Tesco
Portfolio Management for New Products
Book

Portfolio Management for New Products

Robert G. Cooper, Scott J. Edgett and Elko J. Kleinschmidt
Perseus Books, 2001
First Edition: 1998

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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Three professors, Robert G. Cooper, Scott J. Edgett and Elko J. Kleinschmidt, wrote this book. The good news is that they really know their stuff; the less-than-great news is that they write like, well, professors. The book is hampered by academic prose, qualifiers, tangents and a scholarly, if balanced, reluctance to commit completely to most propositions. getAbstract finds that readers seeking a comprehensive catalog of product portfolio management techniques will benefit from the detailed initial chapters. Meanwhile, readers who are in search of practical, applicable information will find more of what they want in the later chapters.

Take-Aways

  • The firms that perform best have formal product portfolio management systems.
  • Approaches to product portfolio management differ. Some are better than others, but almost any is better than none.
  • The worse-performing firms rely excessively on financial models, while better-performing firms use strategic approaches, often combined with financial models.

About the Authors

The three authors are professors at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Marketing professor Robert G. Cooper runs a product management organization. Scott J. Edgett, who heads a project development institute, teaches marketing. Elko J. Kleinschmidt teaches international business and marketing, and directs the engineering and management programs.

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