DETERMINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PRODUCT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA BREWERIES
ABSTRACT
This research was done to evaluate the efficiency of product management and planning. an investigation into Nigeria Breweries (NBL) Plc. in Enugu. The study’s primary goals are listed below. to ascertain the company’s effectiveness of the plan. discover the challenges that the many departments engaged in product management and planning face while trying to get these processes correctly. The study was conducted using a survey research design, with a sample size of 70.90 being taken from the total population of 120 staff, 150 being taken from the total population of 240 distributors and retailers, and 300 being taken from the total population of 1200 customers in the Enugu metropolis. Data were presented using tables, and the non-parametric chi-square test (X2) was employed to analyze the data. The researcher found the following results after testing the theory. A comprehensive method for managing product planning is in place at NBL plc. Good product management and planning have greatly aided in the positioning of the company’s product. In its process for managing and planning products, NBL plc does run into issues. These findings lead the study to the following recommendations: Before beginning the process of developing a product, research on consumer preferences and tastes should be conducted. Strategically important employees need to have the right training. The business should implement more CSR initiatives, particularly for higher education institutions inside the state and its neighbors.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Anything that can be provided to a market for attention, acquisition, usage, or consumption that can satisfy a want or need is a product, according to Kotler and Armstrong (2004:276). Goods can be both material and immaterial.
Products are defined as tangible and intangible items that satisfy customers, according to Stanchion (2005:85). Product planning refers to the processes that provide a business the ability to choose the products it will market and the marketing strategies it will use. The goal of management is to accomplish goals through and with people. Put together product. Processes from production to planning are involved in this (Moore, 2003:5). Building and implementing programs that will push or pull customers to the items is necessary for a strong plan that results in a successful product. With the quick companies must constantly create new products and services due to consumer taste changes, technological rivalry, and market demands.
According to Kotler and Keller (2004:315), a corporation can acquire a new product development by purchasing a patent or a license to manufacture another company’s product as a whole. One is carried out by the company’s own research and development divisions. Through effective product planning and management, which allow it to place more emphasis on the front and of the product development life cycle, market leaders like Nigerian Breweries (NBL) PLC can capture customers and market demand, manage a technology road map, and continuously monitor their product performance in order to be market focused and assume target effort.
Visit Siemen’s website for further information. Planning and managing a product’s marketing and market helps businesses, particularly those in highly competitive industries, to address marketing and market-related problems. Schewe (2001:185) asserts that the fundamental objective of product management is to guarantee that a product corresponds to the wants and needs of consumers in its market. Understanding consumer needs requires direct participation from individuals involved in product design and development. Kenneth (2007:135) states that this could be meeting or interacting with consumers, watching how they use or maintain products, taking part in focus groups, or rotating development staff through marketing, sales, and customer support roles. This close participation offers a better viewpoint for development decisions and a better awareness of client needs, customer environment, and product use one product or a group of goods should be the focus of effective product planning and management. The following tasks must be coordinated: product creation, market research, and sales promotion.
Due to the ongoing competition in the beer drink industry, primarily between Nigeria Breweries Plc and Guinness Nigeria PLC, effective product planning and management, which includes continuous product innovation, marketing research product modification, and monitoring of the product market life cycle (PMLC), are the only ways to continue to be relevant in the market (Achison, 2002: 85).
Nigeria Breweries Plc’s company profile in June 1949, Niger Breweries PLC, the first and largest brewing firm in Nigeria, celebrated a milestone as the first bottle of star lager beer rolled off its Lagos Brewery bottling lines. The company was founded in 1946. This first brewery in Lagos has undergone numerous improvements and currently boasts the most cutting-edge brew house in the nation.
The firm opened its second brewery in Aba in 1957. A brewery was opened in Kaduna in 1963, and a further brewery opened in Ibadan in 1982. The business bought Enugu’s sixth brewery in 1993. Sixth brewery opened in Enugu State’s Ameke in October 2003; it was given the name AMA brewery. The largest and most advanced brewery in Nigeria right now is Ama.
