They are concerned with research and development, packaging, manufacturing, sales and distribution, advertising, promotion, market research, and business analysis and forecasting. In consumer goods companies, the newcomer joins a brand team and learns the ropes by doing numerical analyses and watching the senior brand people. This person, if competent, eventually heads the team and is later assigned a larger brand to manage. Several industrial-goods companies also have product managers.
Product management is considered one of the best training grounds for future corporate officers.
This page was last revised on May 16, 1997.