Principles of Marketing - Case Study Example

Principles of Marketing Principles of Marketing Case Study What did Mr. Wang mean by ‘your job, as a Master’s management degree is to use theory to help to explain and even solve management problems’? Mr. Wang was not satisfied with Amina’s report because he thought that she had used too much information on the car industry, and less on the marketing theory. The report was technically supposed to be on the format of how organizations develop marketing strategies. It is important for every company to design a marketing strategy for itself. This is because of the numerous advantages of a planned marketing strategy. In the decision making process, it is important to encompass informal knowledge. However, not all the facts you need to achieve marketing results may be provided. The main purpose of a marketing strategy is to help you in defining business goals and develop such activities, which help in achieving the goals. There is a whole process of making a marketing strategy. First and foremost, you should know your company’s unique selling proposition. Once you know, it will become easier for you to describe it. Then, it is very important to identify your target market. The benefits of your products and services should then be written down. One should be clear about how to position your products and services. The most important thing is that one should know how to advertise using Internet marketing, direct marketing or public relations (Lake np). If we talk about non-profit organizations, the marketing seems to be an unfamiliar subject for them. However, it is important for them to develop marketing strategies too. Amina could focus on a non-profit organization as well. These non-profit organizations are often of the belief that marketing is just an old technique of selling a product; however, they should understand that there is more to it. The needs of the consumer and the donor are satisfied with the help of marketing. Target market should be identified. This can be done by searching for the organizations and associations that are working in a manner similar to that of yours. Whenever one puts an effort, the desirable outcome of it shall be determined. Marketing materials include brochures and flyers. With the help of these, the organization can describe the benefits, services, donation, opportunities, and its values. Apart from this, a social media marketing strategy can be developed. This can include marketing on famous networking sites such as Face book and Twitter. These sites can help you reach out to those effectively with a low cost who are interested in your organization. Social media is a great way to reach out to people. Website is a another great tool of portraying information, news, monthly newsletters, events, create communities, creating alternatives to donating money and showcase the benefits of your organization. It is very important to do research on a continuous basis. This may even help in maintaining customer database and prospect. These resources should never be wasted. They may be of help for follow-up telephone calls, special mailings, event invitations, alliance development, and research profiling and market segmentation. Moreover, advertising the achievements of an organization is always effective and of benefit. Areas and fields that are receiving benefits, inversions, activities, and projects should always be showcased. Social development is an emerging field nowadays. Every company has a budget allotted for the social development. These should be effectively used. Furthermore, alliances with other organizations should be looked into. Commerce, government, advertising media, and business should be looked into as well. This alone can be of great benefit to nonprofit organizations. Hence, had Amine used some marketing strategies for her research, Mr. Wang’s would have appreciated the paper. Since, good research always proves to carry weight. How might Amina improve her findings section? The main problem with Amina’s finding section was that it described the results but never analyzed them. They could be analyzed by finding out the consequences of one decision. For instance, the report shows how she has conducted interviews with the senior sales managers. She has told all the methods, which she used in conducting the interviews, but she has failed to explain what information she collected. Moreover, Mr. Wang was expecting an alternative to the method that she has chosen. Apart from this, the conclusion provided by Amina was far more elaborative than the findings. In addition, it seemed as if only a summary of the findings has been provided. Furthermore, Mr. Wang was expecting some theories of management incorporated in the paper, and thought that Amina’s paper was more like an essay that was too generalized. According to Henry Fayol, there are 14 principles of management. These were mainly synthesized for organizational design and effective administration. Specialization and division of labor is the first principle and one of the most important elements. This is the breaking down of a task. This enables specialization of skills and understandings, focuses more on the work, and increases the efficiency. Authority with corresponding responsibility remains another principle. Allocation of responsibilities is very crucial. This then helps the authoritative person to carry out responsibilities and undertake duties. For instance, there is always a hierarchy in which the management works. The lower post has to report to the person above his post. This is ascribed from the delegation process. Then, there is a person who is responsible for all the budget and other assets, hence, the allocation and permission to use the necessary resources. As a result, a manager should never be given the authority without responsibility and vice-versa. Discipline is another principle that is essential. It helps in the smooth running of the business, and without it there can be no adherence to rules and values, no maintenance of standards, none consistency in action, hence the enterprise can never prosper. Unity of command remains another important principle. The idea remains that the employee should be given instructions by one authoritative body only. Although the concept of a hierarchy remains, we might have to report to more than one authoritative figure at one time. However, a general observation shows that if more than one person is to be reported, then there might be a rise in tensions and other sorts of dilemmas. Therefore, it is clear that the idea of one head or one boss is acceptable. For effective management, there should be remuneration provided to the staff member in terms of cost structures and desirability of profits and surplus. Centralization is another important principle for an organization. The issue otherwise remains with flatter, devolved organizations as well. The scalar line of authority needs to be