement when it is first introduced into the market, but fails to sustain that success in the market. A good product is one that can maintain a strong market position for an extended period of time. The lifetime of the product, the market share it captures, and the profit during the life cycle determines how good the product is. A great product is one that is "taken for granted" by others to create new businesses based on it - it is a source of innovation and a foundation for creating new marketplaces. A cool product introduces an exciting new possibility that doesn't quite have the market yet, but others may be able to create a version of it to build a good product. A good product contributes to a company's growth. A great product not only contributes to a company's growth, but it also contributes to the growth of the economy. 

Production evolution consists of two phases: 0-1 product innovation and 1-N product expansion. Product success in 0-1 product innovation is turning a cool product into a good product. Product success in 1-N product expansion is about improving market competitiveness, maintaining profitability, and prolonging the product life cycle to continuously make a good product better or to evolve a product from good to great. The product manager's main job is to lead a cross functional team to manage a product's success throughout its evolution. 

This book provides a theoretical foundation for product managers to improve their knowledge and competency in managing product success in the product evolution. Perfect for both graduate and undergraduate level courses in product management, this book covers: 

• The product evolution cycle: 0-1 product innovation and 1-N product expansion
• How to manage unquantifiable risk in 0-1 product innovation
• How to manager competitive risk and inflection points in 0-1 product expansion
• How to turn a cool product into a good product, and a good product into a great product
• The latercomer mind-set and how to manage the latercomer's advantage
• Real-world examples to explain the various theories presented in this book 
• Diverse and extensive case studies including international products, products across multiple industries. startups and large companies, as well provides both positive and negative examples to illustrate the theories in this book