Brand

I. Introduction Hello everyone, my name is Tu? n from group 4: Bad apple. Though all of you seem quite tired after hearing a lot of presentations, we highly appreciate your attendance today. Firstly, let me introduce 6 members of our group: …. Have you ever heard about Apple. inc? I’m sure you all know about this as it’s so famous of high-tech products. So today, we’re very pleased to be here to talk about a topic that we think very close to all of you : Apple- the best global brand. Which reason makes us talk about Apple it’s because Apple has a large market share and it is having lots of influence on technological revolution.

We hope that through this talk, everyone will have a sufficient overview about Apple. Now, to make it easy for you to approach the presentation, let’s look over 4 main ideas in our talk. First, we’ll tell you about Apple’s history. After that, We’ll give you some information about its human resources. Next We’ll mention development strategies. And the final thing is achievements. We will represent it briefly so it’s expected to take you about 30 minutes. We’d be glad to answer any questions at the end of our talk. Now let’s start with Nhung in section 1: Apple’s history. II. Body 1. history

All of you must have known Apple and their products, right? But are you sure that you know Apple’s history? That bring me to my part of our presentation As you know, Apple Inc, originally Apple computer Inc is well – known as one of the most successful multinational companies. I’m sure that everyone here know it is engaged in designing, manufacturing. Apple is also famous for selling mobile communication, media services, personal computers, portable digital music players, computer software and a wide range of applications. Now, let’s take a look at the screen, I will show you a brief .

Dated back to April 1, 1976, Apple was established by three young men. Who are these geniuses? They are: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. With their great efforts and talent, they have built Apple into unbeatable empire in technology world. The world corporate headquarters are located in the middle of Silicon Valley in Cupertino California where hundreds of breakthroughs have been appeared. Now, I ‘d like to draw your attention to the next part of my talk. All of you may know the official logo of the company, an apple with a bite. So unique, right?

But what I want to tell you is its history. Apple‘s first logo, designed by Ron Wayne, depicts Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. However, it was almost immediately replaced by Rob Janoff‘s “rainbow apple”. The logo was designed with a bite so that it would not be confused with another fruit. The colored stripes were conceived to make the logo more accessible and to represent the fact that second generation product, Apple II, could generate graphic in color. Since 2001 till now, a version of monochrome logo has been used. So, that’s enough for background information of Apple.

You must be surprised when know that Apple has 393 retail stores in fourteen countries as well as the online apple stores and iTunes stores today. It is the largest publicly – traded corporation in the world by market capitalization with an estimate value of $626 billion as of September 2012. The apple market cap is larger than that of Google and Microsoft combined. So, what are the factors contributing widespread success of Apple? What makes it become one of the most famous and valuable brand names? Please keep paying attention, find out the answer and welcome to the next part of our presentation!!! . human resource Yes, one reason for the success of Apple is human resource. That brings me to my presentation, human resource of Apple. It’s about Apple’s leaders and employees At first, I would like to give you some information about Apple’s leaders. Such a successful company like Apple certainly has many wonderful leaders. Board of directors now is: 1. Tim Cook- theCEO 2. Eddy Cue- Senior Vice President Internet Software and Services 3. Crag Federighi-Senior Vice President Software Engineering 4. Jonathan Ive- Senior Vice President Industrial Design 5.

Bob Mansfield- Senior Vice President Technologies 6. Peter Oppenheimer – Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer 7. Philip W. Schiller – Senior Vice President Worldwide Marketing 8. Bruce Sewell – Senior Vice and General Counsel 9. Jeff Williams – Senior Vice President Operations Now I will bring to you some information about amazing CEO, Steve Jobs – a visionary leader of Apple. Steven Paul “Steve” Jobs ( February 24, 1995 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur. As you know, he is best known as the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple.

Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields. Therefore, his death in 2011 is a big missing in the field high tech and entertainment, especially Apple. Now I will move to the next part, the employee. Since the formation in 1977, Apple Computer, Inc. has employed over 75,000 people worldwide. The majority of Apple’s employees have been located in the United States but Apple has substantial manufacturing, sales, marketing, and support organizations worldwide, and some engineering operations in Paris and Tokyo.

Let’s consider Apple jobs in US in more details. The number of Apple jobs based in the U. S. has more than quadrupled over the past decade, from less than 10,000 employees in 2002 to more than 50,250 today. That number is more than doubles again when we include vendors that employ more than 50,000 people who directly support Apple. These jobs require people with a wide variety of skills — including construction workers, component manufacturers, retail specialists, tech support representatives, salespeople, marketers, and the best hardware and software engineers in the world.

How can these geniuses make Apple as success as today? Let’s find out in the next part of our presentation. 3. development strategies As you know, Apple has so many cults following all around the world. So, why can they become such a fame, such a phenomenon? That brings me to my part of presentation, development strategies. Development strategies of Apple is divided into 2 parts: marketing and competitiveness. Let me bring to you some information about marketing first. The first subject of marketing is logo. Let me go back to the logo history of Apple. As you can see, the bitten logo is very unique.

It’s so remarkable that when people see it, they will think about Apple. The logo was designed with a bite so that it would not be confused as another fruit. Very interesting, right? The second thing I want to mention is Apple’s slogans. Apple’s first slogan, Byte into an Apple”, was coined in the late 1970s. From 1997–2002, the slogan “Think Different”used in advertising campaigns, and is still closely associated with Apple. Apple also has slogans for specific product lines — for example, “iThink, therefore iMac” was used to promote the iMac, and “Say hello to iPhone” has been used in iPhone advertisements.

The third but not less important subject is advertising. Let’s face it. Apple is a master at marketing. The advertising campaigns of Apple are amazing, diversified, and varied. They use mass media so effectively and perfectly such as: magazines, ads on TV, short films…. Apple is also well known for their genius ads, for the amazing ideals that memorize people so much. Here are some unforgettable advertising campaigns: think different, get a Mac, 1984, what’s on your PowerBook? , Switch, iPod. Now let me move on to the next part of my presentation, competitiveness of Apple.

In mobile technology, Apple is not the only company. How can Apple be so successful as present? I want to talk about the competitiveness of Apple with 4 aspects: The first one is the superior features of products. Besides the spectacular design, Apple products are all designed with the user first, they are such a simple products that have a minimal number of buttons and just do what they’re intended to. Apple tends to avoid overcomplicating devices it builds and tries to make things as simple for the user as possible. Not only Apple’s products are amazing, but Apple support is also unbelievable.

It’s wonderful that you generally get really good community support, and when that fails, Apple support is amazing. You are totally able to get support without any form of warranty and just walk into an Apple store and talk to a genius if you have a problem. The next aspect is Apple’s application. I want to talk about the iTunes. iTunes is a free application for Apple products. It lets you organize and play digital music and video on your computer. It can automatically download new music, apps, and book purchases across all your devices and computers. And it’s a store that has everything you need to be entertained.

Anywhere. Anytime. Have you ever once want to own an Apple product? I guess the answer is yes. In today’s Network World’s, there are more than 70% people asked want to purchase Apple products without knowing anything about the product. Amazing, right? That’s the power of Apple. They have lots of cult following all over the world. Whenever Apple releases a new product, billions of people pay attention to it. Apple is very successful in making belief in customers, and their products totally gain the loyalty from customers. So, you see, Apple has been a very successful company.

That brings us to the next part of our presentation, achievement. Please keep on listening. 4. achievement I’m Ngoc and I will bring to you the final information about Apple. inc. The final issue I’d like to focus on is Apple’s achievements. We’ll have a look at this section through 2 aspects: Apple’s products and its position. Firstly, Apple’s remarkable success lies in the company’s ability to create truly innovative products with vast customer appeal. Their products can call attention from all over the world. The reason is that Apple has opted for constant product innovation, resulting in fanatic consumer loyalty.

Let’s consider this in more details. The first product I want to mention is the Mac. It comes with the latest technology. From the outside in, a Mac is designed to be a better computer. The Mac is applied for education and business as it gives students and businessmen the power to create amazing projects, and even more. The second one is the Ipod. The Ipod has evolved to include various models targeting the wants of different users. It is the market leader in portable music players by a significant margin. And the Iphone – a convergence of an Internet-enabled smartphone and iPod.

It has a remarkably slim design and ultrafast wireless. Besides, it owns all-new headphones designed to sound great and fit comfortably. Finally, I’d like to bring you the Ipad, Apple’s much-anticipated media tablet. It offers multi-touch interaction with multimedia formats. In terms of education, iPad takes learning to a whole new level. For businessmen, it gives realtime information, and improves efficiency of common office activities. Now, let move on to another aspect: Apple’s global market position. With a market capitalization of more than $ 500bn, Apple is among the most valuable and profitable companies in the world.

Apple has been building up a very big reputation and a very strong brand, I suppose that Apple is within the most expensive brands on earth. Everybody associates automatically Apple with innovation, design, quality, difference, etc. Apple has positioned itself to a certain type of customer, wealthy people, innovators, people with good jobs, good lifestyle, etc. To make it clearer, let’s have a look at this chart. The chart illustrates Apple’s quarterly revenue by product category in a period of almost 6 years from 2006 to 2012. In general, Apple’s revenue increased with some slight decrease over the period.

The Iphone generates almost two-thirds of apple’s profit while IPads likely contributes about 10-15% of its profit. In addition, Macs and Others likely account for just under 30% of the company’s revenue. That’s some information about achievement of Apple. Inc. III. conclusion Unfortunately, we seem to have run out of time, so we will move on to the end of the presentation. But before we stop, let me go through our mains again. Our presentation can be divided into 4 parts. First, we talked about history of Apple Inc. Next, we showed you some information of human resources. then, development strategies was brought to you.

And finally, we talked about achievements of Apple. I think human resources is the key issue for the success of company. Apple had a great CEO. Yes, I think all of you know him – You-Know-Who. He is the genius with amazing strategies that promote Apple and their products so much. We’d therefore recommend that we should have some experience with Apple’s products. With them, we can study, work or entertain everytime, everywhere. To sum up, I believe Apple is the best global brand of the world in mobile technology. OK, I think that’s everything I wanted to say. Thank you all for listening . Now, we just have time for a few questions.

