Product Portfolio Management in Brazilian Technology-based Companies: Case Studies in Medium and Large Companies

Abstract

Product portfolio management (PPM) affects the trajectory of innovation and new product development because it guides not only the project of new products but also decisions to revise, update or discontinue products that are currently being produced and commercialized. Some studies emphasize that PPM allows companies to better evaluate, select and allocate resources across different product projects. The objective of this study was to analyze the PPM practices and methods in two Brazilian technology-based companies, one medium sized and one large. Portfolio management is more complex when a company has a reasonably sized portfolio with multiple projects in the pipeline. The main contribution of this paper is the study of product portfolio management in technology-based companies, which presents and analyzes the main practices that the companies have used for decision making in product portfolios. It was noted that the two companies used financial methods as the main mechanism for product portfolio decision making; not only does this corroborate with international researches on the subject, but it also demonstrates the companies’ concern with the goal of maximizing value. Company A showed balance, including short- and long-term planning in its product portfolio as well as product designs with both incremental and radical innovations.