AkzoNobel - Regional Product Manager - South Asia Region - Deco Paints

1. Product Portfolio Management

- Performs periodic and comprehensive review of the product offerings, market and competitive landscape, sales support tools, new product development programs, and value propositions, leading to recommendations for overcoming gaps to drive organic growth and margin expansion.

- Reviews the current portfolio to identify critical gaps impacting value proposition to customers, keeping multi-generation product planning in perspective; bringing in new products and regularly eliminating obsolete products; including aggressive management of slow movers/ obsolete products (SLOB).

- Builds clear product roadmaps that align with business segments and technologies.

- Coordinates with marketing to identify new product customer needs based on market research and creates specification for new products in liaison with R&D.

- Tracks environmental trends & legislative changes for potential impact on the portfolio and with R&D incorporates impact into product plan.

2. Product Positioning & Commercialization

- Coordinates with marketing to creates sales arguments for products including competitive comparisons and insights on costing for price adjustments

- Defines and drives product positioning to broader product management community.

- Contributes to the creation of best practices in product management across the business

- Establish pricing insights and guidelines for new technology/ product families and cocreates value propositions in coordination with marketing

3. Product related Communications

- Manages communication with stakeholders to perform "spider in the web" function and drive continuous improvement in the key product management processes, tools and capabilities

- Ensures that relevant product information is provided to the sales team; selling tools and training are available to support current and new product offerings

- Position the product lines as value line by emphasizing the solutions that these products bring to the customer or the end user

4. Market, Strategy & Innovation

- Align product portfolio to business strategy and prioritize product-portfolio actions for strategic asset planning

- Provides direction to the team to develop plans and projects for maximizing portfolio value through the product lifecycle.

- Shapes the innovation and complexity management agenda for the business

- Defines projects and their priorities in line with overall strategy to influence resource deployment. Balances BU (global) and MSU (regional/ segment) efforts to enhance overall BU performance.

5. PSRA, Compliance; HSE & Governance

- Be familiar with and ensure compliance with applicable policies and procedures related to personal conduct and HSE standards

- In consultation with PSRA; creates processes to ensure full compliance of existing and future product portfolio.

- Manages key processes, e.g. complaint handling, new product development/introduction, product relocation, TDS/SDS/labelling content. Influences product costing to improve margins, and ensures management of product master data.

Major Challenges

- Developing and driving pan-region Product pipeline and 12 Q plan that give us sustainable competitive advantage

- Engaging, collaborating and aligning with each country effectively, especially with the Country Head of Marketing and the category leads, RD&I to help deliver 1 Q pipeline

- Manage the compliances and guidelines to ensure effective product management for the region in alignment with global and country.