A Study on the Six Step Conceptual Branding Model Strategy of Philip Kotler

Table of contents

Introduction

The number of sales determines the success of a company. On the other hand, some sales per a given period are dependent on the quality of the brand. Different companies with similar goods develop their brand in a manner that would allow it to compete with others in the market. Philip Kotler has developed a six-step conceptual branding model strategy.

Definitions of the variables of Kotler’s model

According to Kotler (2016), brand purpose gives answers to the questions pertaining what the brand promises to accomplish. It states how the brand is going to change the lives of the buyers and meet their expectations. Brand purpose is what convinces the buyers to either buy or opt for an alternative.

According to Kotler (2016), Brand Positioning is the act of designing a brand in such a way that it would occupy the mind of the target buyers. It differentiates the company brand from those of other firms and gives the consumers a reason to go for your brand. According to Kuuru and Tuominen (2016), for a brand positioning to be achieved, it must be unique, appropriate, significant, sustainable, and support the organization needs.

Brand differentiation is the association of a brand with superior performance and thus setting the brand apart from the competition. The brand differentiation is achieved by ensuring quality, affordability and superior performance of the brand. The brand should offer what the competitors does not offer to be different from them.

Brand identity refers to the components that are related to a product. It conveys a message to the consumers about the brand. According to Kotler (2016), brand identity is built by creating a strong brand positioning and differentiation. Moreover, brand identity provides comprehensive information on what is to be expected from the product brand.

Brand trust is a strategy aimed at building confidence amongst the customers to make them believe that the brand will deliver according to its promise. This is aimed at making bigger sales and thus making profits.

Brand Beneficence refers to the promise that a brand offers to the consumers that it will serve the people and the society. A good brand beneficence ensures that the customers both individuals and community are not negatively affected.

Samsung Phones Brands

Samsung Electronics’ identity and purpose are well captured in its vision which is to “Inspire the world, create the future.” It aims at inspiring the world through innovation and enrich people’s lives. Samsung’s positioning is attributed to its innovative nature, design, high quality, and price.

It has always released products with new features, and thus it has enabled it to compete with other brands in the market such as Apple. Looking at brand’s differentiation, Samsung differentiates itself from other by trying to better personal experience and innovative technology. For example, the release of Galaxy S6 that has a curved screen placed Samsung in a better position in the market due to the introduction of a new feature (Dissanayake and Amarasuriya, 2015).

Samsung has ensured that it maintains its relevancy in the market by building a strong brand trust. By providing quality and improved technology and innovation, the brand has won the hearts of many customers. Its software and hardware complies with the consumer needs. On the other hand, it has maintained a good brand beneficence by ensuring the safety of the users while using their electronics. The customers enjoy the appearance and functionality capacity of the Samsung phones without any dangers (Steenkamp, 2017).

In conclusion, the Samsung mobile brands have the right strategy of marketing that has enabled it to remain relevant in the market all along. It has managed to compete with other brands such as Apple iPhone. However, in his work, Steenkamp (2017) reported that there are claims that Samsung has been tweaking and copying other company’s brands. The allegations have not been able to deter the spirit of Samsung company from providing the best of its services.

References

  1. Steenkamp, J. B. (2017). Global Brand Management. In Global Brand Strategy (pp. 181-208). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
  2. Dissanayake, D. M. R., & Amarasuriya, T. (2015). Role of brand identity in developing global brands: a literature based review on case comparison between apple smartphone brands.
  3. Kuuru, T. K., & Tuominen, P. (2016). Creating a conceptual framework for corporate brand positioning. In Business Challenges in the Changing Economic Landscape-Vol. 2 (pp. 177-195). Springer International Publishing.
    Philip Kotler., (2016) Branding: From Purpose to Beneficence: Marketing Journal.

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Nike Inc. Branding Strategy Analysis

Table of contents

Introduction

Nike Company incorporated in the fashion industry in the year 1967. Nike is currently the world leader in the manufacture and sale of different types of shoes, mostly sportswear. The Company has approximately 62,600 employees who work on part-time or permanent basis.

The company has its largest market in the United States of America although it has expanded to other regions of the world. Its United States market accounts for 46% of its total revenue while other markets in different regions in the world account for the other 54%. Nike mainly deals with eight main categories of products. These include: Action Sports, Women Training, Running, Soccer, Golf, Basketball, sportswear and men’s training.

Internet Properties & Marketing Implications

Nike Company comes out as the first company to initiate marketing of its products with the help of e-commerce through the company website. The e-commerce site for the company was through in April 1999 by giving 65 different shoe styles to the United States market for buying.

In November 1999 the company elevated its presence in the e-commerce through the launch of NIKEiD which permitted online consumers to design the shoes they bought. This was the first time in the history of e-commerce that a company offered mass footwear customization.

The Marketing Mix

Nike Company is one of the pioneers in the marketing field and its marketing mix remains one of the strongest. Its strategy is solely dependent on the pull strategy which it has established and held onto to remain ahead of its major competitors; Reebok and Adidas. Nike offers a wide variety of equipment products, apparel and shoes, which are currently at the helm of its top-selling products categories.

By 1979, the company had begun selling its accessory products, athletic bags, and sports apparel. Also, the company manufactures head gear under Sports Specialties brand name, through which Nike team manufactures and further distributes skate blades, ice skates, protective gear, in-roller skates, hockey jersey, hockey sticks, and accessories.

Nike pricing in the marketing mix is further designed to remain competitive to the other retailers that deal with fashion shoes. The pricing is often based on the basis of premium segments, which are the target customers. As a brand, Nike commands very high premiums.

Consumer Characteristics & Branding Strategy

Nikes financial position is greatly influenced by different branding strategies adopted by the company’s management. An essential branding technique adopted by this incredible company is an emotional advertisement. The main aim of Nike Inc. is to build a powerful brand that inspires customers from different regions across the world (Toma, 2016).

Research has proved that Nike ad strategy is the only one that uses Hero archetype to inspire community members. This has made this company highly reputable hence an unbeatable market leader in the sportswear industry. The ability to take a hero story and turn on its head has made the emotional branding strategy quite successful hence huge sale and profit to the company (Toma, 2016).

Website Analysis

Nikes website has a key role in allowing consumers to purchase, view, and discover new products offered by the company. The main audience of the website includes boys, girls, men, and women. The website has high-quality images, bold and concise statements that ensure essential and relevant information is portrayed to the audience. Two main colors which entail black and white are used in well readable font to ensure the audience reads it with ease.

The main contents of the website include tabbed categories, subcategories, and filtering contents. The website also avails essential contact details that enable the users to reach the management with ease. These contacts include phone numbers, online chats, and emails among others.

The website also avails details on available careers within the company hence creating employment opportunities to community members. By usability, the website offers fast loading pages, a search bar, minimum scroll, consistent layout and a submit feedback platform. The site works fast hence adequate for different users. Finally, the website is straightforward and appealing design, user-friendly, clear and concise information, correct functionality, all which make it a successful internet site (Blocher et al., 2012).

Business Model

There are key primary segments where Nike reports its revenues. These segments include the footwear section, apparel section, equipment, and global brand divisions such as converse designs, Hurley designs, and Jordan brand designs (Carbasho & Greenwood, 2010). The key business segments can be illustrated using the diagram below;

Key Elements in the Business Model

What Nike has succeeded in doing it transformed its basic Website and e-commerce platform using customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing tools like Twitter and Instagram Shop. Its approach to the use of social media is one of the factors that differentiates Nike from many of its.

