Facing Marketing Problems - Essay Example

Q1. Identify the marketing problem(s) facing Ivan

Strength

VOS network for marketing

The good back history of economic performance

New products that are in demand

Good organization-level communication to generate new ideas

Special focus on marketing

A market that extended throughout Russia

Newspaper radio and television advertisements

Weakness

Many products lost demand

Some technologies cannot be handled by the visually disabled

The new economic system created confusion

Existing marketing strategy not fully successful

Opportunities

VOS network for marketing

New technologies and new products

New marketing strategies

Expansion of market throughout Russia

Different marketing strategies and opportunities for domestic and industrial products

Marketing and advertisement through trade fairs and exhibitions

Computerization

Automation

Threats

New laws and regulations

The transition from a protected economy to a more competitive economy

No governmental support for getting raw materials and marketing facilities

A possible mismatch between production and sales

In post-Peristroika Russia, when new laws and regulations were introduced, the whole system in which Ivan worked earlier was changed, causing confusion and trouble. Management and control of the economy got remodeled, monetary-financial systems were introduced, private banking and hard currency system came into existence, customs regulations were relaxed and there were also attempts to promote foreign trade. All these became part of the new economy. The Revdan enterprise was no more functioning within governmental planning that ensured supply of raw materials and provided marketing facilities. Owing to the collapse of the industrial base of the Commonwealth of Independent States, demand for the products manufactured by Revda declined by up to 80 percent. When Ivan tried to introduce new products using new technologies to get over this, one hurdle he faced was that some technologies could not be handled by the visually disabled. There was a lack of new technology and new product range and also the company lacked in computerized and automated systems.   

Q2. What information would you need to know in order to tackle these problems (make the appropriate decisions)

1. Comparative data between the marketing success of domestic products and industrial products will come in handy in assessing which area of these two to focus on in the future.
2. Information on the opportunities provided by the changes in the economy can help carry out planning at the production and marketing levels.
3. Information on the scope of foreign investment in Revda can help decide upon new avenues of growth
4. Information gathered from an extensive evaluation of the company can help the future planning process.
5. Information on the most successful advertising mix in the new economy will enable effective utilization of money set aside for promotion
6. Information on new technologies and cost-reduction techniques will help redesign the product range and reduce the cost.

Q3 Explain (in detail) how you would go about obtaining the information you have identified in q2

Market research is the method by which the data listed in question 2 can be gathered. The research problem will be centered on the marketing failures and challenges faced by the company.

The focus of the research will be to find out consumer demand patterns, new market-savvy technologies, opportunities presented by the changed socio-politico-economic environment, and new and effective marketing strategies for Revda Enterprise. Through obtaining authentic data on these aspects, the objectives of this market research will be to identify the opportunities and threats of the organization and make the company proactive and successful. The methodology adopted will be causal research that traces phenomena and variables to their causes so that concrete remedial measures can be suggested. The data collection will focus on primary as well as secondary data. The sample for primary data generation will be selected based on probability sampling techniques. A stratified sampling technique will be employed to ensure each stratum gets represented. A survey method will be adopted and self-administered questionnaires will be sent to the sample, that is, the participants selected from among the marketing staff of the company, through email. This will ensure low cost, respondent convenience, respondent anonymity, standardized questions, and time-saving for the interviewer. Behavioral and attitudinal questions will be included in the questionnaire and the close-ended questions will be provided with Likert scale answer options. The secondary data collection method reduces the cost, and the data sources can be the internal records of the company, customer feedback, and customer databases. Test marketing will also be used as an additional research strategy. Test marketing helps estimate the outcomes of alternative courses of action like advertising expenditure, packaging, price, etc. It is also effective in determining the impact on other products, and helps identify and correct any weaknesses in a product or marketing plan before ‘going live.’ It will also provide information that shows marketing failures are still a Test of Marketing Success. Though test marketing is an expensive enterprise, the use of it by adopting the control method (test marketing in a small selected area), can give very valuable information. While carrying out this kind of market research, there is a possibility of errors and also biases of the researcher getting into the results and mutilating them. Some possible errors could be sampling error, nonresponse error, and response bias. To rectify this, at each point in this research, a systematic review has to be carried out. To avoid response bias, the interviewer is using a standardized questionnaire and applying it in a self-administration format. The biases involved also can be avoided through triangulation between the primary and secondary data generated.