Case 6 Nike Celess Valk MKTG 4082 10/29/12 To answer question one it’s important to not that Nike has created a very powerful image in the minds of consumers in America. Nike wanted consumers to see it as an innovative brand that produces top of the line performance gear that was associated with very powerful and important athletes (mostly males). Their profile users are represented as famous athletes such as Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. The athletes reflected the brand personalities such as competitive, winners, strong, and better than the rest.

This also is a way for Nike to obtain credibility and quality. With the Air Jordan line, Nike sold over $100 million shoes in the first year (129). Nike’s sources of brand equity hit all the way to the top of the CBBE pyramid for American consumers. Within the first two years alone Nike had 50% of the market share for athletic shoes. Salience is huge with the Nike logo. About 97% of Americans were able to recognize the Nike logo in 2000 (139). Imagery and performance were the main points that Nike stressed with its brand when it advertised itself.

Nike stresses its performance as a main key point. Nike has been able to fulfill individual needs or judgments such as self-respect and self-confidence (which you obtain when wearing shoes that the athletes wear). It fulfills needs that are more difficult to articulate such as the social needs for power and belonging. Resonance is obtained through the athletic communities Nike has built such as the relationships that were built with the athletes on Nike’s behalf as well as the consumer’s behalf with the Air Jordan line.

It doesn’t surprise me that Europeans had a lack of respect for the Nike brand as stated in question two. To start off, Europe didn’t have the same view on certain sports as well as the fact that their athlete idols were different. Second, athletic shoe specialty stores didn’t even exist there. Third, their culture is different than the American culture so naturally there are going to be some ways in which Nike is unappealing to their cultural values. Nike was seen as an aggressive, arrogant, and intimidating brand due to its strong advertising and the message of power and performance.

This advertising technique and these values worked in America, but not so well in Europe. Europeans were more traditional and less competitive. Some TV channels even refused to air the Nike vs. Evil advertisements. To change these views Nike decided to create an image in the consumers minds to be seen as culturally, personally, and geographically relevant to the consumers while keeping their logo and brand name constant. Nike gained 90% control of the brand distribution in Europe to make sure that happened (133).

Nike became more involved as a sponsor of sports leagues such as soccer and emphasizes its “apparel” in general. In 1997, Nike decided to also adjust its global branding strategy to tune down violent advertising techniques and resonated with regional interests. They used the two best-known athletes to create a sense of awareness and attachment to the brand globally. They even toned down the use of the swoosh logo and created product lines that were more community building and less aggressive to consumers.

In Asia, more specifically, Nike used ads with athletes that were local to their culture and stayed away from the aggressive advertising they once used that gave them irreverence in Europe. They learned their lesson and knew they needed to start out with a soft advertising approach and increase their brand awareness. To answer Question three, I will emphasize a few main points. Nike is known for innovative products globally with their shoe lines, Shox or AirJordan, but their image tarnished slightly from the working situations they found in Asia.

The imagery and feelings surrounding Nike now for Americans may be weaker due to this. As Americans, we believe strongly in freedom, equality, and the privilege to have those. Nike basically took advantage of that and treated their employees in Asia with very little freedom and treated them unfairly. Even though the sweatshops scandal weakened the image of Nike in the minds of Americans, Nike is still are seen as a powerful brand that emphasizes performance, power, and gives its consumers a vision to be the best. The sweatshops weakened their image in the minds of Americans.

As I stated before, aggressive advertisements work for Americans because we are a society that is so strongly attached to our sports, individualism, performance, and are competitive in general. However, as we saw in question 2 that approach doesn’t work well globally. In order to appeal to the world, Nike needed to make some local adjustments as well as global changes for its brand. Europe’s brand equity sources stem mainly from its attachments to the soccer community and apparel line. In 1999 the company’s soccer orders from Europe grew over 100% from the previous year (140).

Nike has strong performance, salience, and even resonance in this respect. Although competition, Reebok, may have better imagery, Nike has worked hard to improve theirs in European minds and must be doing something right with numbers that impressive. In Asia, Nike has strong brand equity from its image, performance, and judgments. They didn’t create such strong advertising techniques since they learned their lesson in Europe. This gave Asians a chance to see Nike in a positive light from the start, which makes their brand equity source from judgments and feelings better off the bat as compared to Europe’s brand equity sources.

Asian sales led the stock price to more than $70/share for the first time ever. Even after the collapsed economy they were ordering Nike goods and Nike kept with them. From this one could infer they are loyal customers, which reaches the higher levels of the CBBE pyramid (feelings and resonance). References: Keller, Kevin Lane. “Nike: Building a Global Brand. ” Best Practice Cases in Branding: Lessons from the World’s Strongest Brands. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Prentice Hall, 2003. 125-47. Print.

WHAT IS RE-POSITIONING? A company or product is new and people already formed judgments about it. In other word, the company or product already has an image either good or bad or in between. Many companies are not aware of their exact image but it is important if that image can be identified. If a company does not know where it is now, then that product or company unlikely to get to where it wants to go. RE-POSITIONING BRANDS As markets and customer needs evolve; brands can lose customers to new competitors.

In addition, brands can become diluted as product or service offerings become commodities. When a brand loses meaning and relevance to target customer, a new brand promise should be defined so the brand can be repositioned. TYPES OF BRAND RE-POSITIONING Brand Re-positioning Brand re-positioning is changing the positioning of a brand. A particular positioning statement may not work with a brand. Brand re-positioning is undertaken in order to increase a brand competitive position and therefore increase sales volume by seizing market share from rival products.

When re-positioning companies can change aspects of the product, change the brand’s target market or both. There are four types of re-positioning options for develop a new product in market. I. Image Re-positioning This option takes when both the product and the target market remain unchanged. The aim is to change the image of the product in its current target market. For example product Adidas were seen as reliable but dull in early 1990s. The company created an image of ‘street credibility’ in an attempt to reposition the brand to appeal to the customer in the sports shoe market.

During the 1990s, Tango the Britvic soft drink has been transformed from a minor UK brand into a brand showing dynamic growth. This has been achieved by creating an anarchic image for the products through a major promotional re launch that was aimed to appeal to consumers in the critical 16-24 age of group. II. Market Re-positioning The product remains unchanged but the product repositioned to appeal to a new market segment. For example, Lucozade is a brand of carbonated glucose drink was originally targeted as a product for individuals suffering from illness, particularly children.

Now it has been repositioned as an isotonic drink aimed at young adults undertaking sporting activities. III. Product Re-positioning Product re-positioning is materially changed but is still aimed to appeal to the existing target market. Product positioning is closely related to market segment focus. Product positioning involves creating a unique, consistent, and recognized customer perception about a firm’s offering and image. A product or service may be positioned on the basis of an attitude or benefit, use or application, user, class, price, or level of quality.

It targets a product for specific market segments and product needs at specific prices. The same product can be positioned in many different ways. IV. Total Re-positioning This option involves both a change of target market and accompanying product modifications. For example, Skoda has managed under Volkswagen’s ownership to reposition itself totally. The product quality and design has changed significantly and the brand now has credibility with new, more affluent consumers. This has also allowed the brand to expand its sales outside its Eastern European heartland.

REASONS TO CONSIDER BRAND RE-POSITIONING 1. The brand has a negative image This can easily happen and often is not the company’s fault. Damage can be done by maverick individuals as in the notorious cases of poisoning of the products such as Tylenol and Perrier. It can also be an effect of government policy. For example, if a company builds a highway and forecasts year ahead the toll charges for the government, the public may know nothing about any intended road price increases until the government announces them at a much later date.

This announcement may be handled badly by the government, perhaps being made during recessionary times when disposable income is reduced. Although it is not within the control of the company collecting the toll, it still reflects badly on the company. Public relation is usually the fire-fighting answer, but forward looking companies use advertising and public relation strategically to think ahead about potential problems. This is sometimes scenario planning or issues management. The company looks ahead for a certain length of time.

It can be months with fast moving consumer goods or a couple of decades with conglomerates. An example of how a company thought about its brand image in this way is seen in Telekom Malaysia’s sponsorship of the 1998 Malaysian Everest climb. Many things could have happened including the injury and death of the climbers. But a comprehensive set of guidelines was prepared for staff covering responses to possible questions the company would be asked in both positive and negative scenarios. On the other hand Coca-Cola did not seem to react quickly enough when the European scare surfaced in mid-1999.

They suggesting that it might not have planned what to say in such unlikely circumstances and now it has a major re-positioning job to do. 2. The brand has a blurred or fuzzy image When this happen, people do not feel strongly about image one way or the other way or have mixed perceptions about it. This is quite likely to happen when a brand has not been positioned properly. Perceptual mapping would probably reveal that the brand is very close to other brands in terms of customer preferences and has little to differentiate it.

A re-positioning exercise would need to be carried out to get the brand into a space away from the other brands. This may involve changes to product or packaging. 3. Competition has moved close or taken over brand position This is constant threat facing any successful brand because everyone wants to emulate success. It sometimes takes companies by surprise as Japan brand Lexus did to BMW in the U. Ss this is a constant hazard in the consumer goods category. Companies have to be prepared to constantly innovate with existing products and bring out new products to surround the category space.

FedEx, one of the world’s leading courier companies upon finding out that all other Asian courier companies had positioned themselves around the benefit of speed as it had done moved away with a very large advertising campaign and suggesting that whatever the adverse circumstances, FedEx would deliver. It has not lost the speed benefit because this product related. It has instead added a dimension of corporate personality to strengthen overall company image hence differentiating it from the rest of the crowd. 4. The company embarks on new strategic direction

When a company embarks on a new strategic direction move into a new industry or introduces a brand that is remote from the core business, brands with an already powerful image faces less of a problem this might bring. However, weak brands will find it essential to reposition it to convince the target audience of its credibility. For example, Coca-Cola feels confident enough to bring out its own brand of clothing. There are limits to brand extensions. If the brand name is not too elastic, a totally new brand name may be necessary. 5. The company introduces new brand personality

When a company introduces new brand values or personality characteristics it needs to undertake re-positioning. Privatization and deregulation have forced many government institutions to change their practices, values and their cultures. This is a significant challenge as consumer perceptions are deeply entrenched and re-positioning requires considerable persistence repetition backed up by a totally different brand culture and customer experience. Similarly, re-packaging a brand requires re-positioning. 6. The company addresses a new target audience

Moving to a new market segment in addition to the existing ones is always tempting for the brand development. The danger lies in alienating the brand’s existing customer base. Example presented by Toyota, which said it is considering joining the Formula One racing by 2003. It is trying to revitalize its image to appeal more to the youth, a segment that tends to buy more innovative products such as those produced by Honda. By joining Formula One it hopes to send a message to young people about the fun of driving and position Toyota as technically up to date. 7. The sales are declining.