The new CRM as characterized by Toma (2016) capitalizes upon the Internet and the tremendous connectivity promoted by the Web, which has created a dynamic, open, and convenient environment for social challenges as well as business opportunities. The new CRM model made possible by social media has changed many transactions because of a focus on customer-server, peer to peer, and mobile networks.

Communication in cyberspace and social media is distributed, creating a communication customer company in which individuals find synergies with e-commerce entities and these entities capitalize upon the opportunities to interact constantly and in multiple venues with their target markets (Toma, 2016). Nike is one of the businesses that has succeeded in mastering the new CRM paradigm and generating tangible and intangible benefits for itself.

Nike Online

Nike promotes CRM programs that are both active and strategic. Examples include Nike Digital Sport (NDS) which links customers concerned with performance to Nike, Nike Fuel which helps customers record their progress regarding exercise and competition, and Nike+ Connect which is an app made freely available by Nike that uploads Nike+ data from mobile devices to Nike+.com accounts. These efforts, according to McCulloch (2014), are augmented by Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram – each of which Nike employs to good effect as it reaches out to both global and local markets.

Millington (2015) described Nike’s Twitter and Instagram efforts in its click to buy campaigns. In the fourth quarter of 2014, the company reported that its revenues, driven by these campaigns, rose by 13 percent to $7.8 billion while revenues for the fiscal year 2015 increased by 14 percent to $30.6 billion.

CEO Mark Parker stated that the company’s growth in 2015 was largely due to its commitment to innovation in the e-commerce and digital space and that Nike regularly launches curated product collections through Twitter while its women’s business launched Instagram Shop as a tool that allows users to click on a photograph and then is directed to the appropriate product page on Nike.com (Millington, 2015).

Recommendations

Twitter and Instagram sit at the core of Nike’s efforts although its Facebook activity continues to grow as well (Vizard, 2015). Nike has chosen to use a localization strategy particularly with respect to Twitter and Instagram (McCulloch, 2014). This particular strategy appears to work well on generating responses not only to new product launches, but also to opportunities for online purchases, in-store purchases, and participation in Nike events. The company can use a variety of data such as re-Tweet counts, favorites tracking, and follower levels to assess the viability of its Tweets and Instagram offerings.

Conclusion

CRM in the age of the Internet provides myriad opportunities for building customer loyalty and trust and growing a business (Toma, 2016). Almost from its beginnings, Nike has been in the head of marketing. The world created by the Internet and mobile communication technology has given Nike yet another opportunity to demonstrate its superior marketing and CRM competencies (Millington, 2014, 2015). Companies can certainly learn a great deal from Nike’s successes in this and other areas.

References

  • Singh, T., Veron-Jackson, L., & Cullinane, J. (2008). Blogging: A new play in your marketing game plan. Business Horizons, 51(4), 281-292.
  • Ramaswamy, V. (2008). Co-creating value through customers’ experiences: the Nike case. Strategy & Leadership, 36(5), 9-14.
  • Fowler, S. J., & Hope, C. (2007). Incorporating sustainable business practices into company strategy. Business strategy and the Environment,16(1), 26-38.
  • http://about.nike.com/
  • http://www.nike.com/language_tunnel?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
  • Blocher, J. M., Tu, C.-H. M., Yen, C.-J. M., & Chan, J.-Y. M. (July 01, 2012). A Study of the Predictive Relationship Between Online
  • Social Presence and ONLE Interaction.International Journal of Distance Education Technologies (ijdet), 10, 3, 53-66.
  • Carbasho, T., & Greenwood Press (Westport, Conn.). (2010). Nike. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood.
  • Toma, M. (2016). Customer relationship management: A theoretical approach.
  • Economics, Management, and Financial Markets, 11(1), 86-93.
  • Vizard, S. (2015, September 25). Nike e-commerce growth accelerates as it prepares for
    Rio Olympics. Marketing Week, 1.
  • McCulloch, A. (2014, August 13). Social customer care: Nike goes local on Twitter.
  • Retrieved from www.socialbakers.com/blog/2225-social-customer-care….
  • Millington, A. (2014, December 19). Nike’s premium positioning drive growth as it
    continues to invest heavily in e-commerce. Marketing Week, 1.
  • Millington, A. (2015, June 26). Nike taps Twitter and Instagram as part of drive to
    connect social and e-commerce. Marketing Week, 1.
  • Toma, M. (2016). Customer relationship management: A theoretical approach.
  • Economics, Management, and Financial Markets, 11(1), 86-93.
  • Vizard, S. (2015, September 25). Nike e-commerce growth accelerates as it prepares for
  • Rio Olympics. Marketing Week, 1.
  • Yahoo Finance. (2015). Nike, Inc. Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=
    NKE.

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Ford Motor Company: Supply Chain Strategy Case

Ford Motor Company, incorporated in 190 by Mr. Henry Ford, is one of the largest vehicle markers in the world today. This company employees more than 360,000 employees and has produced more than 260 million vehicles over its history. Since the 1970s, the auto industry has evolved from an industry with only a few large companies to one in which competition has become tough. Instead of two main competitors, Ford now faces foreign automakers in the marketplace. With the increased competition, car dealers are seeing more cars sit on lots for a longer period of time and are now offering a variety of incentives to get people to buy these products.

Diagnosis

In 1995, the CEO of Ford established an initiative called Ford 2000 in an effort to reduce costs and become more market competitive. This new initiative encompassed all of Ford’s activities, such as product development, manufacture and marketing. Most of these projects were based around IT improvements. These improvements were done as an effort to bring Ford closer to all aspects of their supply chain, from their supplier to their customers.

In 1998, Ford also opened the first of its Ford Retail Networks. This project was started to help the dealers compete with the real competition, such as GM and Chrysler instead of each other. It also brought Ford closer to the end customer.

This Ford 2000 project was a major undertaking, but what is helping the company as a whole? Well, in 1998, the Ford 2000 initiative had raised Ford’s profits, return on sales, and had made the company the industry leader in profit per vehicle. Ford had been named the most improved automaker in 1997 by JD Power Initial Quality Study and had become the world leader in trucks. They were making progress, but where still burdened with large inventories.

Ford’s Director of Supply Chain Systems began to research what Ford could do to decrease these inventories to become the industry leader and to increase shareholder wealth. She did some research into Dell Computers. This company was enjoying 55% per year growth at the time that Ford’s growth was steady at about 6% a year. They were also seeing a 133% growth of their stocks while Ford was seeing at 33.4% growth.

Dell had adopted a virtual integration business model. Within this model Dell uses the Internet for almost all business activities. Customers place an order specifying exactly what they want. This can be done over the Internet or over the phone. Dell then places an order for the components of this machine over an Internet based JIT ordering system. The parts are received assembled and shipped to the customer within 5-6 days.

After much research, the director tried to determined if this same system could be used for Ford Motor Company.

Analysis

The Director found that there would be several challenges if they were going to implement this type of virtual integration system. First, Ford Motor Company is more than 100 years old whereas Dell was opened in 1984. Since the company is so old and has been doing business the same way for a long period of time, it will be harder to implement a large change such as virtual integration. For example, Ford’s procurement process is not where it needs to be if the company is going to virtually integrate. Ford currently has a very large number of suppliers. Procurement personnel are highly involved with every aspect of the supplier relationship, while Dell uses a JIT ordering system. Ford’s manual process is more apt to errors than an electronic process would be, but the procurement department has been so powerful for so long that it may be hard to convince those working in this department that this change will be beneficial.