Nigeria Breweries purchased the majority equity stakes in sonar systems in October 2011. Heineken N.V.’s Associated Business Management limited and Life Breweries limited. This came after Heineken purchased the majority ownership of five breweries in Nigeria from the Pepsi business in January 2011.
Sonar apparatus Nigerian Breweries plc presently includes the three brands, together with the two breweries in of a and Kaduna and life Breweries in Onitsha. MaltaGold, Life Continental Larger, and Goldbery beer.
The Nigerian Breweries, which had a modest beginning in 1946, currently operates eight breweries throughout Nigeria in addition to a cutting-edge malting facility in Aba and Kaduna.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Planning and managing a product is a difficult process that calls for careful commitment to professionalism in any manufacturing firm. While many businesses have experienced significant failure, particularly in marketing and product performance monitoring, others have finally dominated their respective operating industries as a result of their efficient product planning and management activities.
Coordination between the various departments is necessary for product planning and management in order to match the appropriate product to the always shifting market demand. When attempting to plan and manage its numerous product lines, Nigeria Breweries (NBL) PLC encounters challenges from both its internal and external environments.
The Guinness Nigerian Company is a government supplier of raw materials, while the internal environment includes employees, resources, and finances. The purpose of the research is to ascertain how efficiently Nigeria Breweries (NBL) Plc. plans and manages its product lines, as well as how these operations will be handled going forward.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The only focus of the study is on evaluating Nigeria Breweries Company’s (NBL) PLC’s product planning and management efficiency.
Other goals include:
1. To determine the value of this strategy to the business.
2. To identify the many departments involved in the processes of product management and planning.
3. to determine the main challenges the business faces in implementing these procedures correctly, and
4. To provide insightful advice in light of the varied findings.
1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study which is titled determining the effectiveness of product planning and management. A study of Nigerian Breweries (NBL) Plc will focus solely on the management, staff and other distributor in Nigerian Brewery.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study will give answers to the following questions.
1. Does NBL Plc have a formal product planning and Management process it products?
2. Has good product planning and management helped in position the company?
3. What is the contribution of its research and development department in this process?
4. What are the factors hindering the efficiency of product planning and management in NBL PLC?
1.6 FORMULATION OF HYPOTHESIS
For the purpose of the research question, the following hypothesis will be formulated and tested to prove their validity.
1. Ho: NBL PLC does not have formal process for product planning and management.
Hi: NBL PLC does have formal process for product planning and management.
2. Ho: effective product planning and management has not contribution little in position NBL PLC product.
Ho: effective product planning and management has not contribution little in position NBL PLC product.
3. Ho: NBL PLC do not encountered problem in its product planning and management process.
Hi: NBL PLC do encounter problem in its product planning and management process
1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Any business organization’s success or failure, as correctly noted by Udeagha (2002:40), rests to a large extent on the marketability of its products, which necessitates efficient product planning and administration. This holds true for businesses like NBL PLC, a prominent producer of a variety of beverage lines, including Star, Guder, Legend Extra Stout, Heineken, Life Beer, Goldbery Larger, Malta Gold, Maltina, and Amstel Malt, among others.
In light of this, Nigeria Breweries (NBL) PLC and other beverage producers, as well as academics, students, researchers, and the general public, would greatly benefit from the study.
The knowledge that would be gained from the study would primarily help NBL PLC. Such details will provide light on the significance and management.
This study will also point out some of the obstacles standing in the way of successful product planning and management. Such a solution would be highly beneficial and helpful for businesses dealing with similar issues.
The knowledge in this study would be equally useful to academics. If nothing more, they could utilize the information to supplement and update what they already knew about the topic of this study.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. Product: Anything that can be affected to a market for attention, acquisition use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.
2. Product Planning: Activities that enables a company to determining what product it will market and how it will be marketed.
3. Product Development: A strategy for company growth by offering modified or new product to current market segment.
4. Product Life Cycle (PLC): The course of a product
sales and profits over its time.
5. Product Line: A group of products that are closely related because of their similarities.
6. Product Positing: The way a product is defined by consumer or important attributes.
7. Product Management: The activities that enables a company to determine what it will market in order to satisfy customer wants and need respectively.
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