This is the basic reason why Marlboro considered re-positioning in the 1950’s. If the absolute sales start to drop, you need to take a step back and figure out the cause. If you think that you are offering your service or goods at its best, but it still does not continue to attract customers, it could be that your brand needs to be refreshed, if not represented differently. 8. New competitors have a better value proposition. In that case, rest assured that your initial position will be destabilized. If customers see that other brands offer better than yours, they tend to shift.

Hence, company option is to either step up or get left behind. 9. Customers think that your brand is outdated and not established. Being an older brand does not necessarily put you at a higher position. Customers may see your brand as outdated or irrelevant. What you need to work on is how you can really ‘establish’ your brand. You know your brand is established when customers trust and go back to it again and again. In other words, established brand produces loyal customers. 10. Your products and services have evolved drastically. Over time, companies change and expand.

You may have added new products, refined old ones, or expanded the line. This would help you stay relevant and fresh. However, if you have changed your products or offerings over a long stretch of time, chances are, the branding strategy that you started with does not reflect the brand anymore. It might be out of sync already. You may need to change it to mirror what the brand stand for now. HOW TO REPOSITION BRAND FOR HIGHER MEANING? To be successful at re-positioning your brand, you have to create higher meaning and aim higher. Aiming higher requires outward thinking and learning from the marketplace.

Some companies have been engaged with a variety of consumer products brands whose managers are seeking new opportunities to grow their brand’s value. In all these engagements, I have noticed a common thread among all of them which was consumers no longer care about them because they have lost their compelling meaning in the consumer’s mind. Once a consumer’s mind is made up about a brand, it’s next to impossible to change it. The decisions facing brand managers and marketing executives regarding how they deal with our ever-evolving market landscape usually comes down to three options: i. ontinue to invest in the existing brand meaning ii. create a sub-brand iii. invent a completely new brand All of these options have advantages and disadvantages, more so if the brand is also facing dramatic challenges in distribution. The driver underpinning all these options is change. Brands are dynamic. They have their cycles and they run their course. What is hard for managers to grasp is when to move on. This is particularly true if the brand was once a leader. Market success always creates size, power and a false sense of security.

Over time, this creates an unrealistic view of the external reality, and a lack of urgency to correct course in maintaining relevancy among consumers. Brand managers naturally become inwardly focused and they tend to miss seeing new opportunities or competitive threats. Complacency becomes the norm and the brand’s compelling meaning in the minds of consumers gets blurred and sales drop. If the companies are faced with reinventing brand, the problem that they faced most likely is obvious. Somehow many people believe a good idea has to be clever, mysterious or layered in complexity. The best ideas for re-positioning brands are simple.

If the core idea behind the brand’s meaning is not simple and obvious, it would not stand a chance in the over-crowded slush pile of a marketplace in which the brand must reside. Simple ideas are self-evident, which is why they work so well. Positioning is the art of sacrifice. A brand can only stand for one compelling, radical differentiating selling idea. The trouble with simple ideas is they have no appeal to the imagination and are easily over-looked. We are naturally drawn to the more clever and ingenious ideas. Resist this temptation. The company needs to aim higher thinking toward the simple, obvious differentiating idea hat elevates the brand to a new meaning people really care about. RE-POSITIONING STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE It is high time we re-examine the way re-positioning of brand is done in this ever changing market place. Uncertainty and trends have placed companies in a race against time. Gone are the days when work for every segment of consumers like a charm. The life and soul of the market place today is focusing and engaging specific target market. Major paradigm of strategic re-positioning is now introduction of small scale change with budget.

Value based system is the money spinner that competitors have been using to bring companies down. Strategic re-positioning and exploitation of brand advantage is the only cash cow that can be used to counter them. The re-positioning strategy below will keep the company aware from the failure. 1. Reposition brand internally. Internal brand building is an emerging trend in marketing that is used to solidify the position of a brand in an organization. Brand based internal communication will communicate new strategic position of a brand to employees of an organization.

Major home improvement companies like Home Depot, and Lowes are example of companies with strong internal communication. Engagement will foster strategic intent of re-positioning in to the training experience and job activities of employee. Organization alliance with brand re-positioning activities will enable company to achieve increased customer referral expanded sale portfolio, and customer service efficiency. 2. Carry out consumer analysis The essence of carrying out consumer analysis is to identify prospects, customers and target group in order to position brand correctly.

Success will go an extra mile if new product development can focus consumer’s need and wants. New brand profile should correlate with consumer behavior and value. New product development manager have to make sure that they meet and exceed consumer expectation in order to make them loyal to brand. And lastly company should engage brand in the mind of consumers consistently in order to create a lasting emotional affinity. 3. Competitive analysis Competitive analysis is the assessment of the strength and weakness of your rival. Company does not underestimate the power of their competitors.

Emergence of technologies has made it easy for them to gain insight in to the future before anyone does. New product development should create an uncontested market space by making sure their marketing mix is innovative in nature. They can differentiate the position of their brand by instilling a distinct feature in price, promotion, distribution and the product itself. 4. Fine tune to advertising strategy Companies like Verizon, gap, apple, Microsoft and MacDonald have fine-tuned their advertising strategy to “consumer needs” tactics. Appealing message will create brand awareness and increased sales to them.

By using a medium that will clearly communicate new brand position and features to existing customers and prospects. They have to employ message that has specific objective in order to add value, success, quality, excitement, substance, and equity to the positioning of their brand. Besides that, advertising objectives should be derived assessment of market situation, price position, competition, and channel of distribution. 5. Create good relationship with trade partner and channel members Trade partner and channel members are people that ensures product or brand gets to the hands of final consumers.

Intermediaries have very strong ties to brands. Good strategic partnership and relationship with channel members are very important in ensuring that new brand position is communicated to consumers. They can also supply sales force and marketing communications necessary persuade consumers to go beyond buying a product. Companies like Dell Computer, FedEx, and Charles Schwab have a very great system that have enabled them achieve a very powerful competitive advantage. 6. Reassess It is always good to carry out assessment of brand position continuously to ensure relevance in the market.

This strategy will eliminate risk and problem from piling up. It is done by carrying out internal and external analysis of brand rating within employees, customers and prospect. The result of the analysis will enable them to know the strength and weakness of brand position. Furthermore, data collected will enable you map out informed strategy to reposition their brand all over again. PROFITABLE WAYS TO REPOSITION A BRAND The reason is because brand re-positioning strategy is applicable to wide range of real business problems and marketing issues.

Brand re-positioning is the only effective strategy that can generate feasible solution to problems based on current needs of the market. Therefore, it is imperative organizations understand specific ways to reposition a brand. Below are illustrations of ways to reposition a product or services. i. To make brand relevant One way to reposition a product or service in the mind of target market is to make it relevance. Brand relevance can be defined as the alignment of brand’s identity, attribute and personality with the needs of target group.

The reason behind making brand relevant constantly is because of changing needs of the society and profusion of alternatives. Brand relevance entails keeping brand current and significant in the mind of target group. It also encompass ensuring that brand resonate and connect to consumers emotionally. ii. To enhance brand identity Another way to reposition a brand is to enhance its identity in the market place. Brand identity is the visible element of a brand such as colors, logo, design, symbol and name that distinguishes a product or services in the mind of consumer.

Identity enhancement is done especially if there is no consistency between brand interfaces and consumers. Redefinition of identity is also done when two or more company is merging together. Brand identity is strategic or substance oriented in nature. Brand identity begins with analysis of marketing environment and ends with using research data to create relevant brand portfolio. iii. To enhance brand personality Organizations reposition brand personality especially when they need to solidify customer loyalty and engagement.

According to David Aaker, author of the book “Building strong brand” “brand personality can also be defined as the set of human characteristics associated with a given brand”. It is also the personification of intangible and tangible traits of a brand. Brand personality projects beliefs and core value of product or services. It is a framework that creates passion and affinity for consumers. Types of brand personalities include trustworthiness, sincerity, strong, reliable, consistency, sophistication, and emotional. iv. To enhance brand experience

Another way to reposition a brand is to enhance consumers experience in order to gain long term competitive advantage. Brand experience encompasses aligning product or services to end-user mood, needs, desires, and behavior. It also involves using stimuli to invoke feelings, sensation and responses. A memorable and unforgettable experience is created by being insightful, remarkable, valuable, dynamic, relevance and accessible enough to unravel gaps and deliver satisfaction incessantly. Customer’s physical & emotional expectations are enhanced by creating great experience at all faucet of interaction. . To enhance brand essence Periodically, organizations enhance the essence of their brand by associating brand with meaningful and relevant substance. Brand essence is a pathway for adding value and equity to a product or services continuously. The concept of brand essences is also defined as a phrase or statement that contains emotional connection or impression about product or services experience. It is the DNA or core characteristic that distinguishes a brand from other alternatives. Illustrations of traits associated with brand essence include unique, relevance, scalable, and sustainable. i. To enhance brand image/reputation Another Way to reposition the image of a brand is through its appeal, fame, and value. Business dictionary defines brand image as the “impression in the consumer’s mind of a brand total personality”. Brand image can be also defined as what a brand stand for or set of specific belief about brand in the mind of consumers. It deals with readjusting the perception of consumers on brand. It is tactical or appearance oriented in nature. Various ways to enhance brand image is through advertising, promotion, word of mouth, customer service and other touch points. ii. To adjust brand association Re-positioning of brand association is done by organizations to increase product or service appeal to core target group. Business dictionary defined brand association as the “extent to which a particular brand calls to mind the attribute of a general product category”. It can also be defined as the meaning, attributes, image associated with a brand in the mind of consumers. Associating brand with enchanting features can solidify loyalty and turn consumers to evangelist or advocates.