The implementation of an electronic ordering system could put some of these employees out of a job. These employees are also choosing suppliers on the basis of cost only. If Ford was going to implement a virtual integration system, procurement professionals would have to take other aspects into account, such as delivery time and willingness to partner.

If Ford was going to implement an electronic system for ordering, they would also face some challenges while establishing Internet links with their suppliers. First, they would have to choose whom they would want to partner with in this fashion. Then they would have to determine if these suppliers have information technology systems that would support an Internet based communication system. Currently Ford has started to develop this type of system with their “tier one” suppliers who are their most advanced and largest suppliers. If they were to extend the electronic ordering to other suppliers who did not have the technology to support this type of system, Ford would be forced to decide if they would want to help their suppliers develop or acquire the technology needed for this interaction. Other issues such as what type of information would be shared and the security system they would use to make sure only those with the need to know would have access to this information would have to be addressed as well.

Another challenge Ford Motor Company would face when trying to implement a virtual integration model like Dells is there are some major differences between the computer and automotive industries. An automobile is a more complex product and includes many more parts than a computer. If Ford were going to implement a virtual integration model they would have to manage a larger number of component parts suppliers than Dell is managing, which would add costs.

Ford, if moving towards virtual integration, must also address their network of privately owned dealerships. Dell’s model of virtual integration includes no dealers or retailers. If Ford were to adopt complete virtual integration, they would technically not have dealers. Having no dealers would not be possible for Ford. These dealerships are franchises that are owned legally by individuals. Also a person that is going to buy a car may not be receptive to ordering one off the Internet. Most people test-drive an automobile before they buy, which could not be done if cars were ordered strictly from the manufacturer. If Ford did not offer test-drives and other companies such as GM did, Ford would have a large disadvantage.

Conclusion

In order to implement the type of virtual integration model that Dell currently employs, Ford would have to overcome some obstacles. These obstacles come from every aspect of their current supply chain. They would have to partner with suppliers and provide these suppliers the infrastructure and training they would need in order to communicate over the Internet. They would also have to change the way their dealers worked with customers. Since most customers would not accept buying a car directly off the Internet, Ford would have to implement other methods of changing this aspect of their supply chain.

Recommendations

Although there are several differences between Ford and Dell, I do recommend that Ford implement some of Dell’s virtual integration model.

I recommend that they set-up an extranet, or extend their current system so that they may use JIT ordering with their suppliers. They could use some sort of incentive plan to encourage their supplier to invest in their technology systems so that they would be able to use this extranet for accepting orders. The amount of money Ford would save from the direct link they would have to their suppliers should supplement the investment they would have to make in developing an extranet.

I also recommend that Ford make some changes in the way they interact with their customers. Ford could set-up some type of virtual showroom. This may encourage more customers to order direct from Ford instead of going to a dealer. They could also create an intranet, or enhance their current intranet, in which dealers could check the stock of other dealers for the vehicle a customer is looking for. If they could have this vehicle shipped from one dealer to the other it would not only reduce dealer inventory, but would also please the customer since the lead-time for them receiving their new vehicle would be reduced.

Although Ford may never be able to virtually integrate to the extent that Dell has, the company will be able to see cost savings from their integration efforts. Ford should be able to reduce dealer inventories and should be able to move towards a pull strategy of manufacture if they implement these changes.

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Business strategy – OSIM international Ltd

Lastly, in accordance to the case study analysis, a few recommendations are provided. Table of Contents Introduction Strategic management Is crucial for a company’s progress. ISM Is a global brand listed in the SEX having a wide point of sales network (ISM Intel Ltd. 2010). They have managed to sustain the competitive environment with international management, customer relations, brand name, Internal strategies and adoption to the different environments. ISM has established a niche In developing and selling healthy products. Large companies like ISM International Ltd. Also face challenges and difficulties.

This Is here the company’s strategic management comes into action. Furthermore, it would be interesting to see how well the company has overcome the difficulties and how well it is going to use the strategic management tools. Therefore, this has made ISM interesting for a case study analysis. Strategic Analysis External analysis General environment The economic environment of Singapore is a highly developed and a free market economy. The per capita GAP of Singapore is been higher than most of the developed countries (Find the Data, 2010). The economy depends on Imports particularly In the consumer electronics (Find the Data, 2010).

Therefore higher manufacturing costs for ISM are inevitable. In terms of the socio-cultural aspect of Singapore, ISM needs to consider the tastes, preferences and lifestyle of the people. Particularly, peoples’ willingness to buy the technology based healthcare products in comparison with traditional Chinese medicines. But consumers have adapted to the advancement of SIMS Innovation For the technology side, ISM is constantly developing its own technological and R capabilities in Original Design Manufacturing and Original Equipment Manufacturing.

In today’s world, company needs to cope with the technological advancements like e-business, which is an integral part of any business. Moreover, ISM strives for originality of product designs and functions, while also developing hybrid products from existing offerings (ISM, 2002). Opportunities and Threats ISM is a strong organization; it means they occupy many opportunities in the market itself. The opportunities include market expansion and targeting low-income groups. ISM would likely benefit from growing affluence and arbitration in China. 

Read why a company’s management team should give serious consideration to bidding

However, ISM also has many threats. The decrease in economic growth will make power of purchase goes down. Foreign exchange risks also affect the profit of company because sales are mainly denominated in the respective local currencies in which the sales arise. Vulnerable to health epidemics and terror activities, subject to market competition and negative media publicity caused by imitators and price pressure from others competitor’s products are some of the threats that ISM will face (COB, 2010).

Specific environment Their threats of new entrants are relatively low due to more barriers to entry in the healthcare industry, which include the requirement of capital investment, human resources, and most importantly technology. However, competitors like TOT, Gawk and Panasonic have seen Ism’s successful and lucrative in this market, has Joined in, to become a notable player. The bargaining power of suppliers is high since ISM is strongly dependent on three suppliers who are Oriental Export & Import Co. Ltd, Ditto-Electric Machine Industry Company Ltd. (“DEEM”) and Red Time Trading Ltd (“ART”).

The three suppliers provide 71% (appear. ) of the materials for the equipment manufacturing. In failure to do so, the company will suffer unexpected losses and disruption (COB, 2000). There are high levels of substitutes for these products. The cost of transferring to there major health and lifestyle firm is relatively low. There are number of players in the global market which makes the substitution level high. With the notable player like TOT and Gawk, where their product’s prices are much lower than Ism’s products might attract the lower-income household.

The healthcare products have a continuous change and a need for adoption. The customers are aware of the ISM-like products offered by other firms. Therefore the bargaining power of customers is relatively high. This industry has a stiff and aggressive competition, as there are competitors such as TOT, Gawk and Panasonic. Average returns. In addition, Ism’s turbulence model in this industry is complexity because they produce many types of products, which are launched in many markets in Asian countries. Customers are range from young working adults to elderly.

Hence the degree of interconnectedness is moderately complex environment with different culture in many countries (ISM, 2012). In summary, strengths of ISM are large network of outlets featuring diverse range of products across different geographical markets, proven track record of established brand and strong alliances with developers (COB, 2000). In the next 3-5 years, the refit of company depends on economic conditions and changes in consumer taste. On the other hand, threats of ISM in the future could be pressure of other brands products with cheap price and strong competition.

