Retail Product Development and Brand Management Collaboration between Industry and University Student Teams

산업여대학학생단대지간적령수산품개발화품패관리협작(产业与大学学生团队之间的零售产品开发和品牌管理协作)

This paper describes a collaborative project between academia and industry which focused on improving the marketing and product development strategies for two private label apparel brands of a large regional department store chain in the southeastern United States. The goal of the project was to revitalize product lines of the two brands by incorporating student ideas for new solutions, thereby giving the students practical experience with a real-life industry situation. There were a number of key players involved in the project. A privately-owned department store chain based in the southeastern United States which was seeking an academic partner had recognized a need to update two existing private label brands. They targeted middle-aged consumers looking for casual, moderately priced merchandise. The company was seeking to change direction with both packaging and presentation, and possibly product design. The branding and product development divisions of the company contacted professors in an academic department of a large southeastern state university. Two of the professors agreed that the task would be a good fit for their classes - one was a junior-level Intermediate Brand Management class; the other was a senior-level Fashion Product Development class. The professors felt that by working collaboratively on the project, students would be exposed to a real world scenario, within the security of an academic learning environment. Collaboration within an interdisciplinary team has the advantage of providing experiences and resources beyond the capabilities of a single student and adds "brainpower" to problem-solving processes (Lowman 2000). This goal of improving the capabilities of students directed the instructors in each class to form interdisciplinary teams between the Branding and Product Development classes. In addition, many universities are employing industry partnerships in research and teaching, where collaboration within temporal (semester) and physical (classroom/lab) constraints help to increase students' knowledge and experience of a real-world situation. At the University of Tennessee, the Center of Industrial Services and UT-Knoxville's College of Engineering worked with a company to develop design improvements in its U.S. operations. In this study, Because should be lower case b with a private label retail brand, Wickett, Gaskill and Damhorst's (1999) revised Retail Apparel Product Development Model was used by the product development and brand management teams. This framework was chosen because it addresses apparel product development from the concept to the retail stage. Two classes were involved in this project: a junior level Brand Management class and a senior level Fashion Product Development class. Seven teams were formed which included four students from Brand Management and two students from Product Development. The classes were taught the same semester, but not at the same time. At the beginning of the semester, each class was introduced to the industry partner and given the problem. Half the teams were assigned to the men's brand and half to the women's brand. The teams were responsible for devising approaches to the problem, formulating a timeline for their work, staying in touch with industry representatives and making sure that each member of the team contributed in a positive way. The objective for the teams was to plan, develop, and present a product line using merchandising processes (following the Wickett, Gaskill and Damhorst model) and develop new branding strategies for the proposed lines. The teams performed trend, color, fabrication and target market research; developed sketches for a line; edited the sketches and presented their line plans; wrote specifications; fitted prototypes on fit models, and developed final production samples for presentation to industry. The branding students developed a SWOT analysis, a Brand Measurement report, a mind-map for the brands and a fully integrated Marketing Report which was presented alongside the ideas for the new lines. In future if the opportunity arises to work in this collaborative way with an existing company who wishes to look both at branding and product development strategies, classes will be scheduled at the same time so that students have more time to meet and discuss timelines and assigned tasks. As it was, student groups had to meet outside of each class time and this proved to be a challenging though not uncommon part of teamwork (Pfaff and Huddleston, 2003). Although the logistics of this exercise were time-consuming to set up and administer, professors felt that the benefits to students were multiple. The most important benefit, according to student feedback from both classes, was the opportunity to work with industry professionals, follow their process, and see the results of their work evaluated by the people who made the decisions at the company level. Faculty members were grateful to have a "real-world" case to work with in the classroom to provide focus. Creative ideas and strategies were traded as plans were made, extending and strengthening the departmental links be tween the branding and product development areas. By working not only with students coming from a different knowledge base, but also having to keep in contact with the industry partner and follow the framework and timeline of industry practice, student teams were challenged to produce excellent and innovative work under new circumstances. Working on the product development and branding for "real-life" brands that are struggling gave students an opportunity to see how closely their coursework ties in with the real-world and how creativity, collaboration and flexibility are necessary components of both the design and business aspects of company operations. Industry personnel were impressed by (a) the level and depth of knowledge and execution in the student projects, and (b) the creativity of new ideas for the brands.

