What is a product?

When we look around, a myriad of products are seen. For instance, sitting in your bedroom you can list dozens of products present there, such as pen, desk,book,table lamp, fan, bed, cot,mirror etc. Just think! Why we call these as products? This is an important question that demands answer from each and every business organization in the world and this question must be answered sincerely.

The term product is used by all to communicate and it connotes to all more or less the same way. Usually the term 'product' is used as a generic term to describe what is being marketed or sold - whether it is a good, service, idea, person or a place. Another definition goes thus - a product is set of tangible and intangible attributes including, packaging, color, price, quantity, brand , reputation of the company etc. But these ideas of product does not help an organization to position its business. I order to create a stable and durable position in the market, the businessperson should clearly and esoterically understand what is a product.

Let us now therefore take an example: a particular kind of shrub is growing all over road side. Now the question is , "Is this shrub a product?". Most people will say 'no' because it is freely available and no one would want it. But one day someone imagined it as a drawing room decorette. Soon the shrub is places in the corner of the room with an artistic touch. Many visitors of the house appreciated the plant and its arrangement.

Let us consider this example and ask ourselves, at what point the shrub changed its character from a useless thing to a decorative item?. It is when the idea was introduced and given a perceivable form. Thus the product is idea in a form. In this example the product is: the arrangement of shrub in a decorative manner.

But a product is not simply an idea in a form. You may have picked the shrub from the road side and arranged in a decorative manner, but nobody expressed interest / desire for it even after it is exhibited. Until somebody says they want it, the thing does not become a product. This means that there must be a demand / value for the idea in form before it can be said to be a product and this demand / value is provided by the customer. If any products are sold to the customer without any inherent demand / value, then it is no less than hoodwinking. Through demand / value, a link of interchange is established between business-as-product and its environment-as-customer.

The recognition of the product as an idea in a form with a demand/value is very valuable to a business organization. Giving form to ideas that has value in the market should be the central and dominating activity of a dynamic business organization. A business devoted to the identification of central ideas, formulation of strategies for moving swiftly from ideas to operations i.e. giving form will differ qualitatively in structure and in activity from a business primarily concerned with management of money and other resources. The former is dynamic, adapting and enduring while the latter is static, rigid and monotonous. This esoteric definition of product will have transformation effect in restructuring the business.

(This is an article by Sasikanth Prabhu in 'Passline' January 1999)