Internal analysis The core competencies of ISM are continuous product innovation keeping up with the technology, more points of sale networks which deliver a different shopping experience for customers. ISM has extensive regional distribution network which more than 596 point of sales outlet in Asia, Middle East, Europe and United States. (info. Sex. Com/website. NSF/… /$File/Ism. PDF) The strategic competitive advantage is sustainable. Although there are similar products in the market, ISM constantly comes up with differentiated products which allows them have above-average returns (Refer to Appendix 2. ). ISM has a strong position in this market even though the notable competitors like Gawk and TOT have embraced Ism’s specialty retail outlets (Mbabane, 2012). However, there are also many factors that could affect the profitability. The standard of living is increasing, so people demand for higher quality of products and more health conscious. Therefore, consumers are more careful in selection. In addition, change in taste also affects the number of healthcare products purchased (Refer to Appendix 2. 2) (COB, 2000). Overall, in the most 3-5 years, ISM will become more famous in Asia.

The largest opportunities of ISM in the future are building brand in a sincere effort towards value and quality in products and services, and strive to consistently fulfill and deliver these attributes that come with company brand to their customers. Innovation ISM has also been actively beefing up its product range by renewing its product line to cater to the changing needs of consumers through improving the aesthetic eateries such as the colors, designs, finishing, functions and fabric of their products. (COB, 2010). Be to continue its innovation drive and actively maximize value from its stores and staff.

Management has embarked a pipeline of new innovative products to be launched in a bid to enhance its product offerings”. In addition of that, ISM knows that phones are popular thus connect phone to massage chair to boost sales to high-incomer buyers (Chem., 2012). Strategic Directions and Strategic Objectives Ism’s Vision – “To be the global leader in healthy lifestyle product” (ISM, 2012) ISM is the brand leader and preferred choice for massage chair in five countries namely, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and China (Refer to Appendix 3. 1).

However, the top most position of being the leader of lifestyle product is still open (Mbabane, 2012). ISM may already be the leader in one type of product but they still need to up their stakes in order to become the best in the area. Ism’s Mission – “Bringing healthy lifestyle to you” (ISM, 2012) ISM also lives up to their mission not Just by their product, but also by promoting fitness and well-being to all people. For instance, Ism’s support to Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore ties the commitment of promoting and bringing healthy lifestyle to people (Singapore Sports Council, 2010).

Strategic Objectives Ism’s main strategic objectives are product innovation, market expansion, profit growth and also having a good relationship with the employees (Singapore Business Review, 2012 ; Wee Du, 2012). Using stakeholder analysis to identify the strategic objectives of ISM aligns with the demands of these stakeholders; shareholders, customers and the employees. Stakeholder Analysis Both shareholders and customers have a definitive salience while employees only have a dominant salience.

The reason why employee only has dominant salience is because the demands of employees are not as urgent as those of shareholders and customers (Refer to Appendix 3. 2). The needs of shareholders that need to satisfy are profitability and business sustainability. The strategic objectives to address the shareholder are product innovation and profit growth and market expansion. Shareholder is the main and primary stakeholder because shareholder is one of the main sources of resources to the company and to be used in doing more market research (Hillman ; Kim, 2001). Customers’ needs that need to satisfy are innovative and high quality product.

The (Chug, 2010). Even their newly introduced Ism’s brand logo deems to be consumer- centric (Refer to Appendix 3. 3). With their new mission of “Inspiring Well-Being” inspire customers to work towards of feeling great and good looking and taking control of their own well-being (Forecasts. Com, n. D. ). Their new retail layout enables customers to try out their product improving their shopping experience. ISM also works with Interbrain to conduct study about consumers’ changing needs to understand customers and better in their specialist retail management and enhancing their products to tailor to different customer (Chug, 2010).

Employees’ needs that need to satisfy are having good communication with the company, getting good incentives from the company and being recognized of their works. The strategic objective that will satisfy the employees’ needs is having a good relationship with the employees (Forecasts. Com, n. D. ). ISM office building provides their employees a range of facilities (Refer to Appendix 3. 4). ISM headquarter designs to foster openness, building an environment to help employees promote their creativeness and imagination (Forecasts. Com, n. D. ).

Not only that, early this year, ISM has Just incorporated a subsidiary named ISM Services Pet Ltd in Singapore mainly to provide training and development to their staffs. ISM provides training for their sales employees and customer service employees because they know that the quality of the service is as important as the quality of the products itself (Reuters, 2012 & COB, 2000). Key Broad Business-Level & International Strategies Nations product/ market business level strategies Product development ISM always come up with new products to satisfy the demands of shareholder and customers (COB, 2000).

ISM implements product development strategy by introducing new products to the same market. Innovation is one way to introduce new product, for instance, new divine App massage chair (Refer to Appendix 4. 1). They also focus on researching and upgrading of their IT infrastructure and implement it onto their products to further upgrade them (COB, 2000). This will allow the user to have a better experience, which bodes well with the company as a market leader (Singapore Business Review, 2012).

Innovation will result in increase on Ism’s market share and create confidence to shareholders and customers in ISM. Product development in ISM satisfies two of the organization’s strategic objectives; product innovation and profit growth Singapore Business Review, 2012). Market development ISM is always in the lookout for new market with high potential for its product. This By penetrate into a new market; they will be able to expand their market share to many different countries and opening more stores (Carver & Kipped, 2010). International Strategy ISM use a global strategy to expand their market.

As a leading company in healthy lifestyle product, expanding to many different countries would be essential to be known internationally and increase their market share. ISM now has many outlets in more than 222 cities but is now focusing on expanding their outlets in China. China has a very strong GAP but is not doing so well current which affects the number of outlets to be opened in the country (ISM, n. D. ). Strategic Implementation: General Perspective ISM has been playing in this market for long, knows what is needed to be done to works in this industry (Mbabane, 2012).

Product and market development has been the reason for ISM to be profitability. In this competitive and lucrative industry, Ism’s well implemented strategies has enables them to remains sustainability and earning profit above-average. ISM has been tapping onto the high-income earners in this market; however ISM would start their second curve to growth in the untapped market like the low-income household. This is a good time for ISM to start their second curve activity although their current strategies are still doing well to their business (Refer to Appendix 5. 1).

ISM could look into starting a new business catering to the lower income household with similar products but at a cheaper price. This could allow the poor to enjoy the same health benefits as the rich. This allows ISM to continue its longevity and growth. Under the BCC portfolio matrix, ISM falls under the “Stars” where there are high growth and high market share. In such a competitive and growing industry, more and more players are tapping into this market because of its lucrative (Mbabane, 2012). However, with strong competitors around, ISM is still able to be the market leader in the healthy lifestyle industry (Refer to Appendix 5. ). Key Strategic Implementation Issues There are areas that ISM has been doing well, for instances, strong alliance tools, creativity and innovation and specialized in specialty retail stores. As ISM have been building strong relationship with the mall developers, like Capital, which allows them to receive information about new shopping mall oncoming up (COB Investment Research, 2010). ISM has been very creative and innovative in their products, incorporating Chinese medical massage “TU-An” into their new leg massage like euphoria (Refer to Appendix them to be the No. In the industry proven that their investment in R;D is not wasted (Koch, 2012). ISM is also the pioneer in using specialty retail stores to market their product instead of distributors. Points of sales system are the key reason for their strong brand equity (Refer to Appendix 6. 2) (ibid). Even though ISM is doing well in these areas but we have also identified the areas hat hinder their strategic implementation. One of the issues identified in ISM is poor CEO leadership. Mr. Ron Simi, the founder, CEO and major shareholder is also the brain master of ISM International Limited that makes every important decision.

