Question

1. Compare and Contrast between Up Stream and Down Stream Partners
2. Explain briefly the following concepts

3. Product mix width

   Product mix length

   Product line depth

   Consistency

Answer 1

Upstream refers to the material inputs needed for production, while downstream is the opposite end, where products get produced and distributed.

Comparison between upstream and downstream partners

Upstream Partners

Upstream Partners refers to all the activities needed to gather the materials required to create a product. The upstream stage of the production process involves searching for and extracting raw materials. The upstream part of the production process does not do anything with the material . This part of the process simply finds and extracts the raw material . In a more general sense, "upstream" can also refer to any part of the production process relating to the extraction stage.

Downstream Partners

Downstream Partners involves processing the materials collected during the upstream stage into a finished product. The downstream stage further includes the actual sale of that product to other businesses, governments or private individuals. The type of end user will vary depending on the finished product. Customer service is a part of the downstream process because it is the final bridge between the product and the end user. Inefficient customer service can negatively impact the sale of the final product.

Example

Downstream pertains to the processes for converting the crude oil into other products and then selling those products to customers and upstream procurement involves the all processes that identify and source the savings, and downstream procurement includes the all processes that can deliver those savings.

Product mix

The complete range of products present within a company is known as the product mix. If a company has only a single product, than it is understood that the demand of the product is very high or the company does not have the resources to expand the number of products it has. Generally, most companies nowadays realise the importance of product diversification.

However, if the business market is any example, than all the top companies have multiple products. Coca cola, Apple, Microsoft, Nestle, Hindustan unilever, Pharmaceutical companies, so on and so forth. These companies need to have a wide product portfolio to be present in the market and to have a sustainable business model.

Four elements of product mix

1. Product mix width

The product mix width means number of product line carry by business.The width of the product mix is equal to the number of product lines within a company. Example, if there are 4 product lines within the company, and 10 products within each product line, than the product line width is 4 only. Thus, product line width is a depiction of the number of product lines which a company has.

2. Product mix length

Product mix length means total number of items in product line. If a company has 4 product lines, and 10 products within the product line, than the length of the product mix is 40. Thus, the total number of products against the total number of product lines forms the length of the product mix. This equation is also known as product mix length.

3. Product mix depth

Product mix depth means number of version offered of each product in line.Depth is closely related to length in the product mix in the sense that it offers the consumer options when selecting a given product. Depth refers to the different ways that you can buy a particular product in a product line. For instance, you can buy soft drink in a 2-Liter bottle, a six or 12-pack of cans, a 20-ounce bottle or other sizes. You can buy dish soap in liquid, powder or gel form. These options further enhance your flexibility as a buyer.

4. Consistency

The consistency element of the product mix refers to the connection between products within the product line and the way they reach the consumer. For manufacturers, consistency refers to how closely related production processes are for various products. The more consistent production is, the more efficient and cost-effective. For retailers, consistency in a product mix makes it easier to perform suggestive selling and recommend close products. Distinct products in the mix typically translate to a unique selling process for that product.