The Role of Market and Products - Essay Example

Answer 1a Paper is the most widely used product of the world. Apart from using the paper in the form of book, books and related accessories, the myriad use of products made from paper have become popular. Various products made from recycled paper like paper bags, paper cups, stationary, wall art and even paper jewellery etc. need to become intrinsic part of our lifestyle. Recycling of paper into different formats promotes sustainable development. Indeed, paper being the most common product found in the household, each one of us is capable of contributing towards sustainable development and become proactive participant in the conservation and preservation of environment, through the creative use of paper. Answer 1b The paper is made from trees and is responsible for increasing deforestation which is having serious repercussions on the ecology system. The gradual depletion of the natural resources through deforestation became responsible for the slow death of the plants and animals which were interdependent on each other. Lack of trees and plants is also one of the main reasons for barren land because the loose soil tends to blow away the seeds, saplings and essential minerals which are prerequisite for fertile land. The forest with its tall trees also protects the species from natural catastrophes like storms and hurricanes. There are many socio-economical concerns like growing population, housing problems, water and sanitation etc. that might necessitate deforestation but a sustainable development strategy would ensure regeneration and safeguard of natural resources. It is especially true in the contemporary time when the need for sustainable development has become one of the most crucial factors of our life. The use of plastic goods and non biodegradable products has adversely impacted the ecological system. Through the evolving process of entrepreneurial creativeness, people must make efforts to adopt ‘green’ habits and promote goods and services that are intrinsically linked with environment conservation and preservation. The creative ideas have the power to even transform and add value to the ordinary, old household items and make them into fashion accessories of great beauty and value. The goods made from recycled paper, therefore, need to be used in our daily life to promote sustainable promotion activities. Answer 2 The fast changing socio economic dynamics have created a fiercely competitive business environment and organizations tend to adapt to the constantly evolving business environment. The main objective of any business is profit making which it derives by making its products and services available to people. It is equally true that the rapid globalization has brought in a host of new issues and factors that fast changing the format of existing societies and economic environment across the globe. There is significant paradigm shift in the consumer behaviour. The huge market opportunities’ galore, opened as a result of globalization has also provided the people with a wide choice of goods and services. Hence, prices of the products and services are critical factors of competitive advantage and are significantly influenced by different types of users as described: 1. Users or the end-users are those consumers who are actually using the products and services. They constitute major segment of the market that has direct and indirect impact on the performance outcome of the marketers. 2. Payers are those persons who pay for the products and services which would be used by others. 3. Buyers are people who actually make payments for the products and services bought All the above three types of consumers can be the same person or different persons, depending on the circumstances. But irrespective of the differences, there are certain values that the consumers expect to get from the products and services that he buys. These are called universal values and can be primarily stated as fairly priced, quality product which must be accompanied by pre and post purchase service. The prices of the products are also impacted by other factors like environmental conditions like recessive trends where discounts and value added services improve business outcome. Also, the products which have high demand and short life cycle can be sold at higher premium. Sometimes, the supermarkets also advertise for low cost goods in order to attract customers and let them have a wider choice of goods so that he could buy more products and thereby increase the sales of the supermarket. Answer 3 Since products made from paper will serve a great social purpose, there is urgent need to promote awareness for its use. One needs to be creative in its marketing strategy. The companies need to involve government agencies, shops, retail outlets and corporate bodies to use and promote the need for the paper products for the preservation of natural resources for the overall benefit of the society. According to World Bank ‘social accountability is ...an approach toward building accountability that relies on civic engagement, i.e., in which it is ordinary citizens and/or civil society organizations that participate directly or indirectly in exacting accountability’ (WB, 2005). The social accountability of the individuals and agencies must be incorporated as intrinsic part of their work culture whereby they are able to contribute towards the welfare and development of the society and help create necessary platform that would facilitate participation of people in preserving natural resources by using products mae from recycled paper. The products should also be sold through online business as they have wider platform to influence the buying decision of the people at large. Answer 4a Segmentation of the market to tap the potential of the customers is an essential part of market strategy. It helps to identify the target customers for the existing and new products and meet the challenges of their changing requirement. Market segmentation of the market to differentiate elements is vital in the highly competitive business environment. The segmentation helps to create a niche in the market. The mixed segmentation is hugely popular in the contemporary times and gives a big leverage to the companies to plan its market strategy in a more flexible manner and successfully introduce their products in a new market. The demographic changes vis-à-vis population size, age distribution, gender ratio, income group etc. have massive influence on the changing consumer preferences and thereby on the economy. Kotler et al(2007) emphasize that in the fast changing global business, demographic compulsions have significant impact on market position and therefore, they need to become intrinsic part of the market strategy of the industry. Answer 4b Effective communication to overcome the barrier of socio-psychological paradigms has increasingly become a major factor in the sales and market strategy. Shultz say that it is the end-users who now control the markets rather than the marketers (Shultz, 2001). The rapid globalization has created a pluralistic society which has diverse needs and requirement. The strategies must understand the wider implications of the emerging multicultural society and improvise techniques and skills to encompass traits and behavioural pattern that facilitates better perception and understanding of people. The advertisements have succeeded because men are portrayed as approachable entities with whom the common man can easily identify with. Brands need to be created in a manner that goes beyond and reaches people coming from different race, colour or nationality. Marketing strategies, especially, marketing mix has become vital in the contemporary environment of competitive business. Moller says that ‘marketing mix involves solving of market segmentation problem, being able to carry out market positioning analysis, and finally being able to differentiate the mix from the competitors’ offer using the target customers’ preferences’ (Moller, 2006, p442). Indeed, in the contemporary environment of competitive business, the technological advancements have brought forth an explosion of information that is easily accessible to public through the internet and other media like television, radio, mobile phones etc. The internet has made it easy for the customers to become aware of the product details including its availability at competitive prices which has precipitated the need to develop a whole new perspective for a new marketing technique. Integrated marketing communication therefore, becomes the most vital part of market strategy for all organizations to maintain a competitive edge over their rivals. Advertisements and media play a very crucial role in the strategy planning and significantly influence general public’s buying decision. Understanding of consumer psychology helps provide important clues for preparing appropriate advertising strategies and campaigns so that maximum mileage could be garnered for the products. The impact of visuals and the textual contents are reflected in the behavioural pattern of the people who may or may not become their client. In some cases, the low impact advertisements are known to even divert the committed clients. Hence, effective communication through appealing visuals and informative textual contents are important not only for retaining the old customers but they must also be able to attract new one. (1452) Reference Kotler, Brown, Adam, Burton & Armstrong (2007). The Global Marketing Environment. Prentice hall. Moller, K. (2006). Marketing mix revisited: towards the 21st century marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 22, 439-450. Shultz, Don E. (2001). Bid Farewell Strategy based on old 4Ps. Marketing news; Feb 12, 2001; 35,4; ABI/INFORM Global. p 7. World Bank. (2005). World Bank operations and evaluation department report (2005) ‘The Effectiveness of World Bank Support for Community-Based and -Driven Development’ Available from: [21 April 2010]. Read More