However, according to Mbabane Kim Eng Research, Mr. Simi has no clear succession plan yet, believing that there is a substantial founder’s risk in the stock (ibid). As a CEO and managing director, Mr. Simi should prepare and train his ideal successor early in order to prevent the business for falling due to any unforeseen circumstances. The other major strategic implementation issue that hinders ISM is inadequate finance. To finance acquisitions made, enhance corporate and working capital, and reduce existing debt, ISM raised $120 million worth from issuing unsecured convertible bonds due in 2016 (Enriches, 2011).

ISM has also targeted to expand 50 outlets this year when they release their 1st quarter financial statement, however due to the debt turmoil in Europe and slow recovery in US, it has impacted consumer spending and demand and worsen downside risk to earnings (ibid). It have resulted the management scaled back in the net store opening. According to Mbabane Kim Eng Research in October 2012, ISM has expanded only 4 outlets thus far. As an expanding international organization, ISM should reduce manufacturing costs and operating expenses.

ISM should also concentrate on exclusive outlets instead of diversify their stores to every shopping malls. Further, ISM faces strategic implementation issue of failure to protect/use ‘P. Intellectual property rights are a major factor for a well-known brand like ISM. Ism’s products have been hit by imitations in the market. The unsubstantial product performance and inferior quality of those products has led to negative arrest segment. This will have a severe effect on the sales and reputation of the brand. This mainly involves the Chinese made fakes in the China market (Cal, 2012).

But a large market like China cannot be avoided, therefore the option that ISM has, is to churn out the counterfeit to stay ahead of the imitators by continuous innovation and make the IP rights framework stronger. The key issues hindering Ism’s strategic implementation are the poor CEO leadership and failure to protect/use IP as the former issue may affect the confidence, trust, and reliability that potential investor have on ISM and ultimately nonuser confidence dreary due to imitation products and eventually losing the market share (Cal, 2012).

Strategic Evaluation As mentioned earlier, the strategic objectives of ISM are product innovation, market expansion, profit growth and good customer and employee relationships. So far ISM has achieved some objectives successfully and some are in the process of accomplishment. The evaluation of the objectives can be done using balance scorecard approach (Refer to Appendix 7. 1). Conclusion: Current ; Future Prospects ; Recommendations In this rocky economy no matter in Singapore or China, ISM is still growing strong ND enjoying being the market leader even though with strong competitions.

Their new divine App and euphoria has escalated their profit. In addition, ISM has been focuses on improving productivity and performance and rationalizing non- performing outlets allowing them to expand their net margin. As a leader in the well-known healthy lifestyle industry, with the innovation and ability to connect IT into their products, foreseeing that ISM will still be able to soar in the coming future. However, ISM has to narrow their target setting with the consideration of uncertainty economy due to US and Europe market.

ISM has a roof of experienced management team; however to bring ISM to a higher level, ISM should consider bringing new bloods into the management level. ISM should continue with market development by using the phase-out product in untapped market to gain profit and new product life cycle. As ISM has been targeting high-incomer therefore we would suggests ISM to tailor their products caters for the low-income household as their new target market. This would also allow the lower-class household to enjoy their products and inspire by their new mission of feeling great and looking good.

So not only the rich enjoying massage, the or can too. Appendix Background of ISM International Limited ISM International Ltd is about creating a perspective of the awareness of health. Company tries to encourage people to pay attention on their own health through daily of living by carefully designed and crafted trademark products. ISM was found in 1890 and started off as a retailer of household products. The name ISM is based on founder, chairman and chief executive Dry. Ron Ism’s name. ISM has developed into a strong global brand for healthy lifestyle products from the ISM was first opened in Singapore.

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The A La Carte Pricing Strategy by Airlines

The concept of a la carte pricing has been used in the transportation industry for some while. There have been great stories of the success of this pricing method in some American businesses, but also the policies have failed in others such as the people express transport business. Although the basic principles of a la carte pricing have always been applied, it is only recently that the concept has been developed further and extensively by the airlines. At the basic level, airlines have always charged people who take up more space much more than those who don’t.

For example first class travelers always pay more than business class travelers. In the same way, the more luggages one has the more they will be required to pay for the travel. This ultimately proves that a la carte pricing is not a new concept, just one that has been developed extensively recently. Advantages of a La Carte Pricing The fees charged by airlines for simple things such as special diets and travelling bags are not going away. More and more airlines have taken advantage of these strategies. The special pricing has indeed helped airlines to bridge the gap for profits that they have previously contended with.

Loss incurred from damaged goods and a cancelled flight is often covered by the a la carte pricing. Airlines that have introduced this dynamic policy have recorded an increase of almost five hundred dollars in profits even in the harsh economic times. Many flights charge extra fees for small things such as the convenience of a checked bag and food during the flight. Additionally to get some advantages and offers, clients are required to pay some more. Clients may choose to forgo frequent flying miles in order to save three dollars.

This means that in saving the three dollars, they are unable to cash in on the flier miles offers. The airlines are therefore able to save much on the offers by charging less for clients who forego the offers, (Doganis 2002, 266). Clients are becoming more and more comfortable with the a la carte pricing. The main reason for this is the easiness with which they can make choices. By booking for flights from the internet, checking their own bags and skipping the flight meals, they are able to pay less than if the flights had just increased the prices.

Read about Americain Airline Marketing Strategy

Frequent fliers especially business people, prefer to pay a basic fare than choose the special advantages they are willing to pay for. Very few fight passengers prefer to pay an all inclusive fare, where each person is charged a flat fare, and then receive all the services. Clients are out to save what they can in any way they can. Having the choice for services they can receive and the money they pay for such services often proves advantageous and increases the chances of acquiring frequent fares, (Besanzko, Dranove and Shanley 2007, 210).

The United States low fare airlines, JetBlue and Air Tran have developed strategies that are making it even more advantageous for clients to pick the a la carte priced flights. The airlines in their marketing strategies have eliminated the inconveniences involved in low price flights. For example, people do not need to pay for Saturday overnight stays any more so that they can get the cheaper flights. Instead there are routes that can be taken that are equally cheap. The routes are indicated clearly for the customer, giving them the choice of an overnight stay, or an early flight for much lesser fare (Boyd 2007, 28).

The advantage of this strategy is mostly to customers, especially again to the frequent fliers. Clients are able to break their round trip tickets to separate one way tickets that often prove to cheaper. Because clients can clearly see that they will pay for each leg they are able to makes choices on what they can afford best. Clients find it easy to shop for the cheapest airline that is offering the services that suit them best. Clients can easily change airlines in each leg depending on the price of flights. This means that airlines are facing much more competition than before.

Whereas a la carte pricing has introduced some new pricing strategies, it has also developed a competition that had not been realized before. Just because clients have chosen a particular airline for the first leg of their flight, doesn’t mean that they will necessary complete their journey with the same airline. Depending of the pricing for fares and particular services that they may require, the clients may choose to pick cheaper flights. With a la carte pricing, airlines encourage clients to book for their flights and services that they may require before.

The earlier the booking, the cheaper the fares. Airlines are therefore able to save on extra costs and plan ahead for the flights with proper budgets, (Shaw 2007, 187). The inconveniences of last minute booking are paid for by the clients. The loss incurred through last minute booking and cancelled services are serviced through specialized prices for the clients. Disadvantages of “a La Carte Pricing Model” With “a la carte pricing” clients find it harder to compare prices for flights.

Very few companies for example the south west airlines still subscribe to the all inclusive fares. Companies have come up with different packages to attract different clients. Dewine (1998 19) the disadvantage exposed by this strategy is that airlines spend so much time and resources developing and marketing their packages. Studies as to what the clients may need are extensive and often time consuming. Some packages may fail because of the seasons and presentation, yet the comparison required to draw the line on marketable products is hard to make.