本文阐述了产业和学术之间的合作项目. 这个合作项目关注美国东北部的一家大型地区连锁百货商店的两个自有品牌服装的营销和产品开发战略发展. 这个项目的目标是通过和学生的想法的合作来振兴产品线. 从而给学生提供真实产业环境中的实践经验. 这个项目中有很多关键者. 在美国东北部的一家私有连锁百货商店为已有的两个自有服装品牌寻求一个学术伙伴. 他们的目标客户是追求休闲, 适中价格的中年消费者. 这个公司想要改变包装和展示的方向, 甚至是产品的设计. 公司的品牌和产品开发部门联系东北一个州立大学的学术部门的教授. 有两位教授认为这个项目非常适合他们的课程-一个是初级的媒介品牌管理课程; 一个是高级的时装产品开发课程. 这些教授认为通过合作项目, 学生在安全的学术学习环境中能进入一个真实的工作场景中在一个多学科协作团队, 提供超出一个学生的能力, 经验和资源优势, 并增加了解决问题的过程中的 "智囊" (Lowman 2000). 这种提高学生的能力目标的方向让每班教师去组织品牌和产品开发类的跨学科团队. 此外, 许多大学都聘请科研和教学的产业伙伴关系, 协作的时间(学期)和环境(教室/实验室)的约束有助于提高学生的知识和对现实世界的经验. 在田纳西大学, 产业服务中心和UT-Knoxville's 工学院和一家公司合作来发展它们美国公司的的设计进步. 本研究中, 因为是和一个自有商标零售品牌, Wickett, Gaskill 和Damhorst's (1999) 指出产品开发和品牌管理团队使用的零售服装产品开发模型. 之所以选择这个框架是因为它从零售这个角度强调了服饰产品开发. 两个班级参与了这个项目: 一个初级品牌管理班级和一个高级时装产品开发班级. 7个团队包括四名学习品牌管理的学生和两名学习产品开发的学生. 这两个课程在同一个学期但是不同的时间. 在学期开始的时候, 每个班级都被介绍给了产业合作伙伴并接受了问题. 一半的团队指定为男士品牌, 另一半是女士品牌. 这些小组负责制定解决问题的方法, 制定自己的工作时间表, 在与业界代表保持接触, 并确保每个小组成员以积极的方式负责任. 这些小组的目标是通过用销售规划进程来计划, 发展和展示一条产品线(遵循Wickett, Gaskill和Damhorst 模型) 并为这条产品线发展新的品牌战略. 这些小组展示了趋势, 色彩, 面料和目标市场调查; 制定一个产品线的草图;编辑了草图, 介绍他们的执行计划书写说明书, 配上合适的模型并最终开发生产样品. 品牌班的学生完成了SWOT分析, 品牌测量研究报告, 品牌心智图和完整综合的营销报告. 这些报告在介绍新产品线时同时发表. 将来如果有更多这样的协作机会而且公司希望同时考虑品牌和产品开发战略, 那么课程应该定在相同的时间, 这样学生有更多的时间在一起讨论时间表和被分配的任务. 像上面的任务, 学生不得不每堂课之外的时间见面. 这使得团队工作变得具有挑战性(Pfaff和Huddleston, 2003). 虽然这项工作的后勤是费时设立和管理, 但教授认为对学生的好处是多种多样的. 根据两堂课的学生的回复, 最重要的好处是和产业专业人士一起工作的机会, 跟进他们的进程, 并看到公司里做决定级别的高层对他们作品的评估. 教员们都感激有一个 "真实的世界" 的案例. 制定的创意和战略扩大和加强了品牌和产品开发两个部门的联系. 通过和来自不同知识领域的学生一起工作并且和产业伙伴联系, 遵守产业活动的框架和时间表, 学生小组在新的环境中完成优秀创新的作品是具有挑战性的. 在产品开发和为 "现实生活" 品牌的品牌工作, 这些品牌都在努力给学生一个机会, 看看他们的课程是如何紧密的与现实世界联系, 以及公司运营中设计和商业方面如何需要创造性, 协作和灵活性. 行业人员对(a)学生的知识水平和深度以及执行力, (b)品牌的新思路的创造性产生了深刻的印象.