Various brand association include customers contact, advertisements, character, word of mouth, celebrity, category, geography, end-users, slogan, intangibles, products, extensions, and displays. viii. To emphasize on brand attribute Sporadically, factors like unstable market, short product life cycle, technological advancement, and alternative can make the attribute of a product or services irrelevant. Re-positioning of brand attribute is done by emphasizing on attribute that matter most to consumers or target group. Brand Attributes is defined as the properties or characteristics of a product or services.

It can also be defined as the emotional as well as functional association consumers confer to a brand. Types of attribute include cost, friendly, authentic, innovative, prestige, and reliability. ix. Brand differentiation Organization indulges in differentiation strategy when they need to establish a strong identity in the mind of consumers. Business dictionary defined brand differentiation as the “result of effort to make a product or service stand out as a provider of unique value to customers in comparisons with its competitors”.

Chosen point of differentiation need to be significant to target market, not used by competitors and supported by organizational resources. Types of differentiation include components, performance, experience, market leader, convenient, innovation, pioneer, essential, expertise, and responsiveness. WHY BRAND RE-POSITIONING COULD BE THE BEST SOLUTION THROUGH WEBSITE? When you have been working on a brand for a long time, it can be depressing to find out that it is not having the positive effect that you hoped.

Examining the brand equity for the website can sometimes reveal that there is virtually no difference between marketing your company with the brand, and promoting it without. This usually means that your current brand is missing the mark, and you are just not connecting with your customers. In order to create a better equity, and retain more customers while bringing in new traffic, you should seriously consider brand re-positioning for your website. Re-positioning a brand means changing the angle or design of your current brand marketing campaign, or even simply discarding your brand and starting again.

On a website, which needs to be constantly changing in order to keep up with modern trends, it can actually be a good idea to reposition your brand every so often. This keeps the website fresh for your clients, and can also attract and retain customers who would not be otherwise connected, while also allowing you to fine-tweak the Brand Promise or other elements which affect the levels of brand equity. There are a number of reasons why you should consider brand re-positioning for your website. If you are just not attracting the sales that you had at the beginning, then changing the brand can bring back former customers.

You would also need to focus upon promoting different elements of your products or services to keep the interest, but this can be a positive side effect of brand re-positioning. Another reason may be that brand you have chosen does not really match your website, and you are therefore losing customers. For example if you are promoting a brand of shoes with puppies and kittens on, then you would not want a brand image that more resembles a heavy metal poster. Your customers base their opinions of your values upon your branding, so the item and the brand need to be a close, if not completely perfect, match.

A brand which clashes with your website or the item or service offered for sale simply has to go, and changing the logo, colors and appearance of your brand can be the incentive that some websites need to completely overhaul the way that they operate which was by leading to new initiatives that generate more income for the owners. Brand re-positioning can also be a step designed to help the owner of the website with brand management, keeping the brand to a set design, and making it clearly different from other types of brand which are very similar to your own.

If a rival company has put out a product with a virtually identical brand to your own, then you can cut down their stealing of your clients by changing the appearance of your brand. This type of brand re-positioning can also ensure that you keep up-to-date with your opposition, and don’t become the traditional website, as this can put off some buyers. There are also several different types of effects which can result from brand re-positioning. For example, you may find that changing the look and feel of your brand can make your company more relevant to the customer.

If you offer a service, then you may find that your regular customers increase their levels of use, because re-positioning the brand has opened up potential uses that the customer had not previously thought of. It may also serve to make the customer take your product more seriously. Sometimes when a website has been used for a long while, clients can feel a bit bored about your site, and re-positioning can make them think again about your products. Re-positioning can also ensure that your brand keeps up with changing market conditions that would otherwise have resulted in a drop in sales.

By constantly re-positioning the brand in the market, websites can keep themselves one step ahead of the competition, and keep up with current trends. Making sure that you don’t fall behind ensures that you retain customers and keep bringing in new ones. In the more modern era of the social network site, companies also rebrand in response to changing customer demands. Some websites may need re-positioning in order to keep the interest of ‘followers’, because it gives them something to notify their fans about, and so keep the company in the user’s memory.

Others may hear direct complaints about their current brand, and this can lead them to reposition their brand in the market, hoping to ease customer dissatisfaction with a particular part of the brand’s products. Although you may not have experienced any opposition as yet, re-positioning is a good idea even for a very small company with social networking contacts, and in order to ensure that effective branding is installed, working with a company such as www. expertsbranding. com can ensure that you keep your brand contemporary and consistent even after it has been repositioned.

SUCCESSFUL BRAND RE-POSITIONING There are three key factors in successfully planning for and delivering on brand positioning. There are of course many examples of this not going to plan and in fact companies having to back-track on their new promise to a more pragmatic place. The three components to success or consideration on this topic to be: i. Planning new positioning so that it fits within the existing reference points of the target market. Some company much like the creation of social media personas and communities and not trying to create a new identity or personality or place for the brand.

That is too far away from the existing perception of that brand in its category and market position. ii. Ensuring that the audience will grant you permission to re-position. This stage essentially encourages the brand to again consider current customer sentiment. The question is they looking for the brand to evolve and change, or are they comfortable with where it is or not even aware of the current positioning. Essentially efforts are wasted if the audience are not likely or be receptive. iii.

Finally, and I think critically, the last component is ensuring the organization delivers on the new brand promise. This seems logical, but the best examples of brand re-positioning are where brands start transforming internally and fundamentally – brand of course needs to behave like it wants to be seen. No one likes a big talker with no follow through. EXAMPLES OF RE-POSITIONING BRAND SUNKIST In this digital age where music and the virtual world dominate most of the younger generation’s daily lives, marketers have to change and adapt their strategies to reach their target market.

Recently, the American soda brand Sunkist has initiated a brand re-positioning. They are now aimed at trend savvy teens and young adults. Sunkist’s brand manager said that they just can’t rely on traditional marketing. The brand’s mother company, the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, is now utilizing YouTube, MySpace and Facebook platforms to promote their products. The company has also partnered with MySpace to promote its project. Sunkist has also created four new videos featuring young break dancers out at night.

Many brands and companies are now using digital communication mediums and social media tools for a more relevant communication strategy that is in line with their target markets’ interests and ways of life such as LG, Unilever, and Nutella. In an era when people are switching from television to computers and mobile phones, companies cannot only use traditional advertisement channels and must find new ways to reach their customers. Today, the proliferation of online platforms seems to be a great opportunity for marketers to enter this new age of communication.

There is no doubt that Sunkist’s new strategy will help the brand increase its global awareness and successfully reach their consumers. Today, the young generation is more health conscious and probably less willing to buy drinks containing huge amounts of sugar. Sunkist did their market research before launching the new campaign to ensure their brand re-positioning is a success. JOHNSON AND JOHNSON Liquid petroleum is low-value, mass-produced and has a wide variety of uses; there is huge potential for mass marketing.

The market name for this substance has been long known as Mineral Oil, used primarily for health and medical uses. But US pharmaceutical and fast-moving-consumer-goods manufacturer Johnson and Johnson bridged the gap between the initial R&D and the market-ready innovation by defining a baby-care niche: Johnson’s Baby Oil was born. This extended their ‘baby’ product range, which later also included ‘No more tears shampoo’. These products demonstrate the benefits and drawbacks of a ‘Focus’ strategy as the consequential brand re-positioning shows, operating in a niche has its limitations.

The branding of their baby oil and shampoo has highly effective in defining their niche: happy babies in above-the-line advertising, pink packaging and a trusted producer sends out all the right connotations; mothers know that these products will never harm their babies. As a result of this, Johnson and Johnson can differentiate themselves from the competition by which is the essence of what a brand should aim to do that seduces a female-orientated target market to ignore generic competitors. This may have been key to uccess as Micheal Porter’s Five Forces demonstrates, Johnson and Johnson has less power than their customers, the supermarkets, who are also trying to sell their own-brand alternatives. Hence, branding to create a niche is a competition-driven objective. However, while it was a competitive strategy, nowadays the products are marketed to a wider, mass market and the ‘baby’ niche, which limited sales, has been ditched to pursue a new sales growth aim. This is essentially re-positioning a brand.

The baby oil and shampoo, it is argued, if soft and gentle enough even for babies, then surely new consumers can be attracted to use the product, which mirrors a form of market development. Predictably, more customers equates to more sales and therefore greater revenue; also, by increasing demand Johnson and Johnson can benefit from internal economies of scale to reduce average unit costs, which boosts profit margins. But this is easier said than done: very good marketing was needed to successful reposition their products.

Ironically, therefore, the secret behind successful brand re-positioning is not to change the branding to match the new consumer, but change the consumer’s perceived ‘needs’ to match the brand. REFFERENCES Brandsource. (2009, June 8). Retrieved 4 3, 2012, from Sunkist Brand Re-positioning: http://www. labbrand. com/brand-source/sunkist-brand-re-positioning Johnson and Johnson – Brand Re-positioning. (2010, August 4). Retrieved April 3, 2012, from Johnson and Johnson – Brand Re-positioning: http://manifestedmarketing. com/tag/johnson-and-johnson/ Derrick, E. (2011, September 9). The Blake Project.

Retrieved April 3, 2012, from Branding Strategy: http://www. brandingstrategyinsider. com/2011/09/how-to-reposition-your-brand-for-higher-meaning. html Levey, C. (n. d. ). Re-positioning:Marketing Strategies. I. T . Partners. Lyle, S. (2011, June 13). The Academy of Business Strategy. Retrieved April 3, 2012, from http://theacademyofbusinessstrategy-brandre-positioning. com/ McKinsey & Company. (2001). Successful Brand Re-positioning. Marketing Practice. Norlander, T. , & Unander-Scharin, M. (2007). Re-positioning- A Brand Personality. Bachelor Thesis, 139. Ryken, C. (2011,

You Get What You Pay For When you shop for groceries where do you stand in choosing either a generic vs. brand name product? Do you reach for the brand name box of Kraft macaroni and cheese, or would you rather pick up a generic box of macaroni and cheese to save that extra 10 cents? Is your decision based off a difference in taste or is it simply a matter of paying for quality of the product? What does spending more money on a brand name food product have to say about who we are in our culture today?

Today there is an idea that by buying a brand name product a person is buying something of more quality, which can strangely in turn determine our importance in society. My mother stood firm by the phrase “you get what you pay for”. Meaning name brand foods taste better and are higher quality, and that the no name “generic” brands are cheap and don’t taste as good. I even remember years ago on a routine trip to the grocery store, my mother asked me to get spaghetti sauce. When I returned my mother remarked, “Lauren you got the wrong sauce.