Without proper comparisons it is hard for airline companies to decide which packages are more profitable and why. In the same way clients often find it difficult to compare prices and are easily swayed to what they may consider cheaper products. If a company introduces a package that seems to be much cheaper though it may be more inconveniencing clients shift to the new products introduced. The fees vary from airline to airline and sometimes the consumers cannot keep up with the new packages being introduced. They often find it difficult to decide which airline is in fact genuinely cheap.

Shaw (2007, 184) A la carte pricing often means that airlines pay the high class clients much better than their opponents. Unfortunately much of the business for airlines comes from the middle class clients. Company employees and business entrepreneurs are the common clients. During the holidays is when mostly the high paying clients are travelling. Airlines therefore work hard to develop loyal middle class clients who will help maintain the business during the hard times. High class clients also tend to have more demands about their diets and cormfortability.

In ensuring that these clients experience the maximum cormfortability, airlines not only neglect the middle class clients but also pay more costs for very few clients. Most of the packages developed in the a la carte pricing model can only be afforded b the high class. The other clients prefer just the basic air travel services: the airplane to get them from one place to another (Connor 2001, 69). For airlines to make higher profits and increase their fares at the same time there is need to focus on clients who may pay less but fly more frequently.

Frequent air fares are more reliable even though they may pay much less. By providing just a small service at low or no cost, airlines can tap to the middle class clients while maintaining the few high class. For example there are some airlines that have offers providing in-flight snacks for no extra charges. They may not provide full meals, however the snacks and other small privileges such as pillows give the airlines better chances of getting much more clients than others, (Morrison and Winston 1995, 93). A la carte pricing has introduced serious competition for the airlines.

The clients are becoming much fewer following the tough economic and financial status. For the few who are , the choice does not always include the services offered by some airlines but more the price that the airlines charge for the travel and the services available. Connor (2001,73)Often travelers choose the basic prices and services, with much moire focus being placed on the journey itself rather than the cormfortability during the journey. Clients choose to forego some services in favor of cheaper fares.

Although the choice has proved to be advantageous for the clients, it is a two sided coin for the airlines. On the one side the low prices have attracted more clients and created a class of frequent fliers, and on the other hand the same policies have lowered the fees charged for flights extremely often having a negative effect on the profits. In order to attract more clients who are already scarce, the airlines have had to reduce their pricing very much. The focus has moved from high profits to better and cheaper services. Furthermore, a la carte pricing gives airlines the advantage of hiding some extra costs.

Doganis (2006, 148) Airlines have taken advantage of the pricing strategies to exclude taxes and security costs. While this strategy is often advantageous to the airlines that are able to advertise some very low prices, the clients often feel cheated. Clients may approach some airlines to purchase tickets for flights believing they are cheaper than the other airlines only to find that there were some costs included in the fine print. Airlines on the other hand attract more customers and clients by advertising low prices. Future Trends in a La Carte Pricing The a la carte pricing is here to stay.

The strategies may change over time but the main policies will continue to be used in pricing air fares. However while the low priced airlines often use this method of pricing, the major carriers have yet to develop this pricing strategy exclusively. Some airlines feel that maintaining basic airline pricing is much easier to handle and maintain than a la carte pricing strategies. A la carte pricing has also given clients the advantage of budgeting and saving. Because clients are able to choose what they want to have and afford, more and more people are able to afford air travel.

Air fares can be broken into single price units that are then repackaged in many ways giving the clients much more options to consider. The flights may be broken down to smaller and cheaper trips or the air fares may be set by excluding certain services. Clients can easily test some packages and pick one that suits them best. American air lines have found an easy way to eliminate restrictions that were formerly necessary to reduce the cost of travelling. For this reason the pricing strategy will continue to exist.

For those airlines that have failed to include these strategies in deciding air fares are finding that they are losing more and more clients. With the current economic status, it is becoming harder and harder to conjure travelers. Business people who were previously frequent air travelers are finding it harder to afford frequent trips. Instead they are opting for less frequent travel and more communication and shipping through the internet. The competition is therefore becoming higher and higher, with each airline developing different packages with lower costs to attract the frequent traveler.

The probability of the airlines returning to basic air fares is therefore very low, instead the a la carte pricing will be polished and improved more. Conclusion Airlines are having a hard time maintaining loyal customers, keeping their profits high and acquiring resources at cheap prices. For example the price of fuel keeps rising and the travelers keep reducing. In order to make money, airlines have introduced prices for almost everything they can offer. They charge for checked luggage, earphones, space and some air lines have gone as far as to charge extra for the aisle seats or the non smoking area seats.

Clients are taking more and more time comparing prices for both the journey itself and the extra services offered in the flight. Companies are therefore spending more and more developing better packages for the clients and advertising these packages. Whereas they are required to advertise lower prices for the air fare, they are also required to offer quality services. In establishing the a la carte pricing, airlines need to study the needs of the clients, offer some extra service that may not cost them much but will make them stand out from the rest.

Sometimes incurring a small extra cost may be the only way to maintain clients and frequent travelers. Companies need to take time developing the best policies to apply and different packages for air travel. References 1. Boyd. A (2007). The Future Pricing: How Airline Ticket Pricing Has Inspired A Revolution. United States. Palgrave Macmillan. 28 2. Besanko. D, Dranove. D And Shanley. M (2007). Economics Of Strategy. United States. John Wiley And Sons Publishers. 210 3. Connor. W (2001). An Introduction To Airline Economics. Connecticut.

Greenwood Publishing Group. 69,73 4. Dewine. M (1998). Airline Hubs: Fair Competition Or Predatory Pricing. United States. Diane Publishing. 19 5. Doganis. R (2002). Flying Off Course: The Economics Of International Airlines. London. Routledge Publishers. 266 6. Doganis. R (2006). The Airline Business. New York. Routledge Publishers. 148 7. Morrison. S And Winston. C (1995). The Evolution Of The Airline Industry. Washington, Brookings Institute Press. 93-95 8. Shaw. S (2007). Airline Marketing And Management. Great Britain. Ashgate Publishing. 184, 187

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Green Toys Inc. marketing segmentation, strategy, and data collection method

Table of contents

GREEN TOYS INC. Market Segmentation

It is a crucial key for the companies to adapt to their target customers’ needs, wants and values. Larsen (2010) stated that a company could not satisfy all customers in broad and diverse markets and hence divided the customers into segments. Then the company decided which segment they want to target.

Marketing segmentation is, defined by Kotler and Armstrong (2005), “dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers who have distinct needs, characteristics, or behaviour and who might require separate products or marketing mixes”. Market segmentation is a process of dividing into several segments based on demographic, geographic, psychological, and behavioural factors (Thomas, 2007). By that, the company is able to understand better of their target customers and conduct their marketing effectively (Gunter and Furnham, 1992). Target Segments for Green Toys Inc.

According to my research, the target segment for Green Toys is more to psychological – eco-friendly personality and healthy lifestyle.

