Multi-dimensional Understanding of the “Product” in the Marketing Decision Process

The paper starts from the observation that students often experience difficulties in identifying the complete set of aspects involved in making product decisions, but also in understanding the correlations established between these elements. The review of the information required by product management reveals a set of interrelated aspects among which the most important refer to: product category; the needs that the product addresses; usage situations and fields; the product life cycle; seasonality of manufacturing/purchasing/usage; the path from technical features, such as attributes and functions, to the benefits (advantages) for the client; “total product”; the set of related products; the tangible/intangible relationship a.s.o. The paper may be used as a checklist to identify the requisite steps in the multidimensional research, which precedes the decision process of the product marketing.