Please run and get me the good sauce, the name brand spaghetti sauce, not this cheap gross sauce”. Afterwards she was even given a taste test between the two sauces, and struggled to make a choice and give me the right answer to support her belief. Considering most generic brand foods and the name brand foods taste almost identical to one another, wouldn’t one think that the less expensive, no name brand would be the obvious one to buy? Yet society still is drawn to choose the name brand items.

Shoppers are quite leery of some categories. Although they’ll snap up store brand paper goods and plastics, consumers almost never buy store-brand wine, pet food, soda, or soup. That may be especially true when the category includes a name brand such as Coca-Cola or Campbell’s. Most grocery store shoppers know that buying generic store brand products instead of the brand name products can save a lot of money. In fact, by filling a shopping cart with generic brands could save an average of 30 percent on your purchase.

If you spend $100 a week on groceries, those savings add up to more than $1,400 a year. Yet some shoppers are insistent to go for the name brands for the reason that they have a name to protect with their product. Meaning satisfaction of the product is guaranteed. However, if they taste the same why is there a price difference at all? Several reasons for the discounted price on the no name generic brands is that companies don’t spend a lot of time or money on product development or on advertising or promotion costs.

You definitely pay a little bit more money for the label that is researched, designed and marketed to be more appealing to the targeted buyer. The generic brand companies keep cost low by taking the extra costs of research, marketing and graphic art frills away and presenting you with a less flashy, less quality version of packaging for a lower amount of money. People buy generic products to save money, however, it may also have an effect on the buyer’s own sense of self-worth. Buying generic products lower self-esteem. Indulging on top quality items makes us feel better about ourselves.

For the most part, buying nice things makes us happy. Although, there are those who find joy in buying generic as well. Some may feel genuinely smart when using generics instead of brand names. This may be a result of the feeling that they received an equal product for less money. Yet that unconscious link between the products we buy and how they make us feel about ourselves suggest that if holding a box of generic corn flakes in the supermarket makes you feel like “a loser,” than you might want to put it down and reach for the Kellogg’s.

To support that brand name foods are better it’s been argued that cost also has to do with the quality of products that are put into the item. You should compare the ingredients of the generic and the name brand before buying. Make sure that they have the same ingredients and that the generic does not have more unhealthy ingredients than the generic. Also, a brand name tends to have a little bit higher quality of products than the generic version. While the generic may list the exact same ingredients, it may not be as good of quality which “could” affect the taste.

The individuals that usually buy brand name products have a tendency to believe they must buy them in order to get good quality. Meaning of course better quality is overall “better” in taste and health. Although, the qualities of ingredients between products are almost always identical to one another, making this argument nearly useless. The idea of better quality in name brand versus generic moves on still into a more psychological aspect rather than just economic.

Society continues to buy into the belief that if it costs more it must be better. Why is that a fancy picture and a higher cost for a product give a person the impression that owning this item makes them feel better about themselves? Pride of ownership comes to play, and something about buying better quality makes a person feel better about a their own status in society. Perhaps a person may feel they work hard and deserve the best or that if they buy the name brand, they will experience better health, happiness, or appearance.

This is supported with the fact that even though the spaghetti sauce taste test proved to my mother that there was little or no difference between sauces, she still buys and insists the name brand sauce is better. To this day you will rarely find a generic brand food box or label in my mother’s pantry. Do you really get what you pay for? Well, if you want to help pay the salaries of the advertising, development and research teams that go into the name brand products then you do! However, if you want to save money and still experience a quality product with a comparable taste, generic no name brands would be the obvious answer.

‘Arrow and the apparel industry: Solved Case Study Arrow and the apparel industry Q1. Why did Arvind Mills choose globalization as the major route to achieve growth when the domestic market was huge? Ans. : The reasons of choosing global market by Arvind Mills are: 1. Market seeking motives, such as exclusiveness of product and service with high productivity, stringent in-line quality control and an encouraging manufacturing atmosphere. 2.

Economic motives, such as profit making by implementing cutting edge technologies to achieve economies of scale and spreading R;D costs. etc. 3. Strategic motives, such as buying-up of sick units, departing worldwide and gaining German and US brand names. Q2. How does lifting of ‘Country-wise quota regime’ help Arvind Mills? Ans. : The lifting of ‘Country-wise quota regime’ surged a demand for high quality garments from India; while Arvind brands crossed over Rs. 60 crore in the year 2002 and planned to setup two more high tech export-oriented factories in India.

And now, Arvind has the largest network of 64 outlets with 30 retail chains and 200 multi-brand outlets all over India. The current turnover of Arvind Brand is about Rs. 85 crore, which aimed to reach Rs. 100 crore with 1200-3000 outlets across 480-800 towns. Q3. What lessons can other Indian businesses learn from the experience of Arvind Mills? Ans. : Arvind Mills is one of the trademarks of Indian market, which executed diverse patterns of business. Arvind brand extended the international brands in small towns of India.

Of course, many other business brands in India now follows Arvind brand. The other Indian businesses should learn a lot from Arvind Mills: international outset of market; Multi-regional integration approach; union and attainment, strategic alliances, international delegates, global network formation; changes in internal organization, etc. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Case 1:-BPO – BANE OR BOON? Which of the theories of international trade can help Indian services providersgain competitive edge over their competitors?

The theory of free markets can help indian services providers gain competitive edgeover their compititors because India has got an edge over other countries at this pointof time but other nations may try to make their products look cheaper bymanipulating their currencies or by imposing restrictions on imported serviceespecially from india We need to do something like this – do something better than your competitors (either make a better product, market it better, service it better, price it cheaper, whatever). Pick up some Indian services providers.

With the help of Michael Porter’sdiamond, analyze their strengths and weaknesses as active players in BPO. WNS, which was established in 1996 and transformed from a captive provider to athird-party provider in 2002, announced in December 2004 a new organizationalstructure focused on its vertical business units. The change to the vertical focus wasmade to sharpen the company’s domain expertise; develop new services andtechnologies; create superior career paths for talented managers; continue toemphasize entrepreneurship and empowerment, and win and retain business bydelivering exceptional value to its clients.

The company’s business units are organized into the following vertical sectors: travelservices; insurance services; financial services; enterprise services (including financialand accounting services, human resource accounting and health care processing),and knowledge services (including primary and secondary research, and analytics). Each unit is managed by a chief executive officer and has its own operating and salesteams, and draws upon support and “enabling” services across the company. “We have seen numerous tangible benefits to our decision in 2004 to more sharply focus our vertical structure,” stated Neeraj Bhargava, Group CEO. Specifically, wehave strengthened our leadership role in the BPO industry; continued to distinguishWNS from our competitors through our differentiated strategy; maintained our recordof creating value for our key constituencies, especially customers and employees, and broadened our global perspective, thus enhancing our ability to help companies meettheir business challenges. “These developments reflect positively both on the soundness of our decision, as wellas the breadth and depth of WNS’ management team, which is uniquely qualified tolead this company. “Mr. Bhargava added hat WNS’ travel unit continues to be the offshore industry leaderin this segment with a dominant market share, but that “WNS’ formalization of ourvertical structure clearly allowed us to devote additional resources to our non-traveloperations – especially financial services, which include mortgage and insurance. As aresult, we have strengthened our expertise and operations in each of our offerings, aswell as across the company as a whole. ” Compare this case with the case given at the beginning of this chapter. Whatsimilarities and dissimilarities do you notice?

Your analysis should be based onthe theories explained. Evalueserve: Based in Gurgaon, it has 650 people engaged in market research andbusiness intelligence. Nearly 45% of the company’s revenues come from math relatedprojects. Evalueserve has a research firm called Global Sourcing Now, whichspecialises in high-quality research reports. WNS: A Mumbai-based BPO, WNS has just started its KPO division for market researchwith 300 people. It operates in the knowledge services business segment and offershigh-end services such as market, investment and business research.

Wipro BPO – In 2002, Wipro took a quantum jump in the BPO services by acquiring thethen Spectramind. Wipro Limited (Wipro) is engaged in the areas of information technology (IT), services,IT products and consumer care and lighting products. The Company is organized infour segments: IT services, IT products, consumer care and lighting, and others. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009 (fiscal 2009), 94% of Wipro’s operatingincome was generated from its IT Services. In Fiscal 2009, IT products represented3% of its operating income, and consumer care and lighting, and others represented3% of operating income.

The Company’s IT services segment provides a range of ITand IT-enabled services. In January 2009, Wipro Technologies acquired Citi Technology Services Ltd. (India), the India-based captive provider of technologyinfrastructure services (TIS), application development and maintenance services forcards, capital markets and corporate banking. Similarities: 1. Require knowledge transfer of the organization’s business processes2. Involve migration of jobs (along with some people too) to another country3. Necessitated by business compulsions such as cost reduction or shortage of resources4.

Technology intensive exercise/process needing a ‘global delivery model’5. Requires structured migration process to minimize the probability of failure6. ITO and BPO Partners are both affected severely by attrition in the workforceDifferences:1. Skills required in the people are different – IT requires strong technology focuswhile BPO requires strong process understanding focus2. Replacement of resources (on account of attrition) is easier and cheaper in BPOsthan ITOs3. ITO staffing strategy is to hire “trained people” whereas BPO staffing strategy aimsto “hire the crowd and train them”4.

ITO results in loss of jobs to “knowledge workers” – but they don’t care since theycan get plenty of jobs elsewhere; BPO results in loss of jobs to lower skilled “processworkers” – often they do not have anywhere else to go ITO – Information Technology OutsourcingBPO – Business Process Outsourcing These are two heads, ITO is bent towards technology i. e. software outsourcing,whereas BPO is inclined towards process outsourcing. When we say process that could be functional (admin, HR, accounts) shared by all theindustries or technical depending upon each industry and skills required.

Moreover, the KPO>RPO>MPO>PPO>EPO and all the newbies are parcel of nicheindustries vis-a-vis skills required. Case 2 PERU What are some current issues facing Peru? What is the climate for doing businessin Peru today? During the 1970s, the Peruvian government nationalized a number of industries andfactories and began running them for the profit of the state in most cases, these state– run ventures became disasters. Peruvian government are facing problem with lack of advance and latest equipmentfor both locating as well as catching and then loading and unloading the fish.