Resource Conservers

The resource conservers hate waste. They usually will use products that recyclable and reusable. Green Toys can easily target on this segment of customers because their products are produced by recycled milk jugs, which saves energy and save electricity which producing them. The materials and toys are not shipped from overseas, hence save a lot of energy and less transportation that reduces greenhouse gasses. Even the package of the toys is also recyclable. With all these environmentally-friendly production system and ingredients used, the resource conservers will totally get attracted on the products. Health Fanatics

Eco-friendly users are normally people that concern on the health as well. Not only themselves, but the whole family’s health they care about, especially the kids. However, some toys are still concern the parents because the materials that make the toys are not suitable for the kids to put into the mouth; as kids like to explore things by putting into their mouth. Green Toys target on these parents by producing products that are safe for the kids. They produce cookware and dining sets, dish sets, which designed for real foods, easily cleaned with soap and water or put into the dishwasher. They also produce vehicle toys, etc. for the kids, which the parents have no worries on affecting kids’ health while putting into their mouth. Read also about methods of resource allocation

Outdoors Enthusiasts

Green customers are also outdoor enthusiasts who spend their free time camping, hiking, etc. and also like to bring their kids to play outside with the nature. They will use reusable bottles or containers to avoid littering and they seek to minimize the impact of their recreational activities. These outdoors enthusiasts will look for products from recycled materials. Hence, Green Toys able to attract these customers with their products – toys like cookware and dining sets, sand play sets, flying saucer, planting kit, jump rope, which are safe for the kids to play and learn.

Product strategy is the plan of selling the products in a market place (Queensland Government, 2011). Customers today are becoming more educated and demanding; the company might face higher cost if they did not plan well their product strategy. Hence, product strategy is very essential for the company to increase their profits. In my research, the current product strategy that implemented by Green Toys are (1) improve existing products, (2) use recycled, environmental and healthy materials in production, (3) energy saving in production, and (4) earth-friendly packaging.

Improve Existing Products

Any toys can be produced in any toy companies. However, Green Toys has used this strategy to outstand in the toy industry – using eco-friendly material in production. Green Toys selected recycled milk containers as the materials for their products (Edwards, 2010). The milk container is said to be the safest, cleanest plastic, and meets the FDA food contact standards (Greentoys.com, 2013). The choice of recycled milk containers for their products materials provided a unique marketing strategy (Edwards, 2010). They also choose to avoid painted coatings on their products, in order to eliminating the dangerous of surface paints that may contain toxic chemicals (Edwards, 2010). Use Recycled, Environmental and Healthy Materials in Production Green Toys products are made 100% recycled plastic and eco-friendly materials. They use plastic milk containers that are collected curbside from consumer recycling bins in the United States (Greentoys.com, 2013). The milk containers are reprocessed into clean and fresh plastic for the production. The product itself is also 100% recyclable that is compatible with the United States municipal recycling programs (Greentoys.com, 2013).

Energy Saving in Production

By using recycled plastic, instead of new and virgin materials, Green Toys able to save energy, lower greenhouse gas emissions, keep items out of landfills, and conserve natural resources (Greentoys.com, 2013). Edwards (2010) also stated that they eliminate unnecessary transportation. In order to commit to the environment, Green Toys products are all made in United States; all the manufacturing, package printing, product assembly and fulfilment are occurred in the same place (Edwards, 2010).

Earth-Friendly Packaging

The Green Toys’ environmental mission extends to the packaging (Greentoy.com, 2013). All products are packaged in recycled corrugated boxes with no plastics, cellophane or twist-ties, and they are fully recyclable. All packages are printed with soy inks. Green Toys has also created a schematic to describe how the use of recycled milk containers saves energy and the diagrams of its packaging (Edwards, 2010). The production information is all revealed on the packages to allow the customers to read and understand how safe the toys are for the kids.

The marketing department needs to find some effective ways to attract customers and boost sales of its products. Promotion methods are important and efficient marketing strategies for the company to achieve their objectives (Business Studies Online). There are many selections to create awareness and demand for Green Toys’ products, viz. Advertising

Advertising includes using mass media – TV, press, outdoor hoardings and transport media to reach all people (The Progressive Business Group).

Nowadays the Astro will broadcast some daily life products commercials before any hit TV series on show. This is a very good opportunity for Green Toys to advertise their products by producing a commercial about how eco-friendly the toys are and how healthy and safety of the toys to the kids. The parents, especially the mothers who care their kids very much, will certainly notice on the commercials and attract their interests. Other than that, Internet is also one of the fastest advertising medium to attract potential customers. Especially people with cell phones and handheld devices have used them to surf internet. Parents will surf web about kids’ health care; hence Green Toys may advertise the healthiness and the safety of their products by providing production information. Publicity

In order to create awareness of the products to the customers, Green Toys can post articles and news about the environment awareness, about themselves and their products in the media. Green Toys can also inviting all the people to attend their charity events or sponsors on the environmental awareness functions and talks. People who attend the events will get a free gift from Green Toys. From there, they will get to know more about the Green Toys’ products. Besides, Green Toys can involve in the educational services, like holding talks or program to deliver the information and knowledge on the recycle and environments.

Sales Promotion

Sales promotion is happened in a short period of time. Green Toys can increase its product demands by giving some price cuts, BOGOFs (buy one get one free), bonus packs, sample packs, trial packs, charity promotions, and merchandising. Some customers willing to try on new products due to the lower prices sales or trial packs, especially the parents who are price-concerned and health-concerned, hence they will come back to buy more when they satisfied with the products. Contests

Nowadays a lot of parents like to participate in baby or kids contests to win the baby or kids products. From there, parents not only can win free toys for their kids, but also aware of the uniqueness of the toys. When the parents understand the safety and healthiness of the products, they will continue to buy Green Toys products in future. Parents who are eco-friendly users will be attracted with the toys that are made by recycled materials.

Green Consciousness in Malaysia

Green awareness and green branding is growing in most of the countries. However, the green concept is still new in Malaysia (Government of Canada, 2011). The Malaysians would purchase green products if only an educational program on eco-labels and knowledge on environmental issues, health, food safety, and animal welfare are well provided (Phuah, Rezai, Mohamed, and Shamsudin, 2012). Challenges of Marketing Green Toys in Malaysia

Lack of Awareness on Green Purchasing Concept

One of the biggest challenges of marketing Green Toys in Malaysia is that to create the awareness of environment-friendly products. Malaysians are still lack of the knowledge on the green purchasing concept (Government of Canada, 2011). They still do not know the importance of protecting the environment and the environment threats they are facing. Lack of Business Expertise

Moorthy, Yacob, Chelliah, and Arokiasamy (2012) explained that the barrier to green business engagement is the lack of knowledge about environment management issues in terms of legislation and good environmental practice. The lack of knowledge is also the barrier to the success green marketing (Abidin, Yusof, and Awang, 2012). As stated by Abidin and et al. (2012), it is impossible to implement a green marketing without the expertise and supports from the academic.

Patience and Perseverance

Since it is a new concept idea of green marketing, the investors and corporate need to accept that the environment as major long-term investment opportunity (Kiran, 2012). In order to look into the long-term benefits from the new green concept, it requires a lot of patience as it will have its own acceptance period.

Avoid Green Myopia

The important rule of green marketing is to focus on the customer benefits (Kiran, 2012). The Green Toys has to provide a solid reason for the customer of purchasing their products in the first place. It is not an effective marketing if the products is produced in total green in all aspects but does not reach the customer satisfaction (Moorthy, et al., 2012). Hence, it leads to green myopia. Besides, if the marketing strategy does not implement correctly, lack of motivation to customers to switch brands or pay a premium for the greener alternative, it will lose its market acceptability (Kiran, 2012).

Role of Marketing Research in Green Toys

Marketing research is defined as “the systematic and objective search for, and analysis of, information relevant to the identification and solution for any problem in the field of marketing (Green and Tull, 1993).” It is a tool for all levels of management to make strategic decisions about acquisition, divestitures, and expansion.