wise and rational. It is important for both the managers and the shop people to be sensible, clear, and understood. An orderly place must be provided by each organization for each of its members. This helps the individuals in knowing their place in the organization. Hence, it is important for policies, rules and instructions to be understandable. What pervades an organization in principle and practice is equity, fairness and a sense of justice. In order to increase the loyalty, values and purpose of an organization, it is important for an organization to give the stability of tenure. This is because more time helps increasing the performance of an employee. People who have the scope for personal initiative enable zeal, enthusiasm and energy at all levels of the organizational structure. Fayol lastly emphasizes on building and maintaining of harmony among the workforce, teamwork, and sound interpersonal relationships (Fayols 14 Principles of Management). Hence, if Amina would have used these principles in her findings, they would have had been more concrete. What do you think Amina has to do get Dr. Wang’s full approval for submission of her MBA project for assessment? First things first, Amina has to realize what went wrong in her hasty endeavour. Perhaps, the core purpose of the report was to identify the marketing strategies necessary for the UK industry to revive itself or to further penetrate the local market and the tools required to carry this process out. Amina clearly defined the problem quite extravagantly but focused less on the solutions.  Mr. Wang did rightly indicate that the report highlighted the issue as it was an article of a business journal; and he identified that there should be firm and comprehensive solutions, along with the particular strategies. Now what these strategies can be, lets analyze. The first thing is the structure of the report, It needs to have an executive summary first, then - the problem statement, defining the problem, the relevant literature, followed by the slight highlight of interviews and lastly, detailed solutions, strategies and a conclusion. Strategies needed: Competition. That is the main problem of the industry right now, because the local people and market has become infatuated with imported substitutes. Still, the market share of the local companies would be far greater than the number of cars being imported. The re-emphasizing of the satisfied consumers should be the key. Make reminder and retention advertisements. Sponsor local events and Flood below the line marketing strategies to capture and retain strongly the existing customers. It is integral for Amina to understand that retention is primary and prospecting comes secondary. The companies should have loyalty rewards programs to appreciate what they hold. Penetration. The second part of the solutions list should have a penetration and growth strategy. There is always market potential. Amina should understand and state, that manufactures identify and explore the point of differentiation and try to accommodate that factor into the upcoming models, try out and develop market research. Do what people desire along with innovation. If car production in continental Europe seems too costly, then perhaps the production should be in that part where it is not, even if it is outside UK. The Competitive advantage. The local car brands need to exploit the fact, that they have the competitive advantage, special cost cuts and schemes and promotions that can attract local customers, along with exporting the cars abroad and strengthening the territory hold beyond UK. This would have multitude effects as the local consumers would shift to cheaper and high quality cars, so foreign industry would mean better incomes. If all of this along with her other report matter is included in the report, I am sure Mr. Wang would not have any hindrance accepting and passing this report, as it now seems more relevant to the problem and upholds itself perfectly as a marketing report. How would you suggest Amina now approaches the rewriting of her report? The rewriting process is not as tedious as she assumes it to be. She just has to carefully slim her detailed sections and add value to the section her teacher pointed at. This would avail lesser time and make it look decent. So let’s see which part of the report is already correct, the problem was identified correctly along with the description of it was thorough, this needs to be edited and the interviews should pertain to generalized issues, that are common with all the car manufactures and individual aspects, that are petty in nature would not need so much lime light. Step 1 makes a plan! Assuming that it is her final project and it is due soon as well, an important aspect is the time management, which needs her adequate devotion and some time off, so that she does not stress much, basically "its work smart, not work hard" at this point of time. She needs to conduct some more research, that is, root out the marketing solutions about the particular problem that the interviewed personal suggested. Furthermore, she has to incorporate or accommodate all the research that pertains to marketing and related literature and avoid detailed description, that seems much like a story or a crisis description, as her teacher pointed out. The conclusion and findings part is, perhaps, the most crucial for any organization and it was ironically kept to least minimal. So this has to be looked up, the conclusions are to be structured as well. It should contain the solutions as a list, and then brief details as to what can be done in each topic. This section will then be followed by detailed findings section and finally the conclusion, which will present what the problem is, what the crisis at this point of time is, what has been done and finally what can be done. Apart from this, Amina needs to study some literature that is secondary in nature. She needs to study the similar problems that might have occurred before in different country or maybe in the same country, what techniques have been adopted and also how to prepare reports made by seniors and former students. This can easily be accessed through the net and library. All the work can be done in 5 to 6 days - she will have an ample time to read and re read and maintain proper checks. By this, she can avoid rejection and include all the parts as mentioned in the prior answer to the current answer, she will fulfill all the desired pointers her professor asked for. Time management and planning, thus, serve to become the most important two things. Lastly, she needs to focus that all the important aspects of the report need to be met and the presentation should be on time, so that she secures her MBA degree. References Fayols 14 Principles of Management. (23 May 2012). Retrieved from . Lake, Laura. (23 May 2012). How To Develop a Marketing Strategy in 5 Easy Steps. 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