Peruvian government might step in during the next couple of years and again takeover the business. If this were to happen, it might take an additional decade for theloan to be repaid. If the government were to allow the fleet owner to operate thefleet the way he has over the last decade, the fleet the way he has over the lastdecade, the loan could be repaid within seven years. Peru is located on the west coast of South America What type of political risks does this fishing company need to evaluate? Identifyand describe them. Political Risk can be divided into several types of threats. Interference with operations • Confiscation (they take a piece of equipment) • Expropriation (they take the whole company) • Nationalization (they take all the companies in a business sector) • Economic instability, which effects production • Currency Repatriation, not being able to get your money out • Currency Inconvertibility, not being able to exchange your money for another currency of international value (yen, dollars, pounds) • Contract Repudiation Persistent and deliberate refusal … to honor obligations as set forth in a Contract… What types of integrative and protective and defensive techniques can the bankuse? Some prevention techniques apply to individual banks, independently of the rest of the economy. * A bank can take deposits from depositors who do not observe commoninformation that might spark a run. For example, in the days before depositinsurance, it made sense for a bank to have a large lobby and fast service, to preventa line of depositors from extending out into the street, causing passers-by to inferthat a bank run is occurring. [1]* Banks can encourage customers to make term deposits that cannot be withdrawnon demand.

If term deposits form a high enough percentage of a bank’s liabilities itsvulnerability to bank runs will be reduced considerably. The drawback is that bankshave to pay a higher interest rate on term deposits. * A bank can temporarily suspend withdrawals to stop a run; this is calledsuspension of convertibility. In many cases the threat of suspension prevents the run,which means the threat need not be carried out. [1]* Bank regulation or other constraints can impose a reserve ratio requirement,which limits the proportion of deposits which a bank can lend ut, making it less likelyfor a bank run to start, as more reserves will be available to satisfy the demands of depositors. [5] This practice sets a limit on the fraction in fractional-reserve banking. * Full-reserve banking is the hypothetical case where the reserve ratio is set to100%. Under this approach, the risk of bank runs would be eliminated,[11] and bankswould match maturities of deposits and loans to avoid vulnerability to runs. Would the bank be better off negotiating the loan in New York or in Lima? Why?

We can think like that New York Bank is in better position to do negotiation with Limain their own terms and condition. The biggest problem is that the ships are getting oldand they needs an influx of capital of make repairs and add new technology. As theyexplained it to the new York banker. “Fishing is no longer just an art. There is a greatdeal of technology involved. And to keep costs low and be competitive on the worldmarket, you have to have the latest equipment for both locating as well as catchingand then loading and unloading the fish ”

Case 3:RED BECOMING THICKERWhy that Coke is has not been able to make profit in its Indian operations? Coca-Cola’s operations in India have come under intense scrutiny as manycommunities are experiencing severe water shortages as well as contaminatedgroundwater and soil that some assert [18] are a result of Coca-Cola’s bottlingoperations. A massive movement has emerged across India to hold the Coca-ColaCompany accountable for its actions. The state of Kerala imposed a ban of colas fromthe state only to be quashed by Coca Cola; the matter is pending in the supremecourt. citation needed] The Plachimada plant in Kerala state, one of Coca-Cola’slargest bottling facilities in India, has remained shut for 17 months now because thevillage council has refused to renew its license, blaming the company for causingwater shortages and pollution. In the initial period of setting the business in India, the COKE was not able tomake profit fromthe Indian operation. This is due to a number of factors. • The local population is not accustomed to drinking cola drinks. • The market needs to be developed. • The initial bottleneck was the lack of adequate network of distributors. • Product distribution was weak. The poor distribution created negative impaction the market growth. • Volume was low. • Overheads were growing. • The operation profit was negligible. Do you think that Coke should continue to stay in India? If yes, why? I would like to mention some points if in order Coke wants to continue its operation inIndia. The allegations in other ways helped Coca-Cola Company, India to show theircorporate social responsibility and to maintain good product quality standards. Theinitiatives all over India helped them reach villages for a good cause and alsoindirectly marketed their products with establishing a trust among the public.

After allthese allegations, the CSE is still not convinced of the quality of the product. Therefore, Coca-Cola must prove that they have upgraded their lab with sophisticatedinstrument which is capable of measuring pesticide residue in soft drinks. As per therecent reports by CSE, they claim that the pesticide residue has gone up 27 timeshigher than expected level by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)Coke is facing different type of problem in which some are mention below Critical Issues/Problems:

Solid waste and water issue: The communities near the bottling plant in Indiacomplained about the passage of sludge as fertilizer, causing health andenvironmental damage. The most important issue concerning these communities isthe depletion of water levels caused by the Coca-Cola bottling operations which havedrastically reduced availability of water for irrigation purposes. Pesticides in soft drinks: The other issue concerning human health caused by Coca-Cola is that their bottled water and soft drinks contain pesticides which were testedby the reputed NGO, CSE.

Dual product standards: Coca-Cola is accused of having dual standards in terms of their products and safety measures concerning human health with respect to USA,Europe and India. Community issue: These allegations affected Coca-Cola largely with its sales and alsocaused the closure of one of their bottling plants in Kerala, India. Additionally, Coca-Cola’s products are banned in the state of Kerala, India. What cultural adaptations would you suggest to the US expatriate managersregarding their management style?

A key reason for the return of expatriates before the official end of their foreignassignment is the uncertainty and frustration resulting from poor cross-culturaladaptation. The literature provides this general, normative view without much to sayabout the interpersonal conflict expatriates experience in the workplace abroadcaused by cultural differences. Our exploratory study finds that conflicts with co-workers in host countries occur frequently causing high stress and discomfort, andprovides three specific sources of conflict as recounted by sample managers.

Theimplications of our findings include: selecting expatriate managers with highemotional intelligence, providing extensive pre-departure cultural training thatconsists not only of cultural facts but also interpersonal skills such as active listening,conflict management, and ethical reasoning, utilizing sensitivity training techniquesto better prepare managers for new situations, and sending the expatriate on one ortwo pre-sojourn visits to familiarize themselves with the host culture and workplacenorms even before the actual expatriate assignment begins.

An additional implicationis training the host-country workers, particularly those who will work most closely withthe expatriate manager, on home country cultural beliefs and workplace norms. Weaim to stimulate managerial thinking and further research on the workplace conflictsthat challenge expatriates managers. Using the Hofstede and the value orientations cultural models, how can youexplain some of the cultural differences noted in this case? When business consultants and professionals in the field of workplace learning and developmentdiscovered Hofstede’s dimensions, applications began to emerge in many areas.

The following aremerely a few examples of how the field has translated the abstract theory into a series of concreteapproaches. In expanding their market to the global level with clear and consistent global brand images acrossnations, marketers are ever confronting the issue of how to deal with different cultural values. Cultural value is identified as an influential factor on brand image and is widely accepted as one of the crucial concepts in understanding consumer consumption value, which determines choices of consuming everyday products and services.

Most firms endeavoring to establish and maintainconsistent global brand images, however, adopt a standardized brand image strategy that usuallydoes not consider individual target markets characteristics, including the concepts of cultural valueand consumption value. This study developed a conceptual framework which incorporated culturalvalue not only as a direct antecedent of brand image, but also as an indirect antecedent of brandimage through consumption value, and empirically tested it using the category of apparel.

Following this framework, this study hypothesized the differences in brand image, cultural value,and consumption value between the U. S. and South Korea. Data were gathered through surveying university students residing in the San Francisco and Seoul metropolitan areas using a conveniencesampling method. A total of 329 completed questionnaires were used in factor analysis,discriminant analysis, and structural equation modeling. The results provide insights intostandardized brand image strategies and suggest some implementable tools that might proveeffective in both countries.

Case 4THE ABB PBS JOINT VENTURE IN OPERATIONWhere does the joint venture meet the needs of both the partners? Where does itfall short? “One of the most common instances that encourage learning and sharing is culturaldifferences. In the case study involving the ABB PBS Joint Venture the two companiesfound it rather difficult to understand certain cultural differences. These differencesexisted because the managers and employees of the venture were from the post-communist country of the Czech Republic and were new to the structure of a freemarket economy.

The venture had a difficult time interacting and understanding theculture of the European nations that they were conducting business with. To facilitatelearning and knowledge the managers of the venture had to change the mentality of employees and develop ways to motivate them to reach the goals of the company. (“The ABB PBS Joint Venture in Operation”)” What lessons one can draw from this incident for better management of technology transfers? Technology transfer is the process of developing practical applications for scientificresearch.

It is a term used to describe a formal transfer of rights to use andcommercialize new discoveries and innovations resulting from scientific research toanother party. It is, regrettably, not uncommon to find big companies and major industrial concernsin the developed countries turning a blind eye to the ethical questions when it comesto technology transfer. The need to show profits, the desire to please shareholdersand the compulsion to transfer technology to the South, whatever the outcome, haveblurred the vision and concept of fight and wrong. Mahatma Gandhi said the solution in India is not mass production, but production bythe masses.

Mass production by organized industry has brought in sophisticatedtechnology and militant trade unions, and has been one of the major factors formigration from the rural to the urban areas. The establishment of small scaleindustries, and better facilities for the rural workers, will ease the tension in the citiesand reduce migratory pressures – but it will mean less profits. This ill-conceived approach has almost destroyed indigenous institutions. Thetechnology input from the developed countries should have strengthened,supplemented and supported the existing, proven structures instead of replacingthem.

It has increased dependency on the outside, for spare parts, for expertise and forconsultation, thus controlling and co-opting rather than decentralizing anddisseminating. People forget that what is best and most sophisticated could easily bea ball bearing on bullock cart wheels, or a simple set of hand tools for villageblacksmiths. ————————————————- Top of Form Search Bottom of Form Search History: Searching… Result 00 of 00 00 results for result for ? p.

Perrier Synopsis Perrier, French mineral water, made apperance in a unique source with a long history. The Legend dates back to 218 B. C. , Hannibal and his army set up camp on the site now known as “Les Bouillens” (French for bubbling), while on their way to Rome after the Spanish campaign. The Romans came later and were also the first to build baths at the site of the spring. Towards the end of the 18th century, Dr. Perrier took over the estate of Les Bouillens, which the Granier family had equipped with a bottling plant for mineral water earlier that century.

