Product positioning in a complex market can be one of the hardest decisions of the company. In determining whether to integrate or maintain separate production lines, Hewlett-Packard used an approach he calls the strategic modeling of the market (SMM) to develop "what if" scenarios and run simulations to predict the behavior of the market. SMM combines demographic, user needs, and the competitiveness of these perceptions to the database to test alternative positioning strategies. The author describes the development of HP's SMM and lessons learned. "Hide
by David E. Schnedler Source: MIT Sloan Management Review 10 pages. Publication Date: April 1, 1996. Prod. #: SMR020-PDF-ENG
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