Product and Portfolio Management

How do you get the optimal "product-market fit"? The prerequisite is an objective assessment of the company's core competencies and the relevant market developments, demand and competitive trends.

Overview

Dynamic market developments require continuous innovation and review of the strategic orientation in order to remain competitive in the long term. In particular, the portfolio structure and products must reflect current market and customer requirements – and ideally anticipate changes in demand.

External factors such as supply bottlenecks, price increases, new competitors and alternative distribution channels further increase the pressure to act.

FTI-Andersch works out a transparent status quo and develops suitable product and portfolio strategies as well as supporting digital state-of-the-art solutions for tracking economic performance. The Profit Cube developed by FTI-Andersch for these purposes combines a standardized approach with project- and customer-specific customization options.

Services

Optimized strategy

Questions for the team

What are the first key steps in developing a new product/portfolio strategy?

First of all, the change of perspective on the product portfolio is crucial: from the perspective of the customers.

Most of our clients can present the USP of their products in detail – i.e. answer the question of what the so-called Unique Selling Propositions are. This way of thinking is correct, but it is limited purely to the company's internal view of the products and thus primarily to the product features. What is often missing or only partially elaborated is the exact understanding of why the customer chooses our product and not that of the competitor. The so-called UBR, i.e. the Unique Buying Reason, enables precisely this change of perspective and focuses on essential product features for or against a purchase.

In price differentiation, we take into account relevant factors such as the competitive situation and desirability of the brand. In product development, "over-geneering" should be prevented. However, this is where the actual product portfolio process begins: with the introduction of a new product, the question arises as to which existing products should be substituted or phased out in order to avoid an increase in complexity.

What is the importance of the workshops that are part of the approach?

They promote the exchange of staff from different departments as well as hierarchical levels – often completely new insights result from this interaction. In this way, we also create a common understanding of the challenges and clarity about the strategic guard rails of the portfolio. These insights facilitate the joint development and acceptance of the measures. In doing so, we tailor each workshop individually to the specific focus topics of the company.

What distinguishes the approach from others and what added value does it deliver?

We combine our financial expertise and strategic perspective with years of operational experience. It is important to us to optimize the portfolio from different perspectives in order to ensure sustainable viability – for example, we do not only focus one-dimensionally on cost reduction, but also on levers to increase turnover. When evaluating and prioritizing alternative courses of action, we take into account not only corporate competencies and market potential, but also competitive strength and the likelihood of success.

How we help our clients