Perrier was a respected physician and he wrote countless articles about the benefits of this mineral water, which he also prescribed to many of his patients. Oddly enough, it was an Englishman called Harmsworth who made Perrier world famous. He was also responsible for the development of the new distinctive bottle in 1903, the design of which was inspired by the Indian exercise clubs he used to stay in shape. Because of his acute business sense and good connections, Harmsworth managed to become the supplier to the British army in the then colony of India. This enabled him to reach many British subjects in due course.

This success was followed by similar successes in England where Perrier even became the preferred water at Buckingham Palace. The Perrier source is complicated from a geological point of view. The source is situated to the north of the small town of Vergeze on the way to Nimes and is surrounded by limestone. The carbon dioxide used in Perrier does not come from the same borehole as the Perrier water; the two are combined at a later stage of the process. Case Analysis Strengths • Well-know and positive reputation. • Reliability • Competent Research and development • Good-looking Image in consumer’s eyes. Weaknesses Higher price than other firms’ bottled water. • Perrier’s bottles are not so handy to the buyers in a hurry. • Too many label for each bottled product could make consumer confused. Opportunities • Constant growth of health-conscious consumers. • Asian market is challenging to give a try. • Advertising could play more role than ever if Perrier can be able to come up with new one. Threats • Other companies with cheaper bottled water are main challenge. • Local companies’ products would always be a first option for local buyers over Perrier. • Loyalty of buyers could change anytime if other companies can offer better price and so on.

The Five Force Framework The Threat of Potential Entrants Barriers to entry are relatively high since brand recognition is incredibly important. Additionally, larger firms experience significant benefits from economies of scope and scale, making it difficult for new entrants to match their operational efficiencies. Independent brands are able to find success in niche and local markets. Bargaining Power of Buyers Depending on their buyer, buyer power can range from low to medium. Perrier represent roughly 20% of sparkling bottled water segment. However, these relationships are contractual so few changes can be made.

Beyond this, other buyers of other products have low power because they are in their own market and strong brand names grant them pricing power in most markets. Bargaining power of suppliers Supplier power for Perrier is medium. I believe that since there are several competitors in this market, suppliers can be persuaded by alluring proposition from other peer competitors. If the competitors can offer more interesting proposition than Perrier could, the situation could be changed dramatically. As a result, Perrier should has its own contract suppliers to supply products.

Threat of Substitutes The threat of substitutes is medium to high. If we consider solely on Perrier’s market , there are many competitive firms trying hard to be the market leader despite Perrier’s largest market share. The competition in this market is filled with emerging companies every year, so we can conclude that if Perrier perishes, no one cares. Substitute products are all over the market as much as consumers grow. Threat of Competitive Rivals Apart from the main competitors of Perrier, Khisu has seized the market share in some cities in United States.

Thus, There are many competitors powerful enough to challenge Perrier in this market. So Perrier should be aware and alert of any move from the other companies so as to be ready to take immediate action if the others start moving. Conclusion From the above analysis, Perrier has the very famed brand recognition in consumers’ eyes but nothing lasts long since there are still a lot of competitors ready to replace the number one rank in this market. With Kishu’s in effort to make a foothold in the market, it is not easy for Perrier to thrive greatly in the market.

Thus, it is still a long way to go for Perrier on its way ahead. Furthermore, its new advertisement, as we know it, would still need a lot of improvement in order to catch consumers’ eyes since it looks less unlikely to succeed. As a result, Perrier needs to be careful with everything it’s dealing with right now; advertisement, slight loss in market share and so on. Question Q. Should the advertising agency’s idea be accepted? As far as I’m concerned, the commercial idea from the agency have not impressed consumer to satisfactory degree since the tone and mood of the commercial did not match people lifestyle.

The idea of beautiful sleeping woman being bitten by Dracula and the following line “…it’s good, but it’s not Perrier” do not convey much essence of why Perrier is better than blood. The idea is to be a metaphor that blood is as necessary for life as Perrier water, but the way people thinking about it would be a joke. Don’t forget that Perrier’s look is considered a high-end product, but the commercial give us a picture of fun thought rather than premium product. Q. How should Perrier be promoted at this stage in its life? Perrier should come up with something more incisive, majestic and premium look in terms of TV commercial.

Additionally, Perrier can make use of other advertising approaches such as holding up luxurious events occasionally to remain a noble look in consumers’ eyes, but somehow tie in its story with the events. To sum up, In this life stage of Perrier, it does not need too many unimportant commercials since it does not need to get consumer out of its target, but what it needs to do is try to keep the brand as premium as possible and to keep old customer to remain loyal for long time. ———————– Potential Entrants Buyers Suppliers Substitutes Competitive Rival

Table of Contents 1. 0 Situation Analysis/Current Marketing Mix…………………………… …………………. 3 1. 1 Current Product………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 1. 2 Current Pricing…………………………………………… …………………………. 4 1. 3 Current Distribution…………………………………………………………………4 1. 4 Current Promotion………………………………………………………………….. 5 2. 0 Segmentation Theory…………………………………………………… …………………. 6 2. 1 Defining and Explaining Segmentation……… …………………….. …………………. 6 2. 2 Explaining Three Benefits of Mercedes-Benz Brand from using Segmentation ……7 3. Target Market Identification……………………………………………………………… 7 3. 1 Geographic Segmentation…………………………………………………………… 7 3. 2 Demographic Segmentation………………………………………… ………………. 8 3. 3 Psychographic Segmentation……………………………….. ………………………8 3. 4 Behavioral Segmentation……………………………………… …………………….. 9 4. 0 Bibliography……………. …. …………………… …….. ……………………………….. 20 Surname 3 1. 0 Situation Analysis/Current Marketing Mix 1. 1 Current Product Being a highly reputable brand globally, Mercedes-Benz has successfully penetrated in Singapore market.

Presently, Mercedes-Benz C class has swiftly penetrated in the Singaporean luxury car market due to the prestige associated with the brand. Being a consumer product, Mercedes Class C has been characterized by high performance that accurately meets personal needs for active individuals through the superior brand name. Over the years, Mercedes Benz brand name has won global recognition, contributing to its popularity in Singaporean market. The various sub-models of Mercedes Benz Class C including C230, C240, C320 and C350 among others offer consumers with various luxurious services, besides mere travelling.

It is important to note that, the ability of a core product to offer credible and other beneficial characteristics besides the core product utility enhances its propensity to acquire popularity among consumers1. In this regard, Mercedes Class C has been considered as of high quality level, having sophisticated features to enhance driving experiences, stylish in nature and having strong brand name. In Singapore luxury car market, it has been reported that 70% of customers enquiring about car are much interested in Mercedes Benz Class C. This is an indication that, much of their time is spent looking on the stylish nature of the product2.

It has been observed that, most of these consumers looking for Mercedes Benz Class C don’t easily opt for other brands until they get it some other times when it is available. This is evidenced by the selling slogan of the product “Drive and Seek,” which aims at assuring the consumers ultimate performance of the product. More so, the prestigious nature of Mercedes Class C can be considered as a unique feature that has contributed to its popularity in Singapore. It has been observed that, Mercedes Benz Class C is multi-purpose, since it is still used in sports as well as for private outdoor traveling.

It is vital to note that, the ability of a product to offer consumers with additional benefits besides the basic uses contributes to its popularity among consumers. By having more additional benefits than its 1 Richard, Semenik and Gary, Bamossy, Principles of Marketing: A Global Perspective (New York: Prentice Hall, 2005), 68. 2 Beng, Chua. Life is not Complete without Shopping: Consumption Culture in Singapore, (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2003), 72. Surname 4 core competitors like BMW, Mercedes Benz Class C has penetrated well in Singaporean markets. 1. 2 Current Pricing

The luxury car market in Singapore is an oligopoly competitive market, since there are few luxury car brands in the market. Being a superior brand in the market, Mercedes-Benz C-Class has efficiently penetrated in the Singapore market. This has been observed in the way this brand highly demanded, despite its high prices. Particularly, Mercedes Benz Class C pricing strategy is valuebased, considering the way consumers of this product have not been sensitive to the high prices for this product. It has also been observed that, increase in prices for Mercedes Benz Class C does not affect consumer demand.

This is evidenced when prices for Mercedes Benz Class C 350 increased from ? 32580 in the year 2006 to ? 33130 in the year 2007, the total demand for the product remained undisturbed, constituting of about 30% of luxury demand in Singapore3. This shows how the superiority of the brand is not affected by price changes, since consumers have are highly loyal to the brand, despite competitors using various tactics to market their products. Customer loyalty for Mercedes Benz Class C is demonstrated in the way consumers in Singapore maintain the demand for the brand, despite its competitors lowering their prices.

For instance, BMW is one of the core rivals of Mercedes Benz, whose tendency of reducing prices has not affected the demand for Mercedes Benz Class C. Particularly, the year 2007 saw BMW lower the prices of its luxury car models in Singapore in order to win more customers, a strategy which did not affect the demand for Mercedes Benz Class C4. This is an indication that, consumers tend to perceive the value of Mercedes Benz as being far much higher than the money they pay for.

As a result, high level of customer loyalty has been prevalent for Mercedes Benz Class C in Singapore as a result of the outstanding features and prestigious nature of the luxury car brand. Considering that Mercedes Benz Class C is sophistically manufactured using highly costly resources, the strategy adopted by the brand in pricing the product is effective. Though Mercedes-Benz C-Class is an expensive car, its value among the consumers has made it acquire loyalty among the customers. 1. 3 Current Distribution 3 Leslie, Butterfield, Enduring Passion: Story of the Mercedes Benz Brand, (New York: Wiley Publishers, 2005), 36. Dennis, Adler, Mercedes Benz: First Gear, (London: Motorbooks, 2008), 46. Surname 5 Mercedes C-Class has been distributed using a variety of channels in Singapore. With some buyers opting for online orders, there are various selling points of the luxury car in Singapore. Among the various destination points for Mercedes Benz Class C includes the major attraction points in the island like Ion Sky, and Marina Bay Sand among others. More so, Mercedes Benz Class C has been distributed in Singapore through major exhibitions in the island like the Singapore Showroom, Titanic exhibition, MBS Countdown, and Elephant Parade among others.

