**3. Product management**

Product management is a unique function [6]. It is an important area in marketing because it paves the way for sustainable product performance and profitability for companies. Bjernulf and Billgren define product management as "the task that consist of product planning (making sure that the right product is offered), product marketing (enabling the product to reach its potential market), product strategy (the guide for product value delivery over the life cycle), and creating insights (understanding legacy, ecosystems/markets and driving forces)" [8]. Haines and Ausura also define it as a strategic and tactical management of products which are already in the market [6]. In addition, Windley sees product management as the process of designing, building, operating, and maintaining a good or service [9]. From these definitions, it can be clearly seen that product management is all about conceiving, developing, maintaining, and controlling the product sustainably over its life cycle. It deals with deciding on what the product will be and ensuring that it remains like that in the market profitably. Thus, an effective and high performing product management in a nutshell, enables companies to sell what is developed and develop what they can sell.

Similarly, product management can be seen as the act of effective customer life cycle Management. According to Windley, "customer life cycle consists of two phases; customer buying the product and customer using the product," [9]. Here, it is important to add the third stage, which is the decision to discard the product by the same customer. But in product management, companies are always trying to avoid the third stage because it leads to product decline or death in the market. In general, there are two methods of managing a product; the product life cycle and individual product management strategies.

Perhaps a more comprehensive definition of product lifecycle management is the one offered by Razvan Udroiu who views it as "a business strategy for managing the entire lifecycle of products. This strategy includes the management of conception, design, design validation and simulation, prototyping, manufacturing, quality control, use, maintenance and disposal of products, having integrated people, methods, CAx tools, processes, documentation, and data management solutions" [10]. The import of this definition is that product life cycle management can be seen from two different angles; traditional and modern perspectives. The traditional product life cycle management is very conservative and outdated. There is no innovation and creativity in it but rather a dormant, rigid, and stone-age orientation. Traditional farming system, local textiles, blacksmith, cobblers, and pottery especially in some African countries fall in this category. There is no modification or addition of new features but a religious utilization and protection of the past.

The modern perspectives on the other hand deals with the use of modern technology to produce and manage products overtime. There is creativity, innovation, and frequent modifications here which, in turn, lead to the development of many products variants and even new inventions. The application of computer-aided designs (CAD), robotics, drones, internet facilities, and other digital devices fall into this category. The design, manufacture, use and management of airlines services are examples of modern product life cycle management. To remain competitive and relevant in today's market, a company has to adopt the modern perspective of product life cycle management.