According to Corporate Document Repository (1997), a variety of aspects of the market can be concerned in marketing research: the product, buyer behaviour, distribution, packaging, sales, promotion, pricing, etc. The researcher must only select on the certain aspect he or she wants to research on. For Green Toys, the management probably wants to conduct the marketing research on the behaviour on the green toys.

Firstly, Green Toys need to conduct a research purpose in order to gain a better understanding of a situation, to exploit for an opportunity or address problems that may impact the company. Their problem would be mainly about the people awareness on green products.

After Green Toys have the research problems, questions, and hypotheses, they have to decide which research design to use to guide the process and outline the way of data to be collected – Descriptive Research. Before conducting the data collection, Green Toys need to select on the sample that they want to study on. The population that Green Toys want to study would most probably be the parents. This is because when the parents are the eco-friendly users, most probably they will purchase on green products for their kids to save greens and ensure health of their kids.

After the data collection conducted, Green Toys will analyse the data. The purpose is to make sense of the data and interprete the raw numbers into meaningful information that management can use to make strategic decision.

Lastly, the Green Toys have to prepare a research report – summarized of the findings, clear, and succinct conclusion and recommendations – based on the analysis in order to present to the top management.

Data Collection Methods

The data collection is an essential aspect for research study (Claire, 2013). An inaccurate data collection will affect the research and hence lead to invalid results. The data collection methods that will be implemented in order to gain more insights to the segments preference will be the quantitative method. Observations

Observation is a way of collecting data by observing the behaviour, events, and physical characteristics in natural setting (Powell and Steele, 1996). In this research, covert observation will be used because the people are more likely to behave naturally if they do not know they are being observed (Powell and Steele, 1996). The observers can observe the likelihood of customers to look at or purchase a green product to determine whether a green product is acceptable or attractive to them. The advantage of observation is that the data collected is where and when the event is occurring. Besides, it does not rely on customers’ willingness to provide information.

Computer Assisted Personal Interview

This method is a kind of personal interview, by bringing a handheld device to enter the information directly into the database (Claire, 2013). This is not only saves time in processing data, it also save the interviewers from carrying around hundreds of questionnaires, as well as eco-friendly because it has wipe out the use of papers which waste the natural resources. Besides, it is easy to configure because people nowadays already have a basic computer and typing skills.

Web-Based Questionnaires

Web based questionnaire is a new growing methodology with the use of Internet. It takes you to a secure website to fill in a questionnaire (Mertens, 2005). Almost every handheld devices or laptops allow people to access into the internet, hence it is save time and money on implementing this web based questionnaires. Questionnaires often make use of the rating scales and checklist (Claire, 2013). This method helps the company to simplify and quantify the customers’ behaviour and attitudes.

Registered Data

The registered data are always reliable because the information collected through a legal requirement (Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, 1999). For instance, the Government of Canada (2011) has conduct a research on Malaysians behaviour on purchasing green products for fiscal purposes. The registered data allows the company to obtain a timely and complete data as one of the way to review on the customers’ behaviour and the awareness towards the environment and green products.

REFERENCE
Abidin, N. Z., N. Yusof, and H. Awang (2012) “A Foresight into Green Housing Industry in Malaysia,” world Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, 67 2012.

Armstrong, G. and Philip Kotler (2005) “Marketing: An Introduction” Upper Saddle River, N.J. Prentice Hall, 7th Edition [accessed: August 25, 2013] Business Studies Online. “Promotion,” [Online] Available from: http://www.businessstudiesonline.co.uk/AsA2BusinessStudies/TheoryNotes/2874/PDF%20Non%20Print/07%20The%20Marketing%20Mix%20-%20Promotion.pdf [accessed: August 25, 2013]

Claire, E. (2013) “Quantitative and Qualitative Data Collection Methods,” Data Collection Methods. University of Winsconsin. [Online] Available from: http://people.uwec.edu/piercech/researchmethods/data%20collection%20methods/data%20collection%20methods.htm [accessed: September 1, 2013]

Corporate Document Repository (1997).

“Marketing Research and Information System,” Marketing and Agribusiness Texts – 4, Version 4 Edwards, S. (2010)

“Green Toys Inc.: Striving to Make Sustainable Products,” Lowell Center for Sustainable Producton. Case Study, University of Massachusetts Lowell. Fisheries and Aquaculture Department (1999)

“Guidelines for the Routine Collection of Capture Fishery Data,” FAO Corporate Document Repository. Version T382. Green, P.E. and D.S. Tull (1993). “Research for Marketing Decisions,” Prentice-Hall, 5th Edition. Greentoys.com (2013)

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The Recruitment Strategy

Table of contents

Human Resource Recruitment and selection – Fall 2011

JR smith would have an advantage when hiring an external candidate for the Fort Lewis office. This candidate should be someone from the area well verse of the military rules, the demographics. This candidate will go though the full and formal hiring process of evaluation. The external hiring process relies on the candidate’s performance during screening, interviews and assessment.

We have one current staff member that served in the National Guard for five years but only has a high diploma and another staff member that has fifteen years experience in customer relations but has never lived or served around military personnel. Therefore the candidate needed for the area of 19,089 people as of 2000, is someone who has military and civilian workforce experience, an MBA , and have strong customer service relations. The population of Fort Lewis in 2000 was 19,089 with a decline in 2010 of 8,043 in the amount of 11,046.

Race/ethnicity 2010 population 2010 percentage 2000 population 2000 percentage 2000-2010 change
White 7,538 68. 2% 11,537 60. 4% -34. 7%
Black 1,253 11. 3% 3,882 20. 3% -67. 7%
Two or more races 1,058 9. 6% 1,230 6. 4% -14. 0%
Other race 433 3. 9% 1,189 6. 2% -63. 6%
Asian 336 3. 0% 650 3. 4% -48. 3%
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 258 2. 3% 342 1. 8% -24. 6%
American Indian/Alaska Native 170 1. 5% 259 1. 4% -34. 4%
Total 11,046 100% 19,089 100% -42. %
*Hipic origin 1,800 16. 3% 2,507 13. 1% -28. 2%

http://data. spokesman. com/census/2010/washington/cities/fort-lewis-cdp-wa/ Research shows that organizations that foster strong cultures have clear values that give potential employees to embrace the cultures. Therefore a person with military back ground will be able to understand the struggles of the potential employees and help them the training needed for future employment.

A strong culture may be especially beneficial to firms operating in the service sector sine JR smith are responsible for delivering the service and for evaluations important constituents make about this firm. Because research indicates that organizations may derive the following benefits from developing strong and productive cultures. It would better align the company toward achieving its vision, mission and goals. Give the employees high motivation and loyalty and it will help in shaping employee behavior at work, enabling JR Smith to be more efficient.

The goal of having someone that has the correct customer experience management is to move customers from satisfied to loyal and then from loyal to advocate. CRM strategies and solutions are designed to focus on the product, price and enterprise. JR smith focus for the future is through job training, pension and VA benefits consultation and resume writing services with full time agents. Therefore a canadite with the customer service experience and military background will be valuable to the company from dealing with personal from the military.

The fort Lewis area is made up of retired and transient service people ready to hit the work force but need a little help. A person with the expericance need for JR Smith management position will be able to guide them the right way with the back ground needed and degree. A person without the military back ground and only the degree will not understand the needs of the retired military personal.

Reference

  1. Jean M. Phillips, Stanley M. Guly (2012). Strategic staffing. second edition, New Jersey: Person Hall education,INC.
  2. http://data. spokesman. com/census/2010/washington/cities/fort-lewis-cdp-wa/

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