This has facilitated the distribution of the luxury cars to the people where they can view it and make purchases5. By having various points of sale for this product, high volume of sales has been experienced in this brand, since consumers find it easier to contact the sellers directly. Since customers are able to visit the show rooms and explore the vehicles directly, direct interactions between the brand’s representatives have facilitated brand popularity among the people of Singapore.

Since Mercedes Benz Class C products are produced in Singapore, most of the sellers are company’s representatives who act as sales agents. This makes the customers lack the opportunity of interacting directly with the manufacturers of the brand. With the advancement of e-commerce, many customers in Singapore have adopted online purchasing strategy for the Mercedes Benz Class C cars. Through online stores, Mercedes Company has been able to substantial customer base in Singapore6. Being a well developed country, many people use computers, making it easier for them to make most of their purchases online.

Through the adoption of web video with interactive agent thriller as well as the company’s website, consumers have been able to know the products. After making online purchases the cars are shipped to the customers through the port of Singapore which handles various products from Europe and other parts of the world. Through the use of a blend of physical selling points and online marketing strategy, Mercedes Company has been able to distribute Mercedes Benz Class C cars to many consumers in Singapore. 1. 4 Current Promotion

Currently, Mercedes Company adopts a variety of promotional platforms for Mercedes Benz Class C in Singapore. These platforms include internet portfolio, traditional print and cinema, which are 5 Paul, Leppert, Doing Business with Singapore: Global Business Series, (Washington, DC: Jain Pub Co. , 2000), 21. 6 Dennis, Adler, Mercedes Benz: First Gear, (London: Motorbooks, 2008), 41. Surname 6 reinforced with corporate social responsibility through integrated marketing communications. There various messages displayed on the promotional platforms for Mercedes Benz Class C which includes “Drive and Seek”, and “More Style per Hour”.

All these promotional messages are available at the Mercedes Company’s website as core messages of persuading the customers to purchase the product. The message “Drive & Seek” has been passed on through this media, thus helping in marketing Mercedes Benz Class C. By adopting this message, the company is guaranteeing its customers about the performance of the product. Online advertisement has been considered as key promotional platform adopted by the Mercedes Company in the sale of Mercedes Benz Class C in Singapore.

With about 80 percent of Singapore’s society being able to access the internet at least daily, the use of web video advertisement by Mercedes-Benz has been found quite efficient7. Further, “More style per hour” is another promotional message adopted in the marketing of Mercedes Benz Class C in Singapore. This message has been widely available in the company’s marketing pamphlets, television ads and company’s websites. This message seeks to convince buyers that they will definitely experience outstanding prestige and stylish drive every time they use the product.

With most of the consumers in Singapore being luxurious and prestigious in nature, this message has been found quite useful and accurate in meeting the psychological needs of Singaporeans. The combination of these promotional messages has enhanced successful penetration of Mercedes Benz Class C in Singapore consumer market, while many consumers who have the product remaining very loyal to it8. 2. 0 Segmentation Theory 2. 1 Defining and Explaining Segmentation Segmentation is basically the identification and establishment of buyer/consumer subsets within a market.

Notably, these groups of buyers demonstrate similar behaviors and needs. Despite the extensive and diverse nature of the global market, it should be noted that buyers have different behaviors and needs. With this in mind, marketers or businesses have to match groups of customers who have similar needs and behaviors. A point worthy of consideration is that each segment has 7 Leslie, Butterfield, Enduring Passion: Story of the Mercedes Benz Brand, (New York: Wiley Publishers, 2005), 33. 8 Philip Kotler, Marketing Places, (New York: McGraw Hill Press, 2001), 231. Surname 7 distinct needs and homogeneous characteristics.

With this in mind, market stimulus and market intervention are used to address each segment9. Through segmentation, marketers are able to meet the specific needs of the particular customer base, by tailoring the products to meet the needs of such customers. 2. 2 Segmentation in Singapore for Mercedes-Benz Class C The market segmentation in the Singapore consumer market for Mercedes Benz Class C has been very useful in the way the company has been able to position the product more appropriately. The market segment aimed by this product is the middle age-group working class people who are educated.

Particularly, Mercedes Benz Class C is meant for individuals who have achieved success in their early live and are having many ambitions in their endeavors. This is evidenced in their marketing messages which seem to concern active and well-up people seeking success in their various endeavors. For instance, ‘Drive & Seek’ is meant to persuade active and successful individuals to seek more success through driving Mercedes Benz Class C10. With about 80% of the population aging between 18-49 years working, this segment has the potential to offer substantial market opportunity for Mercedes Benz Class C.

More so, Mercedes Company targets young and well-up families. This is shown in the way Mercedes Benz Class C is specially tailored to accommodate a family while at various luxurious trips or excursions. As evidenced in the promotional message ‘more style per hour’ it is explicit that the company aims at meeting the needs of a family while traveling. Quite importantly, this segment comprises of large proportion in Singapore with about 48% of the population married, while the rest are children and youths11. As a result, there seems a potential market for this product in Singapore market. . 0 Target Market Identification 3. 1 Geographic Segmentation Singapore is a highly strategic and potential country for luxurious products like Mercedes- Benz C-Class. Precisely, Singapore is a small country which is highly urbanized. Since Mercedes Benz Class C requires flat and smooth terrain for outstanding performance, Singapore can be 9 Johan Arndt, Market Segmentation: Theoretical and Empirical Dimensions (New York: London, 2001), 38. 10 Dennis Adler, Mercedes Benz: First Gear, (London: Motorbooks, 2008), 38. 1 Paul Leppert, Doing Business with Singapore: Global Business Series, (Washington, DC: Jain Pub Co. , 2000), 43. Surname 8 considered as an ultimate geographical region for this product. Precisely, the urbanized nature of Singapore positions it adequately in terms of market for the Mercedes C-Class. Majority of the population being urban dwellers, they have found Mercedes-Benz C-Class very useful in meeting their needs12. It is also important to note that, Singapore is experiences tropical climate; rainy, humid and hot, which makes the country to remain ever green and agriculturally potential.

Though commercial farming is not commonly practiced, the people in Singapore have food security. These are key aspects with reference to the economic stability of the region, makes the region to offer potential purchasing power for luxury products like Mercedes Benz Class C. Besides the ability to buy, the physical environment has made the people of Singapore to associate themselves with superior products like Mercedes Benz Class C to match their conducive geographical features.

The gently undulating and lowland terrain of Singapore enhances the need for Mercedes-Benz C-Class which has a high sense of comfort. 3. 2 Demographic Segmentation The demographics of Singapore can be considered as having the potential to offer potential market for luxury products like Mercedes Benz Class C. The population structure constituting many middle-aged people whom most of them are working offers potential market for luxurious cars like Mercedes Benz Class C. More so, about 40% of people living in Singapore city are foreigners who have come to do business and white collar jobs.

With about 76% of the people living in Singaporeans aging between 15-64 years, it is evident that most of the population is active, making it efficient for Mercedes Benz Class C which aims at active individuals and young families. Many of these people engage in economic activities which are industrial in nature like financial services provision, chemicals, electronics, construction and entrepot trade. With the population growth rate being estimated to be 1. 56 percent, there seems to be potential market for luxury products like Mercedes Benz Class C in Singapore throughout.

It has also been observed that, high level of literacy in the country, which is about 90%, has played significant role in boosting the purchasing power of many Singaporeans. On this basis, it is evident that there is potential market for various segments aimed by Mercedes-Benz C-Class13 in Singapore. 12 Richard Vasil, Governing Singapore: Democracy and National Development (New York: Allen & Unwin, 2000), 96. 13 Leslie Butterfield, Enduring Passion: Story of the Mercedes Benz Brand, (New York: Wiley Publishers, 2005), 41 Surname 9 3. Psychographic Segmentation One of the target segment markets for Mercedes Benz Class C is highly ambitious middleaged working class. The luxurious lifestyle upheld by this group has been found effective when coupled with Mercedes-Benz C-Class as one of their luxury products. With most Singaporeans being active in their lives, they have been found quite suitable for being targeted as ultimate consumers for Mercedes-Benz C-Class. With this group being working, its purchasing power for luxury products like Mercedes-Benz C-Class has been guaranteed.

It is also important to note that, the socio-economic status of the target market for Mercedes-Benz C-Class is high income earners who seek performance as their core values. As a result, such individuals would go for outstandingly performing products like Mercedes-Benz C-Class in their lives. In Singapore, the largest population consists of middle-aged people with modal age of 37 years. In this regard, it is evident that there is potential market for Mercedes-Benz C-Class for this market segment. The urban lifestyles of the population of Singapore also demonstrate the socioeconomic potential of the Singapore market14.

As a result, it has been evident that Singapore population has potential market for the market segment with the psychographics associated with Mercedes Benz Class C luxury cars. 3. 4 Behavioral Segmentation The consumer behavior in Singapore has been demonstrated to be very admirable for the marketing processes of Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Since the brand name itself is globally acknowledged, it has been difficult for individuals who are used to the brand to switch to other luxury cars. Majority of the population are urban dwellers who are characterized with high sense of purchasing foreign and sophisticated products15.

Statistics have shown that, about 80% of Mercedes Benz Class C consumers are loyal to the brand in Singapore. This is evidenced in the way many golf playgrounds, which are associated with high class people, are associated with Mercedes Brand Name. This has been due to the sophistication and prestige associated with the product. Since the target market for this brand are also prestigious and luxuries, it has been hard for them to give up products which seems to embrace their core values like Mercedes Benz Class C16. This has 14 Paul Leppert, Doing Business with Singapore: Global Business Series, (Washington, DC: Jain Pub Co. 2000), 52 15 Richard Vasil, Governing Singapore: Democracy and National Development (New York: Allen & Unwin, 2000), 97. 16 Leslie Butterfield, Enduring Passion: Story of the Mercedes Benz Brand, (New York: Wiley Publishers, 2005), 55 Surname 10 adequately enhanced the potential of the population in purchasing the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Generally, the high purchasing power of the target market for Mercedes Benz Class C in Singapore has facilitated high degree of loyalty to the product, since this product has been observed to embrace their personal and lifestyle needs.